If one is an author, and their works are often misinterpreted or forced to be changed at the risk of being totally ignored, would anyone want to write? If every single comment was fully analyzed for possible offensive content, what could be written? Sometimes editing, or at least restriction of access, seems like a righteous thing (like, if something is blatantly racist there should be a disclaimer); but everyone has different, conflicting opinions and it can get ridiculous. Mark Twain had no malicious intent while writing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; he wanted to satirize the issues of his day and have fun with it. He should not be punished for creating what many consider a masterpiece. In the novel, a boy meets a runaway slave and they get close and work together to ‘be free.’ Huckleberry Finn should be kept in schools for the following reasons: it is important to American culture, it is a valuable teaching resource, and censorship, in all forms, is not right.
Huckleberry Finn, or even Mark Twain himself, is very important to American culture and has influenced many other authors. Kakutani, and multiple other sources, quotes Ernest Hemingway saying, "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” A big influence that Twain’s style …show more content…
This novel, unfortunately, has lived through its entire life being censored or banned; for example, a professor of English at Auburn University produced a copy of the novel that removes the “n-word” and replaces it with “slave,” and multiple schools around the country have fully cut the book out of literary study. In fact, the first time it was banned was only a month after its original publication (Kakutani). Critic Michiko Kakutani strongly disagrees, believing that censoring novels is a “form of denial”-- that this just ignores historical events and beliefs to conform to one’s
Huckleberry Finn, or even Mark Twain himself, is very important to American culture and has influenced many other authors. Kakutani, and multiple other sources, quotes Ernest Hemingway saying, "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” A big influence that Twain’s style …show more content…
This novel, unfortunately, has lived through its entire life being censored or banned; for example, a professor of English at Auburn University produced a copy of the novel that removes the “n-word” and replaces it with “slave,” and multiple schools around the country have fully cut the book out of literary study. In fact, the first time it was banned was only a month after its original publication (Kakutani). Critic Michiko Kakutani strongly disagrees, believing that censoring novels is a “form of denial”-- that this just ignores historical events and beliefs to conform to one’s