Censorship In Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is one of the most controversial pieces of literature read in schools to date. The novel was first banned one month after of its publication in 1885, and nearly 130 years since then, this novel continues to be challenged, censored, and abridged by parents, educators, and publishers all across the country. In her article, “On Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Fin,” Dominica Ruta even states that Twain’s novel is “ranked number 14 on the top 100 Banned books in America,” and that it continues to be a debatable topic within school boards and government officials (Ruta). When books are targeted, removed, or excluded, an atmosphere of suppression exists, which is damaging to our nation’s ideology of free
Censorship" (Gilman). In clarification, the act of censorship means, "to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable” (Haynes). The central characteristics of censorship can relate to the suppression of an idea or image because it offends or disturbs someone, material that involves social issues such as sexuality, religion, race and intense
In an editorial piece written by the Los Angeles Times, these controversial novels are described as “Trigger novels,” where their topics “are not only relevant to sexual misconduct, but also to anything that might cause trauma” (Rosenberg). Yet, profanity appears in many worthwhile books, films, and other materials for the same reasons many people use it in their everyday language, to convey emphasis or emotion. Works with profanity also contain realistic portrayals of how an individual might respond in a situation, and some teachers intentionally select such materials to remove the allure from topics such as cursing. But even minor use of profanity has not shielded books from attack. Katherine Paterson’s award-winning book Bridge to Terabithia contains only mild profanity, but it has been repeatedly challenged on that ground, as have long-acknowledged classics like Huxley's Brave New World, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, George Orwell’s 1984, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, and Alice Walker's The Color Purple. Part of the motivation for school library censorship is to keep material from students that are not appropriate for their maturity level. Sometimes, though,