This section contains 424 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
Censor The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and We Censor Our Youth
Summary: The book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a classic example of why censorship has no place in public schools. Dissecting a literary work by looking at individual phrases and references cheats us of realizing the entirety of its message. It is understandable that some readers would call Twain a racist because of his choice of words in the book; however, by analyzing the book as a whole, an open-minded person will quickly realize that Twain delivers a message not of racism but rather of friendship, loyalty, and overcoming obstacles.
Racism is the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. Most people do not judge others by what color of skin they have, at least, enlightened people do not. Now it is more or less how you act towards others. Every day, people are becoming more accepting of individual differences. If we allow censorship simply because an author uses the language of his era and geographic region, what happens next? Will censorship move into areas regarding discrimination against females; against the wealthy or the poor? Will books that cast religions which are not aligned with ours be removed from our libraries? Censorship is a dangerous thing and is capable of snowballing into an out of control situation. At best, if a student is truly offended by a literary work, that person could possibly choose an...
This section contains 424 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |