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Why Should Huckleberry Finn Not Be Banned

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Censoring the N-word in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a terrible idea with many consequences. Changing Nigger to slave only makes it more comfortable for people who can’t face the idea of past slavery. It also obscures view of what Mark Twain was wanting to. Changing the N-word completely disproves his idea of staying true to others dialects. The N-word should not be censored in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it changes the connotation of the entire book.
Changing the N-word to slave completely changes how the book is read by making it more appealing to readers who are not comfortable with a more realistic approach to slavery. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck runs into a lady at the docks and during this run in …show more content…

If he used slave instead of Nigger he would no longer be staying true to what he says about dialects. This is how they spoke and changing these words doesn’t make them any less racist than they already were, but acknowledging the words that he used shows people how much has changed since those horrible times. If the word Nigger is erased from the book it gives off the idea that there should not be talk about racial injustice or divides. Twain said “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning” (Mark Twain Quotes). The difference between lightning bugs and actual lightning is tremendous. A lightning bug is a tiny dot of light while lightning is a huge flash of electricity that is fatal. Likewise the word slave is a minor term that doesn’t illuminate all that Twain wants to say, while on the other hand the word Nigger illuminates a broader and stronger connection to Twain's

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943 Words | 4 Pages

When the King and Duke steal the fatherless sisters’ money and are deciding where to temporarily store it, the king says, “First you know the nigger that does up the rooms will get an order to box these duds up and put ‘em away; and do you reckon a nigger can run across money and not borrow it? “ (Twain 181). Twain exemplifies people’s stereotyping and discriminatory treatment of African Americans that comes with the “n word” throughout the novel, as well as the shocking nature of the word’s use. The “n word” is similarly used to dehumanize African Americans and make them seen as subhuman, shown by Huckleberry speaking to Tom’s aunt about why his ferry was delayed:“‘It warn’t the grounding—that didn’t keep us back but a little. We blowed out a cylinder-head.’

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138 Words | 1 Pages

Ever since Mark Twain published Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885, it has been one of the most banned books in America. Not only one, but many different people/groups have banned Mark Twain’s classic due to the consistent theme of race. The book is considered inappropriate because of how Mark Twain regards African Americans and Indigenous people. Historically, it is off of many school bookshelves because many may argue that the book even promotes racism. One month after the book’s debut in 1885, a library in Concord, MA stated that Twain’s novel was "trash and suitable only for the slums".

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190 Words | 1 Pages

If you ask two different people what the n word meant you would probably get two completely different responses. One might say it is insulting and degrading, another might say it is a term of endearment. Throughout Huck Finn this word was used a total of 219 times. If the n word were not a degrading term there would not be so much controversy about banning and censoring Huck Finn. However, the word has been altered since it was used in the time period of Huck Finn.

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1666 Words | 7 Pages

Why Would a Good Novel be Kicked out of the Classroom? A trashy and racist book wouldn 't be allowed in classrooms. The novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is getting a lot of negative talk about. The dominant problem that students, parents, teachers, and even professors, face , is the usage of the n-word.

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1255 Words | 6 Pages

Since this book contains many racial slurs and violence, people want it banned or censored. Although, Huckleberry Finn should remain how it is because altering it changes the impact of the book, people will still be exposed to these slurs, and it is an opportunity to teach readers. The censored version of Huck Finn replaces the ‘N-word’ with the word ‘slave’. This would be an inaccurate representation because they have a

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413 Words | 2 Pages

Pitts utilizes anaphora, “...any work of art represents a series of conscious choices on the part of the artist — what color to paint, what note to play, what word to use — in that artist's attempt to share what is in his or her soul.” (Pitts 7) to emphasis the critical importance of why an author decides the precise diction towards their novels to portray events. Publishers may take note that altering the initial diction originally published, alters the historical background influencing the diction and phrase choice used in context. The audience may also sense a hasty generalization Pitt exhibits when judgmentally addressing how individuals find the racial slur used in context to be obscene; although many popular artists lyricize the same word exposing a number of individuals to become accustomed to the slur, absentmindedly ignoring the original degrading meaning as not everyone is comfortable hearing the slur. Although I do agree with not alternating original contents of novels, the way Pitts dictates his argument is too biter; it would be much more effective to explain how Huck Finn was written in 1884, a time in which there was a surplus of slave plantation workers and free individuals would coin the term to emphasize the downgrading nature of being a person of color compared

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828 Words | 4 Pages

American literature has always been a form of entertainment and education. When slaves were introduced as characters in books, they were always negative, stereotypical characters, but not until 1883 when Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a change made. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a book about a southern white boy in the 1800’s that runs away with an escaped slave on the Mississippi River. For years, schools have been debating on if the book should be banned in schools or not, and it is already on a variety of banned lists. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not be banned in schools because it is an anti-slavery novel that teaches students valuable lessons and informs students of the past culture.

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1267 Words | 6 Pages

Mark Twain, author of Huckleberry Finn, uses the n-word a total of two-hundred nineteen times in his book. Before diving into the subject matter, the book called Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is a novel set before the Civil War following the journey of a young boy named Huck. Huck struggles to escape his abusive father and takes to the Mississippi river alongside a black man named Jim. Jim, himself, struggles to gain freedom and escape enslavement. This novel would be considered a serious offense to an individual who has a closed mind about the matter at hand and has not fully understood when this book took place.

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743 Words | 3 Pages

We know that Twain is not racist, but he did use the N-word to show what kind of people his characters were. Delila Lloyd wrote a document that addresses both sides of the issue, but one of the points that sticks out is "Take the N-word out of Huck Finn, and is it really Huck Finn?" (Lloyd). Huck uses the N-word because he grew up in a society where the word was meaningless, and was used to describe slaves as scum. The word practically means nothing, but not as in the word doesn't have a meaning, but in the sense that the people described as the word are meaningless.

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1999 Words | 8 Pages

The word ‘nigger’ is used 219 times throughout Mark Twain’s novel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’. This fact, along with Twain’s depiction of Jim and subtle attack on religion, has offended not only multitudes of African-Americans, but also the Catholic Church. Twain’s novel has simultaneously revolutionized American literature and become one of the most frequently banned books in history. ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ was extremely provocative from its very publication, as its themes of rebellion, disobedience, and interracial friendship were thought to corrupt young children. In recent years, debates have no longer centered around Huck’s disobedience but implications of racism and anti-religious allusions.

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1030 Words | 5 Pages

The constant usage of the n word can be demeaning and harmful to African American students — in 1995, a group of African American students in Cherry Hill, NJ suddenly began failing tests and quizzes in their English class. This happened as a result of an incompetent teacher, who forgot to mention the 200 plus instances of the n word and the fact that the book was controversial. And to make matters worse, the white students would snicker and stare at the African American students when the n word was read aloud. (Document E) This should not be the case — I was lucky enough to have a teacher who would make sure to make reading Huck Finn as comfortable as it would aloud.

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1310 Words | 6 Pages

Dunkirk: A Heroic Effort Amidst Emphatic Silence Ever since our world achieved universal peace once again on the historical day of September 2nd, 1945, historians, survivors, and film directors alike have put their talents together to create monumental artifacts in order to retell famous stories of destruction caused by the Second World War. Although there are many films regarding heroic stamina that occurred within the horrific years of 1939 and 1945 that make up the war film genre, a miraculous story concerning an evacuation of over 340,000 trapped Allied soldiers off of the beaches of Dunkirk, France is often an unreported tale in both the film industry and history classes.

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495 Words | 2 Pages

In the mid thirteenth centuries, the Black Plague had ended. And then the Renaissance was born. The renaissance was the time of Arts and humanism. Because of the Black Plague had ended the Medieval Times, there was no feudalism. Humanism was also one of thing that were important.

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142 Words | 1 Pages

In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the racist attitudes of the Deep South in the late 1800's are shown. Mark Twain portrays a runaway slave, Jim, as a racist caricature who does whatever is asked of him and exhibits little intelligence. The reader can initially see this through the use of the word "nigger" that is all throughout the book. In the modern 21st century this term is taken offensively, but in the 19th century this term was commonly used and Twain took advantage of it.

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917 Words | 4 Pages

Students should learn about the value the novel provides from that time-period in which Mark Twain wrote, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain put the N word in the novel for a reason, to describe the time-period in which these events had occurred. Phillip Rawls writes, “‘It’s such a shame that one word should be a barrier between a marvelous reading experience and a lot of readers,’ Gribben said. Yet Twain was particular about his words.”

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