Comments on: Banning Huckleberry Finn

By: sandra

sandra — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:27:38 +0000

i think all of this is so dumn. its just a book you can choose to read it or not.Yes i am black,but if we really have solved these racial issues then we would not be talking about this.

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By: Dana

Dana — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:21:11 +0000

John, you are definitely right in that. If anything, the book has the opposite purpose. If you find the link you are looking for, feel free to post it.

By: John

John — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 02:54:38 +0000

You can’t say that the book explicitly points out slavery. Sure, slavery is an important aspect of the book but Twain doesn’t focus on slavery as an issue. He Utilizes slavery to show the way everybody was back then, and ‘nigger’ is mostly use in common speech. This was commonplace when the book was first written and no offense was found for the term. The original offense that was found were the way Huck deals with adult issues such as stealing, fraud, murder and the like. There is a whole article on this that I’d love to sight but just can’t locate right now. If I find it I’ll post the link here.

By: Dana

Dana — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:42:35 +0000

Shannon,

I definitely agree with you! I think Huck Finn is actually a wonderful book for pointing out racism and forces people to think about race in a different way. In a book full of questionable characters, the only one who is really decent is the one which the society of the time held as “lower.” The word definitely had a different meaning then than it does now, but even with the changing connotations, the book is not racist.

Thank you for participating in the discussion!

By: Shannon

Shannon — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:04:20 +0000

I think that Huck Finn is not a racist book just because it uses the “N word” 212 times. There are several reasons it isn’t. The reason they use that word is because it was a comon word to be used back in that time. If you want to dicuss my point of view you can contact me via e-mail at nona_renae@yahoo.com and my name is Shannon.

By: Crimson Wife

Crimson Wife — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 21:39:03 +0000

It is an extremely ugly word and one I don’t like to hear used around me. I hate when it’s thrown around in trashy pop culture and I don’t think it makes any difference whether the user is of African heritage. Just like I don’t think it’s any less offensive when women use vulgar terms for females, KWIM?

However, I absolutely believe that Huck Finn should be taught in high school/college literature classes. The people who are calling for a ban seem to have totally missed the point of the book.

By: e-Mom

e-Mom — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 20:24:17 +0000

This was a thoughtful piece. Unfortunately, history and literature are full of offensive language and actions. The Bible doesn’t pull any punches either about man’s reprehensible behaviour and speech.

You may have caught the recent controversy on TV surrounding “Dog” and his use of the N-word. Curiously, it seems to be a topic of discussion in a number of circles at the moment.

Blessings, e-Mom

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 18:19:46 +0000

This may just be because I love reading, but I think this is one of the best ways to teach these lessons. Children are going to hear these attitudes and this is a good way to teach character.

By: Sprittibee

Sprittibee — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 18:06:07 +0000

I agree with you, Dana. We read books that have these types of derogatory remarks and we always stop to discuss the reasons behind them and why they are not acceptable. I want to be a person who my children can say of when I die that “she never had a bad word to say about anyone”. For them to not speak down to people, they need to first understand that it is the sign of a STRONG and well educated person to resist the temptation to do so. So learning from these types of books is very important - we gain a deeper sense of our history and can learn from our past mistakes.