Of Scandal and Censorship

 

 

Huckleberry Finn

            By Mark Twain

 

     This is a book that has always been controversial. It is even controversial today and some would

 

say possibly even more controversial. I read this book for the first time in my English class in high

 

school. My teacher started by giving us a strict warning, this was a book for mature people and

 

we had to act accordingly. She told us and it was very true, this book was censored, banned, and 

 

challenged frequently because of its copious use of the "N" word. Even in its own time in 1885

 

when racism and such words were not as taboo as they are now. The Civil War was ended but the

 

culture of racism in the South persisted but the North was unaccepting of such crude words. The 

 

book was met with sharp distaste in its own time with critics and writers calling it trash and filth.

 

Now in our own time many people believe that, but it is a part of American History. It depicts the struggle of those times, the attitude of

 

Americans towards African Americans, and American society as a whole. It is possibly one of the most famous banned/censored books of all

 

time. It is a book meant for mature readers who can grasp the true meaning of the book and look past some of the

 

crude language to truly understand American Culture in the late 1800's.

                                                                                                      

                                                                                                      -Kevin Chavez