Synthesis Of Huckleberry Finn

The controversial novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, has been considered a classic in American literature. The novel details on the journey of a southern, young, American boy with the name of Huckleberry Finn and a slave, Jim. The two encounter interesting characters along their adventure who bring difficulties. However, one aspect of the book that is hard to miss would be the constant use of the “n-word”. As a result of the repeated use of the word, some schools believe that the “n-word” should be replaced. Others believe that the book should be replaced with another entirely new piece of writing or simply be permitted in class, in its intact form. While those for replacing the n-word and those for choosing another novel

David Bradley, a teacher at Oregon University, also mentioned in the 60 Minutes video that the key to understanding Huckleberry Finn is through Twain's use of language (David Bradley). He also added that there is “a reality that we cannot avoid.” In other words, Mark Twain intentionally used the “n-word” because it reveals a sense of reality. A sense of reality that students should become aware of and acknowledge. This sense of reality would be the fact that slaves were not treated as people, they experienced racism, and that using the n-word was seen as something normal, not out of the ordinary at the time. The word reveals the brutal honesties of the time period. A sense of reality that is important for educational purposes because of the way it grabs the reader's attention as one student said or because it “captures the way people talked back then”, negatively (60 Minutes). So yes; the novel without the n-word included may help students and parents feel more comfortable while reading the book, however, the students will miss out on being informed on what was considered normal at the time. The students will miss out on what kind of racism slaves had to deal with in their lives in addition to the harsh living conditions that they had to experience,

Literature professor, Jody Greene at the University of California, Santa Cruz pointed out how replacing the n-word with slave would result in missing out on “an incredible opportunity to get students talking about our racial history and our racial present” (Beck). The whole purpose of attending school is to learn; slavery is definitely a topic that will ultimately and eventually be discussed about in class because it is a topic that cannot be ignored, discussed, or even mentioned. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one way this can be