Once upon a time, in a world not far from here, there are students who are forced to miss their annual train ride to Hogwarts, lock the wardrobe to the magical land of Narnia, and walk through the English countryside themselves instead of upon the back of Black Beauty. Why are these students deprived of those occurrences? They live in America, the land of the free- except when it comes to the books they can read. In fact, many schools across America exercise the practice of banning books. Since 1982, libraries, parents, and schools have attempted to ban 11,300 novels, according to the American Library Association. The essentially innoxious books are challenged for an assortment of reasons, including use of malapropos language, graphic or explicit …show more content…
Supporters of banning say profanity can negatively influence the actions and thoughts of readers, especially younger readers that may not have heard or read many corrupt words. Huckleberry Finn, a book commonly inveighed for its use of contentious racial language, is commonly challenged for that reason. For USA Today, Martha Moore wrote, “When the younger reader is staring at that word five times on a given page and the instructor is saying, 'Mark Twain didn't mean this and you have to read it with an appreciation of irony,' you're asking a lot of a younger reader”. Granted, foul vocabulary is a challenge that academies need to address, but not through barring novels. Besides, if the reader is sufficiently mature for the book, they can still learn from it. For instance, some racial characterizations do not intentionally persecute people, but show the contrasting tensions between them, conforming to the time period. Again, the article “Huck Finn Navigating Choppy Waters Again” revealed, “The word is there for a reason… The word is terrible, it's hurtful, but it's there for a reason” (Moore). The racial epithets used in that book convey the attitude of Missouri in the 1840s when friction between African Americans and white people was rising. Additionally, banning a book due to concerns about the language is not beneficial to pupils because it prevents them from learning from other components of the book. “Often the organizations or schools that ban these books fail to see the book as a whole; they often center on the one page, the one scene or even the one word containing the offensive language or meaning and judge the whole book based on that one aspect,” according to an article by Adriana Lopez. She makes a sound point. A book contains a whole plot with themes that
Providentially, committed teachers, students, parents, librarians, among other individuals have evolved to challenge the existing ideologies on book banning (Niccolini & Alyssa 22). According to the American Library Association (ALA), a good percentage of these challenges are steered by parents. Public libraries, school and university libraries, businesses as well as classrooms across the world have made great attempts of trying to ban literature on quite a regular basis. According to the executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship, attempts steered towards book-banning or censorship are encountered on a weekly basis. Banned books and articles range from centuries-old classics to contemporary bestsellers, from historical and biographical nonfiction to fictional narratives and finally from adults’ erotica to children fairy tales. This paper therefore seeks to highlight circumstances that a book should be banned or challenges and the considerations to be put into account in such decisions.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in February 1885 in America as the American Civil War was coming to a close. In the time period, slaves were a common use on farms and in houses. In the time of the American Civil War, the N-word was a term used to describe and call African slaves. For the time period, it would have been commonly used; however, today the N-word is considered an offensive term. The term is considered so offensive the New York City Council went as far as to ban the word in 2007.
In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, a young boy Huck is on the adventure of his lifetime. The majority of events Huck is a part of consist of violence, and language that is considered discriminatory today. This novel is banned in many schools because some Americans believe it to be a book offending black people, or inappropriate for students to read. Twain does not write The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to discriminate against black people, but to help Americans become aware of the reality back then, to show that he is against racial discrimination, and to let go of his past struggles.
Others think that books in school curriculums should be banned from students. Many believe that in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there is much use of the N-word. Parents have argued that the novel uses the word “nigger” 215 times (Walsh 1). Not only do people think the word is overused but that it is also offending African-American students that attend the schools. Although others may think that the novel should be banned there are more rational reasons for why it should not be.The use of the N-word is not only found in novels but has also been seen in song, shows, and even in history books found in many schools. Therefore banning books due the use of the N-word is not going to permanently get rid of the word in the daily lives of the
I would like to bring up the situation on banning books. In our 8th grade Language Arts class we have been assigned a project to read a banned or challenged book and determine whether or not the we think that our book should be approved or banned. I chose the book ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ and discovered almost immediately why this book was banned.
My Banned book was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn I chose a drawing because I wanted to try to show the contrast between the river and the land. In the middle of the picture There is a raft. On the raft there is Jim and Huck laying, watching the stars and having a good time. On each of the side there is All the terribleness of society. The river is peaceful, it even shows buck and another kid trying to escape gunmen on land by swimming across the Mississippi. All this shows that the Mississippi represents freedom. I also Wanted to show Huck feeling bad for the con men who were tarred and feathered. This show that Huck’s good heart outweighs what Huck has been told his entire life, That criminals are bad and should be punished. On the top
Additionally, the complaints that Huckleberry Finn has received for a long period of time has been taken into consideration from a vast amount of individuals and the ideas of banning the book from ever being seen on a bookshelf and also adjusting the parts of diction that a lot of people have a problem with in Huckleberry Finn have erupted throughout the course of time But, it should also be taken into account that if these ideas were to be permitted by The American Library Association, the value that Huckleberry Finn has contained throughout the time that it has existed will merely fade away knowing that a small group of people view this novel as a classic and that despite the use of the N word in various occasions, it does represent as a
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not be banned because it is one of the most important components of American literature. It supplies present day readers an opportunity to realize there was a time when slavery was accepted. This gives the reader a new perspective on slavery. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, despite being one of the most criticized novels is ardently against racism. Regardless of the criticism from obstinate individuals, the novel offers a realistic depiction of life in the south during the mid-1830s. Readers will not thoroughly comprehend the complexity of the novel unless they read the entirely unbiased and uncensored novel written during the time when slavery was legal. It was described as a creation
In 1883, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published by author Mark Twain who desired to display the ugly truth, hypocrisy, and satire of America. However, since this novel was published in the late 1800s, critics have banned or censored it’s language because it became offensive to certain people which has caused a controversy that continues to exist to this day. In particular, the most troubling aspect was the, “N-word” which had been replaced with, “slave.” Although, people now begin to claim that such a replacement creates an absolute censorship while others believe it is thoughtful. While countless people believe the novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not be taught in high school, the actuality is that it takes away certain
So many people are happy that A Book Like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn got banned or replace the end word or with slave because they thought it would hurt their children in the long run but was really hurting their children is the value of literature they’re not learning.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a fine piece of American literature and should be taught how it originally is. Not some censored piece of paper. This is why we have the First Amendment the right of free speech and that states that we can say whatever we want and whatever way we can no matter how hateful. But Mark Twain wasn't using it to create he was using it to gray find pieces of art that many today consider one of the best books in American history. Overall,
Aside from banning or censoring Huckleberry Finn, it is argued that the story should be allowed in its original from. By allowing the story in its original form, students are exposed to Twain's use of language, which includes the use of the n-word. Getting rid of the story will not allow students to read an important piece of literature that can teach them so much ,such as, a strong relationship and a side of slavery most students do not get the chance to learn about. There are many different sides on Huckleberry Finn, but “the key to understanding Huckleberry Finn is through Twain’s use of language”(David Bradley). So removing the n-word form the story defeats Twain’s purpose and does not portray the message that the author was aiming for.
Huckleberry finn is a novel that brings out the truth on how african americans were treated and how white people acted towards this issue. This noel is more real it goes in depth of the treatment and behavior people before had and still do today which is why many want to ban this from classrooms.Huckleberry Finn was number 5 of the most challenged books about culture in the 1900’s. The reasons behind of the banning of the book are irrelevant because there are more books that have a lot of offensive language (the “N” word) and also most kids are exposed to that type of language already so it really is not an unsuited book for any age group. “The reason for the harsh language was to show the reality of the events not sugar coat events so that people are blinded from the truth( presentation).” Many authors sugar coat events in history to make them more appealing to society to read but no one gets anything from that. Society needs more real language and real history to be shown in books so people see the truth behind all the barriers places so that society has no clue of the real issues.
A major issue that comes along with teaching this novel in schools is the repetition of racial slur throughout the book and its representation of racial backgrounds which maybe come off as offensive. To resolve this, others would prefer to simply ban the book from schools which would eliminate all the problems and make everything morally right: this is terribly inaccurate in many accounts. While being sympathetic to those who take offense in the racial epithets and events that are in the novel, banning the book would only appeal to the notion of making the era-appropriate language superficial which would just deny students access to the enlightened knowledge of an authentic depiction of the past. Twain refused to refrain himself from describing the culture during his time by using the derogatory “n” word continuously throughout the book and has been under fire for doing so. Banning the book would prove useless as young adults are exposed to social media, entertainment, and music that disregard the meaning behind “n” word while ignorantly throwing it into their catch-phrases and vocabulary which makes Twains’ casual slang in the book hardly an offense. It should be encouraged for students to be exposed to the flaws in society. It should be brought to light that no matter what is done to censor young adults from what is morally
This excerpt extracted from an essay written by Toshio Tamogami, a former head of Japanese air force, expresses the importance of embracing the corrupt phenomenons of the past. While these occurrences tend to be unsettling to most, does not mean that they shall be neglected and ignored. Even in this day and age, Japanese textbooks continue to utilize euphemism in portraying their own country’s obscenity in war. Allowing for these textbooks to be censored leaves the possibility for these past occurrences to reoccur because the younger population will never learn the true horror of these atrocities. The censorship of these textbooks in Japan closely relates to the banning of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain in specific schools across the United States of America. The quote from Toshio Tamogami perfectly encapsulates why it is important for works like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which although unsettling to some, should be celebrated and remembered. There are arguments made by some over the use of the word “nigger,” the negative portrayal of African Americans, and
Censorship in classic novels such as, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, take away from the author’s original message. Mark Twain, author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, wrote the book wanting to show the United States how ridiculous and horrible their racist antics were. Twain painstakingly chose every word and that amount of times it showed up in Huck Finn because he wanted to prove his point. People wanting to censor the class book are not considering the importance of having the derogatory word.