The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered a great American novel; it also is one of the most controversial books because of its use of the word “nigger”. A word found an offensive by nearly an
entire population, but in my opinion every form of media that is before us today has some form of racism in it. This is not a fault in the government or laws, but in the minds of individuals. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn may be racist but it is not obscene enough to be banned from the public school system.
The book isn’t excessively racist. This is proven more by the manner of which Jim is kept in the story rather than the way in which he speaks or other ways he is characterized. His speech was appropriate for the time period and location. It’s the fact that Jim started on the state-border of what that during the time period would have been considered a free state. It basically made Jim’s desire to be free seem almost like a secondary part of the story, but technically it is if the story was about Jim this would be an appropriate foundation for argument racism. But then Jim is given a caring and nuturing attitude so it would be reasonable to consider him to go out of the way for others. Many would argue that Jim deserved more consideration in the book, but I think that all things in the book were put in a manner that would fit the setting more than the needs of the characters. The fact that Jim’s needs seem to fall into the background has much to do with the fact that it’s not his book.
I don’t think it is right for this book to be banned because of its use of the word “nigger”. There are plenty of other things displayed in the media that would offend larger masses than this book . In all honesty there are children’s shows that make comments on sexuality, moral standards, fascism, racism, and current and past presidents and political policies. Some shows that received attention for accusations of such content would be Nickolodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants for homosexuality, Adult Swim’s The Boondocks for slandering the names of presidents and i, Adult Swim’s Squidbillies for furthering stereotypes against people in southern states of the United America, Adult Swim’s Minoriteam, and Fox’s Banzai. Several shows on Adult Swim, A late night series of Television shows, blatantly reinforce stereotypes against African Americans, the Jewish religion, and people from the Deep South only to name a few of the larger stereotypes that come to mind. Fox’s reality television show Banzai, was considered racist against the entire Asian community. The show was quickly withdrawn from the network but re-appeared briefly on Comedy Central, but was discontinued.
So in conclusion this book isn’t racist, let alone racist enough to be considered for the list of books banned from the public schools mandatory reading list. The book simply follows the dialect and morals of living in the south before the Civil War. This book may not be written in the most accepted style of writing ever to be used to narrate a story, but it does mange to show a small portion of the dire situations that slaves endured during their travels to freedom in the northern states, So finally I say The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn may not be an award winning novel, but it isn’t anything too obscene to be given to a teenager so that they can comprehend it with a teacher who has the appropriate training and degrees.