It's a typical day in 11th Grade American Lit. You are teaching about Mark Twain and decide that the students would not only enjoy but get a lot out of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The school has purchased enough books for each student to receive one, so you hand them out. Then you spend the rest of the class period discussing a very important issue: Twain's use of the 'n' word throughout the book. You explain that not only do we have to look at the book through the context of the time period, but we also have to understand what Twain was trying to do with his story. He was trying to reveal the plight of the slave. And he was doing it with the vernacular of the time. The students snicker a little. Some might even make wisecracks when they think you're not listening. But you hear and correct them. You make sure they understand the reason behind the word. You ask for any questions or concerns. You tell the students they can come to speak with you later. None do. All seems well.
A week passes. The students have already had their first quiz. Then, you receive a call from the principal. It seems that one of the parents is concerned at the prevalence of the 'n' word in the book. They consider it racist. They want you to quit teaching it. They make hints that they will take the issue further if their needs are not met. What do you do?
This situation is not a pleasant one. But it is not necessarily a rare one either. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the 4th most banned books in schools according to Banned in the U.S.A. by Herbert N. Foerstal.
In our book club in Georgia, members of the club had to hide their copies of Uncle Tom's Cabin because they worried people would think they were racist for reading that book---even though the book fights against racism! Yes, we may need to censor some things (we wouldn't have our teens read Playboys in literature class), but I agree that it gets taken too far.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think think that people will remain ignorant if we refuse to teach books like Huckleberry Finn just because we are afraid someone might not like a word used. In my opinion, many of those who seek to ban or censor the use of Huckleberry Finn in schools have either not read it (or at least past a couple of words) or don't understand it. They make judgments about its content without taking the time to understand it. (I do have to make a disclaimer here: I am a huge Huckleberry Finn fan.)
ReplyDeleteThis is a dicey issue because the question always comes up - Where do we draw the line? Everyone has a different "morality standard". Some people might see this book as a highly educational story while others see the word and close the book and their mind. Whether or not we agree with peoples' opinions, I think that teachers need to be aware of them. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't teach it (like I said, I think by so doing we are - in a sense - contributing to ignorance), but we've got to make sure that we don't treat it lightly.