Huckleberry Finn: Censorship, Dialogue, And Change

Huckleberry Finn Research Paper
Since its introduction in 1884, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been a well respected work of literature. People across the world have read it and have gained extensive knowledge about the unfair world that once existed. Recently, the book has been subject to controversy over complaints of its use of language as well as the way human weakness is portrayed throughout the story. Many people have called for the language in the story to be changed to accommodate readers who are easily offended, while others have demanded that it be left pure and untouched. Others call for the book to be banned entirely from all classrooms, calling it offensive and racist. After extensive research, it can be concluded that
Huckleberry Finn is not an offensive book, and it should be left in the classroom for future generations to enjoy and learn from it. The fact that readers are too immature to handle a book does not give anyone grounds for banning it. Society needs to move on from simple issues, and instead educate children to understand the deeper meaning behind the book. The book also provides a fantastic teaching moment for those who read it, which may be forever lost if society chooses to ban the book. Banning the story may also raise questions about censorship and whether or not people should attempt to hide the past from younger readers.
Many of those who call for Huckleberry Finn to be banned from classrooms cite a child’s immaturity as a good reason for the book to be banned. They claim that a child who is exposed to the extremities in the book may be emotionally damaged, mostly due to the slur “nigger”. The majority of the complaints fail to cite any other reason to support banning the story, which harms the credibility of the complaints. There are plenty of questionable moments in Huckleberry Finn , yet a one word racial slur tops them all. Instead of calling for the story to be banned, people need to look past the language and instead analyze the story for what it really is. During the time period that the story was written, it was a normal occurrence for racial slurs to be used towards
African Americans, as well as other minority groups, such as the Native Americans.
Those who call for the book to be banned somehow fail to see this, and therefore lose a substantial amount of credibility within their arguments. Interestingly enough, many scholars of the early twentieth century saw no issue with Huckleberry Finn . Brander
Matthews, an early twentieth century scholar suggested that nineteenth century works of literature could be compared to recently achieved wonders such as the Scientific
Method (Matthews 513, 514). Matthews also suggested that these works of literature should be cherished throughout the new century to come (M. 514). By analyzing this, it is easy to see how stories such as Huckleberry Finn were once well respected and loved during the early twentieth century. There were no arguments over offensive language from early scholars, which raises questions as to why it is such a big deal
now.
Other scholars such as Allen CareyWebb also have very positive things to say about Huckleberry Finn. In his scholarly article titled “Racism and Huckleberry Finn :
Censorship, Dialogue, and Change”, Allen says, “ Huckleberry Finn may be the most exalted single work of American literature. Praised by our best known critics and writers, the novel is enshrined at the center of the Americanliterature curriculum” (Webb 22).
From that quote, it can be seen that Webb strongly appreciates the fact that the story is used in our teaching curriculum to educate students. Allen feels that the book is a valuable tool that should be used to teach children the struggles of those born into the previous generations. Other literary critics are not always as positive, however they still give the book a fair amount of praise. John Alberti, writer of the scholarly article titled
“The Nigger Huck: Race, Identity, and the Teaching of Huckleberry Finn” says that
Twain “effectively satirized the entire American population in Huckleberry Finn” (Alberti
930). This was achieved by having a wide amount of characters from different backgrounds such as Jim, Huck, the Duke, and the Dauphin. Alberti suggested
that
Twain intended for readers to see the Duke and Dauphin as “white trash”, whereas Jim was obviously a slave.
Alberti also suggests that Huck was “white trash” as well, due to his harsher upbringing, and for having a drunk, abusive father. Critics of Huckleberry
Finn seem to fail to point out the satirization towards Huck, the Duke, and the
Dauphin, but instead jump straight to the fact that Jim was called a “nigger” in the story. Using the stereotypes on Jim as well as everyone else is not “unpolitically correct” or harmful to children. Instead, it is absolutely appropriate for representing the time period of the book and the conflicts that ran through the American people during this time period. Without the stereotypes against the characters, there would be no Huckleberry Finn , and the story would fail to provide satisfactory learning experiences. Lying to children in order to cover up harsh events of the past does not erase them. It only causes more conflicts in the long run. Because of this, Huckleberry Finn should be left pure and original in order for it to leave a stronger, more satisfying impact on the reader.
Although Huckleberry Finn can be brutally honest at times, it still provides