Huckleberry Finn Should Be Banned Essay

Words: 581
Pages: 3

How would you feel if you found out your middle school aged child was reading a book that used the “n” word 219 times? In the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the derogatory “n” word is used without hesitation. With younger kids reading this book and seeing that word 219 times, it is going to become second nature to them and they will think it’s okay to say it as well. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should definitely be banned from schools because of the strong language and racism that it includes. There is no reason a book with such strong language and racism present in it such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught in schools. There is a reason it has been banned in so many schools all over the country, they wouldn’t ban it for no reason. In the book they show no respect for the African-Americans, they treated …show more content…
One major reason is that they portray Jim, an African-American slave who is one of the main characters, subhuman. While some may say that Jim was like a father to Huck, it didn’t appear that way to everyone and strong racism is shown towards him. The book not only uses strong language frequently, but it also promotes wrong actions that Huck and Tom do, “Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me” (Twain 2). Tom sawyer, Huck’s friend, wanted to create a clan to rob people, “Now we’ll start this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer’s Gang. Everybody who wants to has got to take an oath, and write his name in blood” (Twain 7). Tom wanted the clan to take part in murdering and stealing items from people, “We are highwaymen. We stop stages and carriages on the road, with masks on, and kill the people and take their watches and money” (Twain 8). This promoted a violent picture to kids reading this book and parents revolted against the schools that let the children read such a violent, strong-language