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Why Should Huckleberry Finn Not Be Banned

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Censoring the N-word in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a terrible idea with many consequences. Changing Nigger to slave only makes it more comfortable for people who can’t face the idea of past slavery. It also obscures view of what Mark Twain was wanting to. Changing the N-word completely disproves his idea of staying true to others dialects. The N-word should not be censored in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it changes the connotation of the entire book.
Changing the N-word to slave completely changes how the book is read by making it more appealing to readers who are not comfortable with a more realistic approach to slavery. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck runs into a lady at the docks and during this run in …show more content…

If he used slave instead of Nigger he would no longer be staying true to what he says about dialects. This is how they spoke and changing these words doesn’t make them any less racist than they already were, but acknowledging the words that he used shows people how much has changed since those horrible times. If the word Nigger is erased from the book it gives off the idea that there should not be talk about racial injustice or divides. Twain said “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning” (Mark Twain Quotes). The difference between lightning bugs and actual lightning is tremendous. A lightning bug is a tiny dot of light while lightning is a huge flash of electricity that is fatal. Likewise the word slave is a minor term that doesn’t illuminate all that Twain wants to say, while on the other hand the word Nigger illuminates a broader and stronger connection to Twain's

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