The novel was published in 1884, but it portrays the period 1835-1845, before the Civil War, a period in which slavery was legal.
Through the novel, Twain made an effort to accurately portray the Southern society. However, the novel has been widely panned by critics, mostly because of the widely usage of the word “nigger” to refer to African American slaves; that being the reason for it to be banned.
Whether the novel was worth banning continues to be highly debatable even today. For instance, June Edwards defends Twain when she says that “Nigger is what blacks were commonly called in the South until recent times. It is wrong to censure a novel for historical accuracy. Truth should never be bent to fit an ideology.” (Arac, 1997, p.27) In response …show more content…
That being said, many parents required to have The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn removed from the school reading lists, in order to relieve their children from the burden of being prejudiced among their white fellows. The critic Jocelyn Chadwick- Joshua argues that by doing that “we run the risk of blinding our children to their own history and legacy, thereby creating future generations bereft of the sight necessary for historical reflection and cultural lineage.”(Chadwick, 1999, p. …show more content…
They share the same personality traits, such as the ability to disobey the people in power or as Fears defines “a model for rebelliousness in the face of all authority” (as cited by Heather M. Shrum in a journal article called Mark Twain’s portrayal of family and relationships in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) (Shrum, 2014a, p.1). As Fears further notes, the two boys are similar in their family background, as well. Huck was known as “the son of the Town Drunkard”, whereas “the Blankenships were infamous drunks and ne’er-do-wells”. In his autobiography, Twain even draws parallels between the two characters in their physical appearances and their personality traits. “He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had as good a heart as ever any boy had.” (Shrum, 2014a,
Through the novel, Twain made an effort to accurately portray the Southern society. However, the novel has been widely panned by critics, mostly because of the widely usage of the word “nigger” to refer to African American slaves; that being the reason for it to be banned.
Whether the novel was worth banning continues to be highly debatable even today. For instance, June Edwards defends Twain when she says that “Nigger is what blacks were commonly called in the South until recent times. It is wrong to censure a novel for historical accuracy. Truth should never be bent to fit an ideology.” (Arac, 1997, p.27) In response …show more content…
That being said, many parents required to have The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn removed from the school reading lists, in order to relieve their children from the burden of being prejudiced among their white fellows. The critic Jocelyn Chadwick- Joshua argues that by doing that “we run the risk of blinding our children to their own history and legacy, thereby creating future generations bereft of the sight necessary for historical reflection and cultural lineage.”(Chadwick, 1999, p. …show more content…
They share the same personality traits, such as the ability to disobey the people in power or as Fears defines “a model for rebelliousness in the face of all authority” (as cited by Heather M. Shrum in a journal article called Mark Twain’s portrayal of family and relationships in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) (Shrum, 2014a, p.1). As Fears further notes, the two boys are similar in their family background, as well. Huck was known as “the son of the Town Drunkard”, whereas “the Blankenships were infamous drunks and ne’er-do-wells”. In his autobiography, Twain even draws parallels between the two characters in their physical appearances and their personality traits. “He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had as good a heart as ever any boy had.” (Shrum, 2014a,