Huckleberry Finn Argumentative Essay

Agree or Disagree Essay

Censorship. The dictionary definition of censorship is “the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.” There are books in this world that are deemed offensive or obscene due to the incorporation or involvement of racism, violence, blasphemy, sex, etc. Though these valuable literary devices, that are often a part of an english high school curriculum, are being threatened to be banned. Why should an authority who considers censorship even exist? I believe they are holding students back from valuable lessons to learn. In one instance, the book Huckleberry Finn, was being banned from a library. When told this, Mark Twain replied, “Censorship is telling a man he can’t have steak because a baby can’t chew it.” Here, Twain is arguing that though a group may be offended by a book, in this case, it should not keep others from being accessible to it. Unless something is genuinely hostile, no one should have the authority to keep away or eliminate a publication that some may

By hiding information from people, the authorities keep the people oblivious and happy because they are not aware of any hardship and are better off not thinking for themselves. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, there is a passage where Beatty is explaining some history to Montag. He speaks from a perspective that believes changes to the society are beneficial, “If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don’t give his two sides to a question to worry him; give him ond. better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such thing as war.” (Bradburry 61.) This quote shows that ideas are not allowed. Books are a source and way of spreading ideas and by eliminating books, they are eliminating ideas. Therefore, censorship is a way of limiting ideas and keeping valuable information from