Huckleberry Finn Should Be Banned Essay

As the world has gotten much more liberal these past few years, racism has been a topic of discussion. Recently, popularity to ban Twain’s book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have risen. This is mainly due to the constant use of the word “nigger”. Throughout the novel, Twain uses the word to describe items of inferior quality along with signs of disgust from people who supported slavery. It was socially acceptable to use the word, and was said by slaves and abolitionists. Notwithstandingly, Twain’s use of the n-word is essential to understanding the social conditions of the time and their implications of today. Nigger, now a derogatory term, was often affiliated with something worse or lower than the rest. As black people were seen as inferior …show more content…
With a spike in recent years of anti-racism movements, Twain’s habitual use of the word nigger has grown the movement to ban the book. Advocates for banning the book in public school systems claim that the word “nigger” can be substituted with the word “slave”. There have been multiple accounts from Twain himself that each word was hand-selected to give the book a unique feel when reading it. Some argue that they can replace every time Twain uses nigger with slave, but this would leave out the rich history and suffering of blacks, slaves or not, during the 1800s. Even during the book, Huck, who supported Jim and helped him reach freedom, along with Jim himself, use the word all of the time. It isn't just a racist word, it represents a group of people that suffered for a long time, and leaving that out is like not recognizing the large obstacle society has overcome. Nowadays, nigger is only used when representing one of two things. One is the strong relationship between two people, usually in poor metropolitan areas. The second is racism, which is why there is such a strong movement to ban this