Huckleberry Finn Criticism Essay

Register to read the introduction… Also, the excessive use of the epithet “nigger” has angered black parents and students who are forced to read the canonized novel in schools. Apparently, this word triggers feelings of shame and embarrassment in black students which critics deem unlawful. In 1999, the Pennsylvania NAACP filed grievances with the state’s human rights commission demanding that local school boards and district superintendents remove the book from mandatory reading lists. Still, not all African-Americans find Huck Finn irreconcilable as former NAACP administrator Michael Meyers has called Huck Finn “a great anti-slavery classic,” and is offended by any form of censorship. No less an authority than Toni Morrison has also taken up the defense. In “Re-Marking Twain” she explains how after initial traumatic readings of Huck Finn, she came to accept it as a historical document of American society, which if taught sensitively, can increase racial awareness in the classroom.

The case of Huck Finn shows how censorship changes with the values of a society. The arbitrary and fickle nature of community standards has proven to be an erratic system of governing what is and isn't appropriate for young readers. Under these conditions, it is quite possible for a critic to acclaim a book that he or she had fought to censor only a few years