Within these two articles there are reasons why Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, an adventure novel by Mark Twain, should be allowed in classrooms along with why it shouldn’t be allowed. This novel should be read in high schools for various reasons. The first reason being that this novel will open conversations about racism and help to slowly stop this issue. The next reason is because although Twain was criticized for being solely a racist he was more open minded then a majority of people for discussion and in a way ahead of his time. The last reason is because it is beneficial for the youth to read it in a point of view from that time period.
This novel should be read in high schools by students because it’s a way to open discussion about racism. Chadwick stated, “We cannot, therefore, overlook the works of Twain that do address the issues of race and stereotype. Clearly, Twain used his writing to work through issues of race for himself and society…” Far too many people are stuck on the same mindset that Twain is a racist, but through this novel he addresses issues that he knows exists within other people and himself that he wants to fix. However, some would argue that this novel isn’t helping at all to fix the issues of racism but creating more issues. In an editorial written by Loorie Moore, an African American mother called “Send Huck Finn to College” she speaks on some problems with this novel and stated “And if it were taught, student alienation might very well contribute to another breed of achievement gap.” She is explaining that the way this novel is presented might offend African Americans and it won’t make people aware of the issues with racism but it will just add to the amount of students feeling isolated because of their race. With this being said, if students are ignorant to their past and to the past of others the past will repeat itself so students need to be exposed to this novel so that they’re open to other cultures and comfortable with their own culture at a young age. With people saying Twain is simply a racist, many overlook the fact that he was more open minded than others in this period of time.
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Twain was frequently called out for being racist but he was ahead of his time and discussed what others were afraid to. Chadwick stated “Paralleling this view, too, was an abiding and deep appreciation among African Americans for any white person who displayed a scintilla of concern, let alone a proclivity for voicing or displaying that concern.” It is being said that African Americans appreciated this novel discussing racism and Twain voicing his opinion because it was not a common occurrence at this period in time. On the other hand, it is said that although Twain is discussing issues with racism he makes a joke out of real issues. Moore said, “although he is sensitive to Jim’s heartbreaking losses, he is always looking for comedy and repeatedly holds Jim up as a figure of howling fun, ridicule that is specific to his condition as a black man.” Moore is saying that instead of seriously getting the points across of the issues with racism Twain does this through jokes and that is not right. Although Twain did write this novel to point out issues he also found within himself to fix these issues, and with everyone else not discussing these issues at the time this novel still opened the eyes of many. This novel not only made people aware of racism issues, but this novel is important to read because it allows the youth to read in that time’s view to get a more authentic image in their head of what struggles people had to go through.
Many would say Huck Finn is too much for a high school student to read although it’s better that students hear about these problems being told from that period of time. Chadwick, had said “By questioning racism in his own time and provoking discussion in ours, Twain provides such connections for students.” This shows that this novel being told in this period of time not only allowed him to question himself about racism but it brought up future conversations about racism. This helps students connect to this novel even more and understand the past problems with racism and even the problems that many still face today. However it is still argued that bringing children back to this period of time through a novel isn’t going to help them understand more. Moore said “does not benefit by being taken back right then to a time when a young white boy slowly realizes, sort of, the humanity of a black man, realizes that that black man is more than chattel even if that black man is also full of illogical and stereotypical superstitions.” She is saying that in this period of time African Americans were treated as objects so it would not help for the youth to hear about that. Although it is important that people are aware of issues from the past so that these issues don’t continue. It is especially important for students in high school to hear this because out of everyone they can help most to stop future problems so they can’t be ignorant to past problems.
Within these two articles there are reasons why the adventure novel written by Mark Twain called Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is appropriate to be taught in classrooms along with why it shouldn’t be taught in schools. This novel is appropriate for highschoolers and it would be helpful to today’s youth for many reasons. The first reason being is this novel will help to open conversations about racism which is needed. The next reason is because although many say Twain was simply a racist he discussed what many people avoided to talk about in that period of time. Lastly, this novel should be read by students because it would help them have a better understanding of past issues to stop future ones if they read a book from that period of time.
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