To Censor Or Not to Censor in The Adventures of Huckberry Finn by Mark Twain

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The classic American novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain has been a source of controversy since it was published. The controversy is centered around Twain’s use of the N word. It is a very heinous, powerful word that is almost always offensive. Mark Twain is well known as a satirist, in laymen's terms he makes light of social issues through his use of language. The story takes place in pre-civil war America so in order to effectively show the racism of the decade he had to use their vernacular. He did not intend to offend. He actually meant to make you feel uncomfortable with the racism. Huck Finn should not be censored because literary decisions should be left to the authors to make (5 Kathleen Parker), we need examples of ignorance to provide contrast to how far we have come, and because The powerful language Twain uses is necessary for the story and the story would be worse off for it.
When authors write a piece of literature they have a purpose for their words. They use what they want to convey their purpose. Not letting them say what they want ties their hands so to speak. Censoring literature is a way of controlling discourse which is one of the staples of communism and directly in opposition of the Freedom of Speech us Americans are so proud of. If we are so keen on freedom of speech how can we let Alan Gribben a professor from Alabama determine what is right for us to hear. Where would it stop, we have freedom of speech for a reason, and if we let publishers determine what they want us to hear they could have a monopoly on information. Conservatives would argue that we should not have to worry the language they find in literature. That offensive language should be removed so they don’t have to expose...

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...ht Out, Huck, They Still Want to Sivilize You." NY Times. NY Times,
6 Jan. 2011. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
3. McWhorter, John. "The Root: Students Cheated By Censored 'Huck Finn'" NPR. NPR,
11 Jan. 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
4.Kasumu, Fatia. "Opinion." The Temple News. Temple University, 17 Jan. 2011.
Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
5. Parker, Kathleen. "Let's Not Censor 'Huckleberry Finn'" Newsmax. NewsmaxMedia,
10 Jan. 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
6.Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Random House, 1996. Print.

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