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April 5, 2005
Do you think “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” should be banned from schools?
"Over the summer I read this novel and I must say, it is one of the few books with lots of writing that I actually wanted to finish. Lots of controversy surrounds this novel due to the excessive use of the N-word. If a single book is going to be condemned because of a bad word, they may as well remove all books from the curriculum. The truth is, these books are historically accurate in the environment setup, and in order to show our history we must show the truth, and the truth is ugly."
-freshman Daniel Quang
"'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' should not be banned from schools. Efforts to ban then books are an insult to the intellect of students, who are expected to maintain their studies and function in a high-school environment, yet are not trusted to draw their own conclusions about a novel. While the school system may wish to 'protect' students from the ideas expressed in this book, this 'holier than thou' crusade will succeed only in accelerating the decay of what little free thought students have left. Why else are we here but to learn? How long is it until even the voice of Bradbury and his great work 'Fahrenheit 451' are silenced?"
-sophomore Christopher Ward
"Huck Finn should not be banned from public schools. Although there are a lot of offensive racial remarks in it, it's important to remember that Mark Twain was not racist and wrote the book as a satirical criticism of the racist mindset many 19th century Americans had. It is crucial that students have access to it as a historical document simply to prove how far we've come since then."
-sophomore Alexandra O'Hora
"I think that 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' should not be banned from public schools. There is no good reason. If the reason is bad language, our school would be void of virtually all books worth reading. If the reason is the reason that it was banned when first written, because of the freeing of slaves, that reason has been desolved for over a century. So, it should be perfectly fine to have this book in public schools."
-freshman David Jia
-freshman Daniel Quang
"'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' should not be banned from schools. Efforts to ban then books are an insult to the intellect of students, who are expected to maintain their studies and function in a high-school environment, yet are not trusted to draw their own conclusions about a novel. While the school system may wish to 'protect' students from the ideas expressed in this book, this 'holier than thou' crusade will succeed only in accelerating the decay of what little free thought students have left. Why else are we here but to learn? How long is it until even the voice of Bradbury and his great work 'Fahrenheit 451' are silenced?"
-sophomore Christopher Ward
"Huck Finn should not be banned from public schools. Although there are a lot of offensive racial remarks in it, it's important to remember that Mark Twain was not racist and wrote the book as a satirical criticism of the racist mindset many 19th century Americans had. It is crucial that students have access to it as a historical document simply to prove how far we've come since then."
-sophomore Alexandra O'Hora
"I think that 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' should not be banned from public schools. There is no good reason. If the reason is bad language, our school would be void of virtually all books worth reading. If the reason is the reason that it was banned when first written, because of the freeing of slaves, that reason has been desolved for over a century. So, it should be perfectly fine to have this book in public schools."
-freshman David Jia
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=.=
...I think I wrote a paper on this last year...
Based on your spelling, grammar, and obvious care for humanities, you seem like a well educated student yourself. Perhaps your school has banned this wonderful, great American novel?
It's the students like you that cause the fear of our generation to arise from the adults around us. Unfortunately for you, and fortunately for me, you- again, based on your words, the world will not be in your hands. Neither will anything else, with the exception of overdue bills, a seasonal job between McDonald's and Wendy's, and a few children who's future's I fear for.
Our generation, more than any other, is in deep need to be educated, and hiding us from all the racism, cussing, and sex is going to do everything other than educate us. We must be taught everything the world has to offer us, good and bad, and it doesn't matter if that means the lesson comes in the form of a book, and a few assignments.
we need to know about are past to prevent it from happening again. Knowledge of what happened and why its wrong is much better than just forgetting about it. Its people like you that let mistakes in history repeat themselves.
Come on, House of the Spirits spends more time describing women getting raped, dogs in heat, and incest then it does describing the actual story.
How can they make us read stuff like that and ban Huck Finn?
if they take away Huck Finn, what will be next? Of Mice and Men? Catcher in the Rye? Harry Potter?
If you're so averse to the N-word, why not ban the rap music that they play at lunch? That would be far more appropriate because that has no educational value; Huck Finn, if nothing else, gives students an insight into the racist society of 19th century america.
dumb ahh!
And for the comment on songs, I do agree somewhat, but not entirely. I think it's interpreted differently -as you said it is used in songs (that are petty to Huck Finn)- because it probably is just slang (as "j" said).
-Sophomore Eric
food for thought: Where's Waldo is on the ALA's list of top 100 most challenged books 1990-2000. so is shel siverstein's work, judy blume, a wrinkle in time, and harry potter.
After reading some of the comments, it seems to me that some of you may not understand the novel fully.
What matters is the fact that the students are getting the right information about the time period and the way society was at that time and the fact that in many ways, SOCIETY WAS WRONG. The book doesn't necessarily teach that the behavior of the characters in the book is wrong.
If we bann Huck Finn out of the school because of the N-words Twain wrote at that
particular time being, why don't we bann all the Dictionaries, which have even more N-words and even with definition!
Besides, I am also a colored student myself (Chinese) who is studying German and English in Germany, and I don't think that we should focus on banning such kinds of classical literary works in order to fight against racialism!
The point is, Huck Finn is a classic piece of literature. People get offended by books all over. But you can't go and ban an educational and historical piece of literature and shield your eyes from the past world just because you don't like what it is they're saying. It's not even PROMOTING racism. If they get rid of H Finn because people are offended by racist language, they should also ban the other books that offend OTHER people. We have history. We need to teach history. Yes, there are some horrible sections of our history, and our worlds history, but we can't skip over them because YOU get offended by what the world was like way back when. Why? Because that will leave our generation even more uneducated than we've already become.
If you want to get rid of matters like these, just do away with Social Studies in general.
Btw, I'm sorry that kids now days are disrespectful enough to call their peers w***** and other sorts of things (been there) But don't let it get ya down. Prolly half the jerks that use it don't even know what the word means. :]
ALSO btw, to ms and hs students:
pay attention to your words eh? too much crap going around about people these days. prolly wont do anything, me saying this, but I thought I'd at least try.
Have a good day
Yes, they do reference him as it.But ust think how Huck doesn't see Jim as a color but more as a person and as they had this adventure together it brought them closer, and they both learned something about a different color then they ever expected. And Mark Twain isn't bashing really anybody in the book, he doesn't specficlly point at black people or ignorant people, he says what he saw.I could go on all day about this book, but if you read it, you won't get offended, i will admit at first i was shocked he used the n-word, but the society we are in now, there are worse words that are being said. Unless you're easily offended by little things, then don't waste your time reading this book.
Try reading The Biography of Malcom X. While it probably wasnt as controversial as Huck Finn, the first half of the book is certainly full of anger and resentment towards the white man.
do it.
whether the book should be banned.. who cares.. people will always have something to complain about.
Although the word was used many times, if you actually read the book, you would see how Huck and Jim has a relationship that would not have been accepted by people in the south at that time. Read the book before you want it banned, geniouses.
geniouses is spelled geniuses -_-
“It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger.”
He is saying that this is so hard for him to do because Jim is black. If Jim were a friend of Huck’s who was white such as Huck’s friend, Tom, then it would have been easier for him to go apologize. Also, later in the book, when they are on the river, Jim starts talking about his plan of what he is going to do when he is free. Keep in mind that by now Huck and Jim have spent a lot of time together and have become friends. Huck starts to feel like he is doing the wrong thing by helping Jim become a free man. He starts to think that he should turn him in. I can’t imagine doing that to one of my friends but I guess that during those times it was just always how the whites thought about the blacks.
There is another debate about whether this book should be read in a classroom setting because of the racial controversy. There are people who feel the book is racist because of the use of the “N” word and the degrading way that the blacks are characterized in the book. Personally, I feel that was the way that people spoke back then. Therefore, when Mark Twain was writing the book that is what he was trying to show in his writing the way that people spoke and the way that the blacks were treated. Even today some blacks refer to themselves or their friends as the “N” word. At the end of the book, Huck finally got over society’s way of looking at the blacks and saw through the color of the skin and found a good friend in Jim.
Because I read this for my AP class, I have a better understanding about what went on in those times and how people thought. If it wasn’t for this class, I probably would not of read this book again. It is good to look back on how people thought back then and see how sad and immature it is to think that way. I feel this book has given me a better outlook on how the times were back in the eighteen hundreds.
We as kids learn all of our lives about the history of the whole world, we spend most of our teenage life focusing on what history went down here in American where we live. There are alot of things that we as Americans aren't proud of, but that doesn't mean we should try to hide it from the world, we should live and learn. I believe that "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" should not be banned from schools i believe it is an important part of history. Not something we should be proud that we did but you know, that makes us "young adults" learn from our elders. We look back on the history our ancestors have made and we learn from them. If we ban this book from school how will we ever learn what to do and not to do from the past?
PS (sorry for the spelling)
Henry
"...i think it gives whites a excuse to say the n word..."
i have to disagree with you . i think if its going to "give whites an excuse to say the n word", its already been on their mind to say it in the first place . its like this: if it was bound to happen it will happen . and, unfortunately, it is bound to happen . yes, this is an upsetting truth, but you cant ban a book because of it .
i think that this book should never be removed from high school curriculum or banned . mark twain was a terrific writer in realism . this book showed (and spoke) the truth . how could the book be racist or made to offend one specific race when the author was fighting for that races' freedom ? and also, why would twain have made the most loyal and humble characters (jim) a black man if he didnt know what he was doing ? i think that this novel spoke the truth about civilization as we know it, putting us in the position of naive Huck . sometimes the context in which you must speak the truth hurts .
above all, this is a great book and i hope my kids and their kids and on will be able to learn from it as many of us have .
And as for the "n-word"; it simply embodied slavery of the time period. It was over-used, out-dated, cruel. Slavery: over-used, out-dated, cruel/defiling. Mark Twain did a good job of it. And besides, people also miss the fact that Huck Finn more or less represents the conscience of humanity, and everyone else represents humanity. Interesting how the conscience of humanity is willing to go to hell and burn for the rest of eternity to save Jim and become an outlaw. Still believe it should be banned?
If anything it speaks out for black people, and tars and feathers all of white society, revealing the hypocrisy of it all.
The nation wide controversial issue surrounding the book Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is that “Should the adventures of Huckleberry Finn be taught in the high school eleventh grade classes today?” Many critics of the book say that the adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not be allowed in high school eleventh grade classes because of its reference to the African-American race. I disagree with the many critics, I think the adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be allowed in eleventh grade classes because the book shows actual growth from racism to acceptance, it has a great story line, and all at the same time it allows our imaginations to flow with the rhythm of the book, while still getting an educational experience from the book as well.
The main characters of the book are Huckleberry, Jim and Tom. Huckleberry and Tom are southern white boys growing up in a time where racism was as common as going to church on Sundays. They were growing up “at a time when black identity in American society was undefined.”(1 Ampersand) While Huckleberry and Tom were taught that blacks were sub-human creatures without souls or feelings.” (1 Ampersand) Since the book was written twenty years before the civil war the common word used to identify the African American race was the word “nigger”. (106 Twain) In the story the boy Huckleberry has an internal conflict about if Jim is an actual person, because he is an African American. Also in the story you see how in the beginning of the book Huckleberry is racist because he plays a very degrading joke on Jim which makes Jim feel inferior to Huckleberry. “Huck, however, acts as if he has never left the raft and convinces Jim that he ahs dreamed the entire episode. Confused and intimidated by Huck’s foolery, Jim acquiesces to the lie and thus his own sense of inferiority. Jim reverts to the only means he knows to help him rationalize his bewilderment; superstition. He redefines his real experience with a fictitious interpolation “painted up considerable” with supernatural warnings and signs.” (2 Ampersand) As the story grows on the tension within Huckleberry does as well. By the end of the story Huckleberry finally admits “I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their’n. It don’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so.” (3 Ampersand) With this statement everything that Huckleberry has been taught has been flipped and reversed, he acknowledges that Jim is not a sub-human creature without souls or feelings, that infact he is capable of feeling human love.
This book is filled with many adventures especially with Huckleberry and Jim, and Huckleberry and Tom as well. “We went tiptoeing along the path amongst the trees back toward the end of the widows garden, stooping down so as the branches wouldn’t scrape our heads. When we was past the kitchen I fell over a root and made a noise. We scrunched down and laid still.” (4 Twain) This scene Huckleberry and Tom are sneaking out. “Tom he made a sign to me – kind of a little noise with his mouth – and we went creeping away on our hands and knees. When we was ten feet off whispered to me, he wanted to tie Jim to the tree for fun. But I said no.” (5 Twain) These boys were constantly doing anything and everything you could possibly think of to defy and kind of rules that were given to them.
This book defiantly should be allowed because we as high school students are getting an educational experience from the book as well. In high school students are assigned book after book after book to read analyze and test on, but with Huckleberry Finn we can actually learn about history while still enjoying ourselves and are not bored our of our minds. This book has historical meaning that is very significant. It shows how the south morally depicted African Americans. This book was written in 1888 and African American citizens were not granted citizenship until 1870 and then were still not treated correctly. “The truth is, these books are historically accurate in the environment set up, and in order to show our history we must show truth, and the truth is ugly.” (1 Quang)
So yes, the adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught in the high school eleventh grade classes today? The book should be taught be cause it shows people can change for the better, rare, but possible, the book has a great story line. And last but not least this book has a great educational value to it, why would they not allow such a fine 300 pages full of ink into eleventh grade classes? I feel that people are trying to hide from the truth, because the truth hurts.
and the whole book is a message against racism. have you even read it? did you pay attention? i mean come on. are you serious?
We learn from history, this book teaches us and exposes the problems of racisim. It teaches us not to repeat them and tells us to treat everyone kindly. That to be a "good human" is to treat everyone with respect. If we ignore histroy we are doomed to repeat it.
"Mark Twain uses the word nigger 215 times, we are constantaly being reminded by critics that are too busy counting the words to understand the meaning."
fREADom. Ain't that right, yall.
Check you later. Out.
I do believe it should be banned, BUT ONLY on the ELEMENTARY level. It is a -great- book, it presents ideas that are -still- modern and hard for others to grasp, which is amazing, considering how long it was written. (I've actually commented below on how brilliant the book is, and why it is that way), but the reality is, not -everyone- is going to be able to pick up on the satires of the lives Twain has placed in this novel. It's interesting to me how this is written from the perspective of a child, immature in language and grammar; I do believe that Twain did this to target the younger generations. He himself did not believe in slavery, and the saying will always be true; if you want -real- change to occur, target the ever-changeable and -influencable children, why waste your time with stubborn adults? What he wanted was to get the message across, that slavery, while taught as okay, that it is -okay- to struggle with it. That it -is- okay to not believe that it's right; and really, even if a child were reading this, and has never been exposed to slavery, the horror of it does come across through the experience of Huck and his buddy. What a child reading this will see are the complexities of "sivilized" society, what a child reading this will struggle with are all of the wrongs done to a character he/she feels endeared to, almost best-friended with throughout the tales of this novel. And this is great, it's great for psychological analysis, but the reality is, slavery is no longer an issue. The feelings and ideas about slavery are one of the few that a _child_ will be able to pick up on; he will not be able to decipher the complexities of right and wrong Twain has inserted in his novel through the actions of the characters. A child will only be able to read it on a surface level; and on a surface level, the book is awful. It's no good unless one can delve deeper into it than just the incorrect grammar (that a child, if he/she decides to make this his/her favorite book, will become accustomed to and perhaps even begin to speak in the manner of) and the mere stories and captions throughout the pages. Honestly, I don't want an elementary child reading a book that satirizes the religion he may very well choose to grow into; while in Twain's experience, there are many churches where the pigs spend more time more freely in church than the people, and Christians sit in pews with guns latched to their sides, those scenes aren't in my experience, and I'm pretty American too. Not every church is like that, and I don't want the spoils of an experience for Huck Finn to spoil his mind on that level, because he may not be able to simply take it as satire as we would, he may take it for truth.
But most glaringly, the "n-word". "Nigger" is used -very- many times in this book, well over 200, to be approximate. Honestly, the use of that word is still a hot topic (I have more on it in my comment below) today. What I don't want, is for a child, un-knowing and without the intent to hurt anyone, to be given a weapon that can wound and cut as this one word can wound and cut. I don't want a child to un-knowingly use the word that so many (white and black alike) take offense to; and really, by placing this word in the mouth of a favorite story-time character and before a child over 200 times in a 300-page book that -is- likely to become his/her favorite...? What more can you expect than whatever is likely to happen..?
And really, think about it. Everyone commenting on this page, and likely reading it, is on some kind of adult thinking level. This book isn't a children's novel. Not anymore. It was once intended for that audience, to influence and persuade their minds into a different course/groove of thinking. And it has, it served it's purpose well, slavery is no longer allowed in the states. Other than open the eyes of children to that world of hurt, to the wrongs of that lifestyle, this book has no purpose in their hands. The controversy is not among the children, it is among the comprehension of the adults that control the medias and modes of influence of children; it is among individuals of the elite, individuals capable of complex thought. Children aren't these individuals. This -is- NOT a children's novel anymore. It's not a silly story that should be back-handed by placing it on a dusty shelf in the children's section of Fiction. It's a big book, there aren't pretty pictures in it, it involves deep complex thought on the psychological influences and processes of human (not black, or white, but human) society, so -why- is it found in the children's section of libraries? Why is a book that makes use of the word nigger over 200 times given/recommended to children as a must-read? Why is something that portrays pigs as holier individuals than people, I mean really! That's disgusting. To give this book to a child is ridiculous. It -should- be banned until he/she is capable or able enough to read -and- comprehend it. It's a great read, but the comprehension is necessary for it's effect as one of the greatest American works of literature to set in.
I have faith in children, but not that much... My apologies.
THERE WHO DISAGREE'S WITH THE BANNING
OF THIS BOOK, BECAUSE I THINK THIS BOOK
HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RACISM, AND ITS
JUST FOR THE EDUCATIONAL BENEFIT OF OUR
STUDENTS TO KNOW HOW THINGS AND LIFE WAS
IN THOSE DAYS...C'MON PEOPLE, ITS JUST A
BOOK!!
P.S. PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL ARGUEING GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!
We surely weren´t happy about this...-.-
That´s my opinion about this book!
Jennifer Jones
The book is a masterpiece of literacy and satire, the satire mainly concerning racist racial prejudices and beliefs. (Means it makes fun of the rednecks who can't recognize African-Americans as people.)
One of the main points of the book is that through experiences with Jim, Huck sees his humanity.
About the "n-word", yes it is a terrible word and should never be said, that being said the book MUST USE the "n-word" in order to show us how hurtful and wrong the use of the word IS.
To ban or edit Twain's masterpiece would be to destroy a brilliantly written anti-racist work.
Would we ban the reading of Marthin Luther King's passionate anti-racist speeches?
Book shouldn't be banned people, the people its hurting are just plain ignorant to see the true meaning of the story.
Peace.
Jack
Okay, so for all you black people in the audience:
Yes, I do get offended when people use the n-word, although I am not black it is still a derogatory term that is way too overused in today's society.
But the truth of the matter is, in the 19th century, when Twain wrote this book, the n-word was not even thought of to be as derogatory, the meaning was forgotten and it was thrown around to identify black people. It was not considered to be offensive again until the civil rights movement a little over 100 years later. Also, the term and everything else that seems racist in the book is accurately portraying the reality of the time period.If people ban this book, it is taking away the exposure of the harsh reality of the time and people will be exposed to the fluffed up versions in textbooks. This book helps prepare people for the harshest realities in the world, such as racism, war, politics, religion, etc. It teaches a valuable lesson to teenagers.
If teachers don’t think that students can handle the N word, then they evidently do not perceive the students to be mature enough to handle crude language. The students use words similar to the N word (if not to that degree) in everyday language. The word makes the book more genuine, as that was how people talked when there was slavery and much more racism. Without the word, the book would not be realistic. It shows how Huckleberry was raised, how he doesn’t know any better.
your friend
Turkey Beef ^^
white people are more cautious about racist stuff
than black people are.
i actually just read an article saying that
an almost all black school didn't want to ban huck finn
on account of it's historical accuracy.
the students loved the book.
just kidding
having this book to be bans meant that students doesn't have to be force to read it anymore.
So now they could or not choose to read the book ( which i doubt if anyone will)
Because they already knew about racism, the only thing that i would think they would be interesting in is the adventure
do you have a life? ...........i think NOT!
- I am currently doing a report on this as well. All I have to say is that the book needs to be read its part of our 'HISTORY' and history itself. especially, our history is not the prettiest one. but, its important to learn how generations before us have acted and been treated.
It should not be MANDATORY, this is a story with a lot of bad words.
Althought it should be a book put in the OPTIONAL list.
Some people take that book as an offense. It should not. It is part of the history. It should be optional, because some people read it and take it the wrong way. Some people are not mature enough to understand it.
I am not against it neither in favor of the book. I am indeed in favor of keeping the book as an optional extra credit project or so for Juniors or Seniors in high school.
It is always good to know history but some history better not be told to young and not yet mature individuals.
*Any replys send to my email.
**English is my second language, so do not mock me for any incorret statements. Those are my personal opinions about this discussion.™
But a lot of african american kids are actually really offended when they read Huck Fin, also they have said that it changes the perspective of the class and could lead to ostracising in classrooms. Maybe the problem is the way it is taught. If taught improperly, it could lead some students to misconstrue the use of "nigger" as something completely acceptable. If kids only grab the superficial or are not set up properly, introduced to the material and the context of the book, then this can easily happen.
Also, maybe the age range it is taught isn't properly assigned. That's the main purpose of the book ban. Not to limit rights, but to present information in a way that will actually be beneficial. There is an argument that the school is not the best location to do this, especially if not done properly. As I said, it could lead to unfair treatment. We talk about the degree of education and how it should be beneficial to all. Unfortunately, we do live in the real world, and not all children are able to handle information as well as others. Sadly.
Also, I believe that the book ban can be used properly. When a book is banned, it is removed from the curriculum, but it is against the law, as ordered by the Supreme Court, that it should be removed from the library. That way, it can become a more personalized approach: As in, when you are ready to handle that information, take your time and read it. Information about the past of your own country is not withheld, it is present to those who want it and those whose guardian/parent believes that it is the proper time for their kids to be exposed to this information. Yes, you say we are already exposed to bad things in the media. But all that is delegated to the parents to discipline and handle their kids. So in that sense, parents, who know their kids better, should be able to say when their kids are ready to be exposed to this material, especially in a REQUIRED fashion, as would be if it was in the curriculum.
Those are some good arguments, in my opionion.
The system itself is a good one, if a book is challenged, then 4 things may happen. Either it will get assigned to another grade, it may get special regulations to the way it will get introduced in class, challenge might get dropped entirely, or the ban would be placed in effect school-wide.
In this way, we can actually monitor how this stuff is being taught. Its a sensitive issue to most people, even if it isn't to you. The truth is hard to learn, and it is even harder in an environment where you feel so disconnected from your peers. Children want to belong, and its already hard enough to do that in school. By assigning it to an older population of kids, you have a better chance of not letting this happen, for information to be taken in properly, so that the real learning objective is captured. Also, if you have special regulations to the way it is presented in class, then this would further eliminate the chances of children misunderstanding the concepts. Ground-work is important in discussing certain books. Specially satirical and controversial as this one.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Its just randomly arranged right now, but if anyone thinks up something please let me know! i would love to strengthen this argument.
The bad part of it is the bad connotation of "book bans" and the amount of illiterate people who question books <_< honestly, it gives the right to challenge books for public school curricula a bad name, even though the idea for the system in place is good.
p.s.
if we cant use the word in school then why read it...