ipl-logo

Personal Narrative: America Does Not Need To Censor Her Past

978 Words4 Pages

America Does Not Need to Censor Her Past I thought racism was a long-dead school of thought when we first began learning about Martin Luther King Jr. in the first grade; I remembering sharing this with my parents, and the dumbfounded look they had in response to my naïveté—or perhaps my stupidity. It took me another year to come around to the idea that racism was still alive and well in this country (after all, no one that I knew was being lynched or denied the right to vote): when I first heard “nigger” used to refer to Barack Obama by my grandmother’s neighbor in South Carolina—a place where prejudice runs deep and some believe the Civil War is still being fought nearly one hundred and fifty-five years later. Since then I must have heard “nigger” used hundreds of times as a term of endearment or as a vile insult; by my black friends or by my white classmates; in song lyrics or in everyday conversation; however, each time one thing remains the same: the immense power and history behind the most loaded word in the English language. “Nigger” is not interchangeable with the word slave; slave is not the invention of American racism and it does not …show more content…

To censor Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn would not only do a complete disservice to the author himself, who chose his words carefully to convey a certain message, but

Show More
Related

  • Excessive Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

    842 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today’s censorship is more geared towards avoiding offensive literature, which is exactly the reason why Beatty said burning books was for the good. In Hugh Mercer Curtler’s essay named “Political Correctness and The Attack on Great Literature,” he describes a recent example of this

    Read More

  • Examples Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

    644 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book, there are many examples of censorship one that stuck out to me was “So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the

    Read More

  • Why Huckleberry Finn Should Not Be Banned Essay

    1255 Words  | 6 Pages

    Many books have been censored or banned in libraries and schools across the United States because of their suggestive or inappropriate content. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, a sequel to the popular The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, is one of the books that are being illuminated as “unfit to read”. It is the story a young boy, Huck, and a black man, Jim, in the 1800s, who ran away and their journey across the Mississippi River. It is a controversial piece in a majority of the classrooms across America. In this book, the N word shows up over two hundred times (Here's Why Banning 'Huck Finn' Over The N-Word Sends The Wrong Message).

    Read More

  • Should Huckleberry Finn Be Banned In High Schools

    901 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many believe this meaningful piece of literature should be banned from the high school curriculum. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should stay in the high school curriculum because it is unprejudiced, historical, and important to literature. This story should stay in the high school curriculum because it is unprejudiced. Author and abolitionist Mark Twain uses satire to mock

    Read More

  • How Does Steinbeck Continue To Ban Of Mice And Men

    592 Words  | 3 Pages

    I am writing to you to plead that you do not continue to censor and ban the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck in schools in America. Steinbeck wrote this novella as an educated critique of American society during his life. Although there are many controversial topics throughout his writing, he wrote them to enhance the story. I plead that you discontinue the banning and censoring of Of Mice and Men because the profanity and controversy was purposeful and because it portrays a very accurate picture of the Great Depression. While Steinbeck frequently used profanity throughout the story, he arguably did so in order to enhance the story.

    Read More

  • Why Should Huckleberry Finn Be Banned

    1603 Words  | 7 Pages

    Censorship Rough Draft “The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame” (Oscar). The words remarked by renowned author Oscar Wilde oppose the numerous efforts of many current governments to censor threatening texts. Many books are banned, because they showcase offensive themes; however, this depicts America’s appreciation of literature, or rather lack thereof. Books should not be banned because they depict realistic ideals and conflicts that many people may relate to.

    Read More

  • Gloria Naylor's Nigger: The Meaning Of A Word

    1589 Words  | 7 Pages

    Throughout the history of the United States, many derogatory and hurtful terms have been created to refer to individuals or a collective group of minority people with the goal of undermining them. Some examples of these words are ‘Nigger’, ‘Faggot’, ‘Beaner’ among countless other harmful labels. These terms are problematic, as they dehumanize the race in which they target, as reminders of the oppression experienced by these groups, giving the terms power. Among these hateful words, ‘nigger’ remains the oldest term and is the most racially charged and hurtful to the minority group that it intends to harm which are blacks. Only blacks should be able to use the word ‘nigger’ in America, because it was created with the intentions to dehumanize blacks, carrying all of the racist and discriminatory history experienced by blacks in the

    Read More

  • How Should Huckleberry Finn Be Taught In Schools

    503 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn created a controversy when it was first released. Today, 125 years later it is still making news and creating even more controversy, especially within high schools all over the country. Many people believe that high school students should not read Twain’s novel. Mark Twain’s

    Read More

  • Why Huck Finn Should Not Be Banned Essay

    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.

    Read More

  • Coda From Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

    154 Words  | 1 Pages

    Bradbury in his “Coda from Fahrenheit 451,” asserts that editors and minorities ruin authors’ work by taking out or censoring anything they see as unacceptable. He develops his claim by utilizing violent imagery in order to criticize censorship. Bradbury illustrates how the editors “skin” the stories and leave them “leeched and bled white.” Moreover, Bradbury provides real-world anecdotes in order to elaborate on his frustrations. He recalls how “75 separate sections” of Fahrenheit 451 were edited out for fear of “contaminating the young.”

    Read More

  • Examples Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

    1336 Words  | 6 Pages

    Censorship: A Restriction on Intellectual Thought “Every minority, be it Baptist / Unitarian, Irish / Italian / Octogenarian / Zen Buddhist… feel it has the will, the right, the duty to douse the kerosene, light the fuse(Bradbury 2).” Similar to Ray Bradbury’s notions from his “Coda” on Fahrenheit 451, controversial opinions and novel ideas are sometimes engulfed in the animosity and intolerance of minorities who deem it in their best interest to shield any opposing ideology. One, moreover, might wonder how this intolerance might have originated. Well, from the desire to remove or conceal any offensive materials, special interest groups and parents of young children have attempted to ban or edit books with good intentions, albeit with detrimental effects in the long run. Of course, these entities may think they have the people’s best interests in mind, but in reality, they completely undermine the intellectual freedom one can possess.

    Read More

  • Huckleberry Finn Should Be Banned

    1456 Words  | 6 Pages

    Toni Morrison effectively analyzed The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, covering different perspectives and ways to interpret the novel that displays a higher level understanding of a “challenging” text. Good writing and analysis skills are crucial for a variety of different tasks students will have to perform beyond school. Additionally, challenging literature offers a great opportunity for students to learn about censorship. As many books read in schools today are being censored, any opportunity for students to directly learn more about the issue is beneficial. In the article “Schools Can’t Ban Books Because of Complaints, Court Says,” Mark Walsh addresses a woman who wishes to discard of controversial works, such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, that provoke racial harassment in the school system (Source B).

    Read More

  • Huckleberry Finn Should Be Banned Essay

    718 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Should be Banned From Schools In school are students supposed to learn about bad language and how to treat people poorly?The fiction novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain should be removed from schools. Twain writes about serious topics as a satire so many people do not realize the intensity. The language, alcoholism, violence, lying, and breaking the law are a few reasons for this novel to be banned from schools. Mark Twain writes about many questionable subjects but does so as a satire which makes it slightly more acceptable.

    Read More

  • What It Means To Say N Word Essay

    572 Words  | 3 Pages

    However if I hear someone saying nigger to demean, it would make me incredibly uncomfortable and offended. The word nigger needs to be used today. If people stop using it, its oppressive past will be forgotten and neglected which is ignoring the problem. There is still lots of subconscious racism in our society and the solution to fixing that problem is not ignoring race, it is acknowledging that race exist and then realizing that it does not matter.

    Read More

  • What Is Racism In Huck Finn

    1124 Words  | 5 Pages

    The book is seen as a controversial element due to the fact that it contains many slurs and a language that is seen as vulgar and crude. Twain’s attitude infers that the ideal thought of slavery and racism are in fact are somewhat the traditional views of the past, but he used satire and irony to insure his readers

    Read More

More about Personal Narrative: America Does Not Need To Censor Her Past

Open Document