Censorship+History+of+Huck+Finn

Ever since its publication in 1884 //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// by Mark Twain has been controversial with the use of “offensive” language, events, and satire. The book has continually been censored and banned from public libraries and school, in fact, //Huckleberry Finn// was one of the 10 most frequently challenged books in the 1990s, and //the// most challenged book in 1995-1996 (Bolton). Censorship of books in general is not okay because books are the richest way for people to “learn and discover things in and about their world” (Bolton). The novel has been banned from multiple libraries, uses some language that will forever be debated, causes a mix of personal and political issues, and is actually being republished. In 1885 committee members of the Public Library of Concord, Massachusetts said //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// was “rough, coarse and inelegant, dealing with a series of experiences not elevating the whole book” and “being more suited to the slums than to the intelligent, respectable people” (Alward). Nearly twenty years later, in 1902, the Brooklyn Public Library banned Twain’s novel from the children’s section because it felt that “the character of Huck set a bad example for young people” (Alward). Officials from the library included that “Huck not only itched, but he scratched,” and that he said “sweat” when he should have said “perspiration” (Lombardi). Incorrect terminology is not only a reason to ban a book, but also using labels that are very time specific is another. Some parents debate that //Huck Finn// should be censored because of derogatory language. However, they are forgetting one essential fact; the “n-word” was a way to address different social classes in the mid-19th century (Bolton). Many people today, however, are still “sensitive” to vulgar words, such as nigger, because the “carry a recognizable history of trauma.” Judith Butler investigates the correlation between spoken words and physical pain. For example, some African Americans expressed that being referred to as “nigger” is like “being slapped in the face” (social). In a 2003 interview in the New Yorker, Toni Morrison said that when she first read //Huck Finn//, she was taken aback with “fear and alarm” which is understandable for an African American girl reading about “racist names, acts, and histories.” A few years later, under the guidance of a teacher, Morrison reread the book and was met with a strange mix of “pleasurable responses to the literary tale, rage at the injustices she was discovering, and a profoundly distasteful complicity” (social). On the other hand, some people believe that the “n-word” adds an aspect that transports them to another time and that also makes the injustices of the past noticed. Margaret Norris, an African American teacher from San Francisco, believes it is because Twain’s attitude reaffirms that, “This is how you are, like it or no and that’s why the book is so painful and important, because [Twain] is still telling us today” (Alward). Butler warns, “Keeping such terms unsaid and unsayable can also work to lock them in place, preserving their power to injure, and arresting the possibility of a reworking that might shift their context and purpose” (social). In other words, Butler is saying that slashing the “n-word” completely out of our vocabulary will seal the word’s definition of being derogatory and crushing the chance of altering the meaning of the word. Due to the countless number of negative reviews of Huck Finn, a new book is being published to “protect” our kids. NewSouth Books is releasing a new version of //Huck Finn// by Alan Gribbens that removes the word “nigger” (which appears some 219 times in the original) and “injun” and replaces it with “slave” and other “more suitable” words. On the other hand, using “slave” and a replacement is “unrealistic” because slave wasn’t in the vocabulary of the general public at the time //Huck Finn// was written (Bolton). Also, an abundance of readers are upset with the publication of 7500 revised books because they believe that Twain’s objective for the book was “ignored”. Some think that Gribben, along with many others, didn’t recognize the connotation of Twain’s “intentioned use” of the word. Others believe the writing of a censored book was simply “paternalistic censorship” (social). With all the work that goes into writing a novel, no author should be criticized and have his or her work banned and rewritten due to changing social times. Mark Twain is an example of one of those authors. Huck Finn shouldn’t be remembered or examined as a book containing racial slurs and offensive language. This classic should be examined by the message within the book; friendship prevails above even the seemingly most unusual and impossible of situations (Bolton). And finally, censorship of any American novel, not only Huck Finn, does not dismiss the fact that slavery existed; nor does it remove the “n-word” from our vocabulary.    

home

-Levi