Why Huckleberry Finn Should Be Banned

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was one of the first realistic

books written in the 19th century. The story tells of a friendship between a lowly white

teenager and an African American man on their trip up the Mississippi River. The book

was meant as a symbol against racism, but it is frequently banned in schools and

libraries for its use of racially offensive material. The censorship of the book was

always an highly controversial topic.

For a special learning environment such as a school, The Adventures of

Huckleberry Finn should definitely be banned from its curriculum. The amount of racial

material used is offensive to African American students, causing misunderstanding

among the students. Even though the purpose of the novel was

Negroes do not like it in any book or play whatsoever, be the book or play ever so

sympathetic in its treatment of the basic problems of the race.” If true, how is

Huckleberry Finn an exception?

There are many accounts and complaints of white students acquiring foul

racist behavior within Huckleberry Finn. One is the case of students racially abusing an

African American child’s father after they have learned the novel. “...his father says,

was verbally and physically abused by his white classmates after they have all read

Huckleberry Finn in class.” - Nat Hentoff, Village Voice. To make the situation worse,

these cases happen more than often. PBS once reported at the that “White students

would nervously ‘snicker’ or ‘turn around and stare’ at the handful of African American

students when the word was read aloud.” The novel provides the young white students

with racial slurs, at the same time implies to them the language is okay to use.

Children nowadays grow up in Hip Pop culture where the “N” word is highly

prevalent. They may understand that the word is not good to use, however