Huck Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a very controversial book due to its racial slurs and other demonstrations of harmful race relationships. I strongly believe the book should not be banned in schools for three main reasons. The three reasons that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not be banned are: (1) banning books is a violation of Americans’ constitutional First Amendment right to freedom of speech; (2) the book teaches to value humanity over race; and (3) implications for other courses such as history and political science are harmful.
Banning any book is a violation of the First Amendment. The freedom to write, speak, read, or convey ideas and opinions in any form a person wants is exactly what freedom of speech is all about. Parents are the only people who should be able to decide what information they want their children to have access to. The government should not have this power. Censoring information is the first step to a weakened society. The books Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Danbury) and 1984 (George Orwell) are two classic examples of the government dictating what information can and cannot be accessed. In both books, access to historical documents and access to ideas that could be considered controversial is illegal. If the government has enough power to control what information its people have access to, the government has the power to control the minds of its people. This is unacceptable. A government with that much power has historically led to dictatorships and communism, which is exactly what our ancestors have fought to prevent.
While those who are advocates of banning The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn use the argument that it sheds a positive light on slavery and oppression, I argue that is actually does just the opposite. Mark Twain uses several examples to illustrate that the narrator, Huckleberry Finn, valued humanity more than he valued race. "Right is right, and wrong is wrong,
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a very controversial book due to its racial slurs and other demonstrations of harmful race relationships. I strongly believe the book should not be banned in schools for three main reasons. The three reasons that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not be banned are: (1) banning books is a violation of Americans’ constitutional First Amendment right to freedom of speech; (2) the book teaches to value humanity over race; and (3) implications for other courses such as history and political science are harmful.
Banning any book is a violation of the First Amendment. The freedom to write, speak, read, or convey ideas and opinions in any form a person wants is exactly what freedom of speech is all about. Parents are the only people who should be able to decide what information they want their children to have access to. The government should not have this power. Censoring information is the first step to a weakened society. The books Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Danbury) and 1984 (George Orwell) are two classic examples of the government dictating what information can and cannot be accessed. In both books, access to historical documents and access to ideas that could be considered controversial is illegal. If the government has enough power to control what information its people have access to, the government has the power to control the minds of its people. This is unacceptable. A government with that much power has historically led to dictatorships and communism, which is exactly what our ancestors have fought to prevent.
While those who are advocates of banning The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn use the argument that it sheds a positive light on slavery and oppression, I argue that is actually does just the opposite. Mark Twain uses several examples to illustrate that the narrator, Huckleberry Finn, valued humanity more than he valued race. "Right is right, and wrong is wrong,