The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been a controversial since it was written. Ongoing debate about Huckleberry Finn asks many questions about the book’s meaning, it language, and is the book right to be taught in schools. Many people find that the book is offensive because of the numerous times the N word is used. They find the book racist and degrading to the African Americans. Others view the book as the completely opposite to a racist degrading text. They find the book is a story about equality and the book shows that slavery is bad. In the essay by Jonathan Arac, he makes the argument it doesn’t matter what the meaning of the book is. The book should not be read because it continues the use of a word that is degrading and hurtful towards African Americans. The book still brings up feeling to its readers that should not be their and it is hurt to many African Americans who read it. I agree with Arac points, the book should not be read in schools because it perpetuates the use of a derogatory word which is still hurtful to many people. A hurtful book with good intentions is still a hurtful book.
Arac goes over the pain that the N-word still makes many people feel. He uses evidence to show that the N-word is one of the vilest words and the simple use of the word has the power to bring about violent, aggression, and hate. The pain this book causes should not be allowed in school, but there are always people defending it. “When a school board or library attempts to act in response to this pain, out come the authorities to defend the book. The standard pattern is for journalists to draw authority from scholars to dump on parents and children” (Arac 440). Every time the debate starts up again about how the book is offensive it is stopped by experts on the book who say it is not offensive. They ignore the feeling of the people who are actually hurt by the book. They don’t look at why people are hurt by the book’s language and context. A book should not be kept being read in schools just because scholars find it a good story. The fact is the N-word is a derogatory word used to degrade African Americans and since the word is used so much there is no doubt the book will hurt almost all African Americans who read it.
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Your thesis is: the book shouldn't be read because it uses too many of the N-word which is defensive, derogatory and hurtful to especially African American. When you say that Arac uses some evidences to prove that the N-word is too much, maybe you can put some quotes for that. It's true that when something is debatable comes up, there would be some people jump in to defense or offense it. Those scholars who defense the book for use in school really have no conclusion of how the book affects on others. Maybe you can put more thinking whether they are convinced for what reasons.
ReplyDeleteI don’t really understand why it’s good or bad to use N-word. However, I know that N-word is the word that we shouldn’t say it in public because it might offend someone.
ReplyDeleteI mean…..if you use N-word now, it’s considered racist. I don’t know about back then.
If we are talking about in the present time, I agree with you 100% that it’s bad because that word is hurtful to people who read this book or even younger children.
In addition to Nancy's comment, I think it is good to include some evidences from Arac's or maybe other writers too regarding the use of the "N" word. History is history no matter what. I think that if they had introduced the book in a better way, maybe the controversy is less than it had cause. Good luck and I think your essay is interesting to read.
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