Argumentative Essay: The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Improved Essays
Ben Johnson
O Dea
Comp Lit P.1
16 January 2015
Huckleberry Finn

The Controversy of Huckleberry Finn

Over the past decades, the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain has been castigated, and banned from school districts all across America. The banning of the book has been up for debate because of the number of social and political faults which includes its profane language, racism, and satirical voice that can come off in the wrong way. Huckleberry Finn was written in 1885, a part of history where racism, slavery, and a low level of education was prominent in America. Now being in 2015, the language has changed, and the stance on racism and slavery has changed. Although the book has been looked at as coarse and racist, Huckleberry Finn should not be banned or censored in schools. Twain's use of satire relating to racism and religion, points out the flaws in society of Twain's time. Huckleberry Finn is one of the most influential pieces of literature in American history and by taking it out of our hands, we miss out on a new perspective of racism in America's past. Twain wrote the novel a decade after slavery was abolished, where the ex-slaves were economically exploited, lynched, and heavily oppressed by whites. Huckleberry Finn was not written as racist, but satirizing the racism that occurred in
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This has created controversy from those who want to censor our racist past from our nations youth. After the doctor helped treat Huck who has been shot in the leg, he tells the men about how Jim helped Huck while risking his freedom, "So every one of the promised...that they wouldn't cuss him no more. Then they come out and locked him up" (250). Even though Jim was free and helped save Huck, he is still being oppressed by the racist white folks. Twain's use of satire is not to be racist towards blacks, but to show how blacks were treated back

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