THE BOOK BANNING CONTROVERSY

REASONING

• There are several different reasons over the years that people have banned the book
• It started off because it wasn't proper English
• Jim doesn't really talk good because he never had schooling

REASONING CONTINUED

• Another reason was because Huck was not a good influence
• Parents didn't want their kids to be influenced in a negative way
• Huck was not raised in a good home so he never learned how bad everything he did was

REASONS CONTINUED

• Most recently it is because of the use of the word nigger
• It is used 219 times

SOLUTION

• One publishing company changed every use of the word nigger to slave
• Loses it's effectiveness
• Not how twain wanted it

CONCORD LIBRARY

• First library to ban the book
• Placed it on the Index Expurgatorius
• Wait it was unworthy for a place on its shelves

PROFESSOR SHELLY FISHER FISHKIN

• "Part of Twain's genius in this book is letting the reader see things that Huck doesn't see,
• making Huck an endearing and engaging but ultimately unreliable narrator…
• The fact that Huck has a more limited view of Jim should not lead us to mistake that view for the author's."

PBS CULTURE SHOCK SIGHT

• "To many, ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN is one of the world's greatest novels - and a national icon.
• Twain's satirical attack on slavery, hypocrisy,
• and prejudice in antebellum America compels readers to look not only at slavery and racism,
• but also at the whole tradition of American democracy."
• Yet "no American novel has been attacked by the public as long and as continuously as HUCK FINN."

NAACP

• contained "racial slurs" and "belittling racial designations."
• "most powerful racial epithet in the English language"
• extensive use of the word "nigger" throughout the text.

PETER SALWEN

• the action of the book takes place in the south twenty years before the Civil War, it would be amazing if they
• Didn't use the word."
• Twain is using this casual dialogue ironically
• Twain "succeeded in making his readers feel a genuine respect for 'Jim"

THE BOOK ITS SELF

• The book was published in 1884
• Published in more than 53 languages

CHANGES

• Fifth most changed book in the 1990's in the US
• The "n word" was the only thing changed out of the book

COURT CASE

• A school in Tempe Arizona was used by parents over the book
• That was twelve years ago

COURT CASE CONTINUED

• The case went to federal appeals court
• The parents lost

SCHOOLS

• 4th most banned book in the USA
• There are still schools banning this book

SCHOOLS CONTINUED

RANDOM PEOPLES THOUGHTS

• If a parent has a problem with the book give them a different assignment
• What's the point in teaching a book if it's banned from its original state

RANDOM PEOPLES THOUGHTS CONTINUED

• Not only is it a part of history, it was an attempt by an author to paint an accurate picture of the relationship
• Between a slave and a non-slave in the pre-Civil war south

RANDOM PEOPLES THOUGHTS CONT.

• Twain didn’t like the n-word, but writing his book without it
• would have been like telling people that the Disney version of Pocahontas
• accurately portrays encounters between Native Americans and settlers.

THOUGHTS CONTINUED

• A 17-year-old is most likely to have heard the word somewhere else the book won't be the first exposure
• Removing the book in high school isn't keeping kids from hearing it and it won't be in a better way