Censoring Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

School boards debate over whether or not Mark Twain's novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn belongs in a high school classroom because of the vernacular and racism seen through the character Jim. Rather than ignoring the stereotypes of black people and the vernacular exhibited in Twain's novel, including the novel in a high school syllabus gives students an in-depth look at our history and how it effects them, which, ultimately, allows them to formulate their own opinion on racism.

Many students and parents have argued that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is n an inappropriate book that should be excluded from a high school classroom because the word "nigger" appears in the book numerous times. The derogatory word "nigger" has been, and is still, sadly, used in the English language to describe black people. It is also a word that has been incorporated into pop culture. By reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, teachers open up the discussion on a word that many people choose to ignore because of the word's history. Through Twain's novel, students understand just how repugnant the word is. For example, while Huck, playing Tom, is at Aunt Sally's house, Aunt Sally asks Huck if anyone was hurt in the explosion, Huck says, "No'm. Killed a nigger" (363), in which Aunt Sally replies, "Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt" (363). The character Aunt Sally does not care about a black person getting hurt. They are just "niggers". This dialogue is a fine example of the dehumanization of black people. Students are censored from how this word has impacted U.S. Americans if the book is censored. Yes, students can look the word up in the dictionary and they've also been taught that word is bad, but Adventures of Huckleberry Finn shows them why the word is bad - the association of the word with the dehumanization of black people. Perhaps after reading the novel, those students who choose to use the word as slang, will change their mind because they were able to discuss the word in an educated environment.

Furthermore, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn takes place before the Civil War. During this time it wasn't unusual for a person, whether they were white or non-white, to use the word "nigger". Having the word in the novel gives the story a sense of realism because that is how people talked in the South. If Twain had left the word out, it wouldn't have as much of an impact on his readers because the dialogue would not sound as authentic. From reading Twain's novel, students learn that dialect is as much of history as events are.

Besides the vernacular of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, people argue that the character of Jim is racist because he is portrayed as a childish, goofy character; thus, they think book should be banned. It is because Jim is portrayed this way that the book should not be banned. From reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a teacher can lead a discussion on the relations between the character of Jim and how black people are portrayed in entertainment. In the novel, Jim states that, "witches bewitched him and put him in a trance...then set him under the trees again and hung his hat on a limb to show who done it" (223), in reaction to the trick Huck and Tom play on him while he is sleeping. This story that Jim tells, demonstrates the childishness of his character that readers are upset about. Twain doesn't write that Jim figures that someone pulled a trick on him; instead Jim is portrayed as a character that isn't too smart. From an example like this, a teacher can compare it to how cartoons portray black people. Cartoons have shown black people as the joke of tricks for the audience to laugh at, such as what happens to Jim in the last example. These stereotypes of black people, exhibited through Jim in the novel, give students the opportunity to see the stereotypes that the entertainment industry presents them and the students are then able to have an in-depth opinion on the portrayal of black people.

When the book is censored, students will pick the book up and read it on their own out of interest of something they are told they can't have. These students, who have a desire to read something they were told not to read, will read this book full of stereotypes and inappropriate language and will not understand what they are reading. There is not a teacher present to lead a discussion on the book if the parents take it out of the classroom. It is understandable that parents do not want their kids subjected to racism, whether it is through characters or vernacular in a story or in real life, but censoring does more harm than addressing the topics addressed in Twain's novel. If we choose to ignore the topic of racism, students are ignorant to its effects. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn teaches students to look past stereotypes. In an educated environment, students learn how to recognize black stereotypes in movies and on television because of the novel. Additionally, students will learn through the novel how the word "nigger" dehumanized black people. If we don't want our youth to carry on the usage of this word, we need to teach them what the word means. Just as if we don't want our youth getting pregnant or contracting sexual transmitted diseases, we need to teach them about safe sex. We need to educate our youth, rather than deprive them, because it will make them choose better decisions.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, obviously a controversial novel, is a book that should be read because of the vernacular and the stereotypes of black people presented in it, not censored because of the vernacular and stereotypes. From this novel, students will be able to formulate their own opinion on racism because they will have an in-depth knowledge of the United States' history. Without the book, students will look somewhere else to get an understanding of the word "nigger" and an awareness of stereotypes of black people, that is, if they even choose too.

Works Cited
Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 6th ed. Vol. C. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003. 5 Vols. 219-407.