The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
by
Mark Twain
100 Most Challenged Books
Twain, M. (2008). The adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
New York, NY: Quill Penn Classics.
I first read this book when I was a child of 9 because I felt I had much in common with the title character. We both lived along the banks of the Mississippi River – Huck in St. Petersburg, Missouri and me in Davenport, Iowa. We both had good friends who were black, and we both didn’t care much for school. I always remembered how much I loved Mark Twain’s story. However, as an adult, I kept hearing how the book was criticized as being racist, which puzzled me since I did not recall that at all from my childhood reading. So, when the opportunity to reread this book presented itself in this course, I jumped at the opportunity to see if my adult perspective would be any different from my childhood impression.
It wasn’t. In fact, I can understand now more than ever why this story is generally considered a classic of American literature. In a way, it seems Mark Twain was almost prophetic in discussing social issues that are so prevalent in our day and age, including: domestic violence (Pap’s mistreatment of Huck), gang warfare (the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons), con artists (identity theft), and alcoholism (Boggs).
Of course, the book’s contemporary critics seem to overlook all of its positive elements in order to condemn it because of its use of the word “nigger” and its depiction of the slave named Jim. We should remember that Jim had the courage to escape his bondage. If we honor slaves like Harriet Tubman for doing this, why should we condemn Mark Twain for having Jim for do the same? The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is generally credited with being the first American novel to truthfully employ the vernacular in depicting how the characters spoke. The word “nigger” was a common part of speech in 1884 when Mark Twain first published his work. To judge Twain’s book written centuries ago by modern standards and subsequently condemning it is like condemning George Washington for recommending in 1790 that the new and struggling United States should always avoid all possible contact with foreign countries while we are presently sending earthquake relief to Japan. Times change. While it is certainly wrong to use “nigger’ or any other word as a racial slur, for one group to decide that any book using that one word should be completely banned violates our freedoms under the Bill of Rights and brings to mind another time in recent history when books that were condemned by one group were banned – and burned. 
PICTURE SOURCES:
postalmuseum.si.edu
franklincountyva.gov
billbalsamico.com
csbsjulibrary.blogspot.com
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