Mr. Littlefield
English 11, Period 1H
1 February 2009
Albert Einstein is synonymous with genius. And yet he is quoted as saying that “it is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry” (qtd. in “Wisdom Quotes”). Harsh words for our educational system! But is he in the wrong? Has the teaching of our society become entangled with restrictions? Do journalists and professors fear retribution for what they write and teach? Sadly, the response is yes. We may have freedom of the press, but our right to read these works is threatened. This is demonstrated in the practice of banning books from our institutions and is more specifically addressed in the controversy over The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Though it cited as the modern “Great American Novel” (DeForest 1865) by such literary giants as Ernest Hemmingway, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, and T.S. Elliot; it is countered as racist trash and declared unfit for school curriculums. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught on the high school level because of the amount of dignity bequeathed to the African American characters, because a society cannot allow fear to dictate what is taught, and because censorship should be avoided on principle.
In an interview on National Public Radio, Dr. Shelley Fisher Fishkin, director of American studies and professor of English at Stanford University, explained that
In many ways, Jim is a hero of Huck Finn. It is the voice of a very compelling, appealing, and complicated character for whom Twain had enormous admiration and who he wants the reader to admire. He is mature, sensitive, sharp, self-aware.
Mark Twain’s treatment of his character Jim is deserving of accolades. Twain portrays Jim as a good father figure and friend to Huck. Jim is “white inside” (Twain 596) with “an uncommon level head” that was “most always right” (369). Twain was both a man of his times and a forward thinker. In one particular example, Twain desired to help pay for one of Yale’s first black law students, explaining in 1885 that “we [Caucasians] have ground the manhood out of them and the shame is ours, not theirs, and we should pay for it.” Twain’s portrayal of the African American was a conscious step towards granting them their due freedom.
As for the two hundred plus racial slurs included in the novel, the usage of the word “n*****” was both “common speech in South” the historical time period and a racial slur, Dr. Fishkin explains. It became increasingly viewed as a racial slur as time went on and as America very slowly progressed in recognizing the equality of the African American among Caucasians. When one looks at the peer literature at the time—from both white and black writers--“n*****” was used often. What becomes important is the context from which the slur arises—time period or not. To say that Huck Finn is “the most grotesque example of racist trash ever given our children to read. . . . [and that any] teacher caught trying to use that piece of trash with our children should be fired on the spot, for he or she is either racist, insensitive, nave, incompetent or all of the above" (Wallace “Huck Finn is Racist Trash”), is the result of fear and lack of good, literary scholarship. Context and an education in irony are necessary in understanding the novel and, if mastered, lends to profound humor and clever insights that shall continue to charm generations.
Lastly, censorship of any book should be avoided on principle. There must either be enforced awareness or enforced ignorance and silence. So much better the former because,
Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education (Griswold qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”).
Ignorance leads to a cyclical path of trial and error, with human lives as casualties along the way. Racism is defeated not by blindness, but by active condemnation. As one man pointed out, “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself” (Camus qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”). Twain joins the ranks of true writers by suspiciously prodding at societal assumptions. This testing ground of ideas acts as a counterbalance for what becomes the collective norm. The truth of the matter is that “if we’d eradicated the problem of racism in our society, Huckleberry Finn would be the easiest book in the world to teach” (Bradley qtd. in Mark Twain). This, however, is not the case. Racism is still alive and well. It is the fear of influencing young adults in a negative fashion that causes educators to shrink back from lecturing on the novel. But "what [then] is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist" (Rushdie qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”). An ability to reason and to interpret what is right and what is wrong must be forever married to the freedom to speak and to hear.
John F. Kennedy once boasted that "we are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people" (qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”). It would seem that our society has indeed become afraid of its own people and particularly, its youth. One cannot hope for the younger generation to become strong advocates of the weak and oppressed if they themselves are weakened by their censored education and oppressed by silence. The past—and the racism that stains it—cannot be erased simply because it is unpleasant. And indeed, "books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance” (Johnson qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”). The coming generation must not be left unarmed. And "fear of corrupting the mind of the younger generation is the loftiest form of cowardice" (Jackson qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”). The truest slavery is to cage a man’s thoughts in his mind.
Works Cited
Clemens, Samuel. "Do you know him?" Letter to Francis Wayland. 24 Dec. 1885. Mark Twain Project. UC Press. 1 Feb. 2009.
DeForest, John W. "The Great American Novel." The Nation (1868). Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities. Electronic Text Center. Charlottesville. 1 Feb. 2009
Einstein, Albert. "Curiosity Quotes." Comp. Jone J. Lewis. 1995-2009. Wisdom Quotes. 1 Feb. 2009
Fishkin, Shelley. "Was Jim of 'Huckleberry Finn' a Hero?" Interview with Farai Chideya. National Public Radio. NPR. 30 Jan. 2008.
"Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books." Http://quotes.forbiddenlibrary.com. Ed. Janet Y. Elkins. 1998-2008. 03 Feb. 2009
Leonard, James S. Making Mark Twain Work in the Classroom. New York: Duke UP, 1999.
McArthur, Debra. Mark Twain. New York: Benchmark Books, 2005. Bradley, 2000
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Bantam Classics, 1992.
Wallace, John. Huck Finn is Racist Trash. 2 Feb. 2009.
