Twain is establishing from the get go that this novel should not be argued or criticized because it may be offensive to people but that it should be read as a novel that shows two men who find friendship despite racial boundaries. Although there is a growing concern regarding Huck Finn as being too racist and too blunt, this novel should be taught at schools because it provides a valuable lesson about how equality and high sense of morals prevails over societal views and racial barriers. Twain created the character Huck to serve as an example of the type of person people should be aspire towards. Huck unlike most everyone in the south, ignores racial barriers set forth by society and does what he believes to be right. Hucks test of this philosophy occurs at three main points the first being when he is confronted on the river by two passer-byers who ask to check his raft for a runaway slave.
Notes for “Whose Lathe?” by Ursula K. Le Guin Thesis 1: School boards should not have the power to ban books based on personal beliefs and comfort level. Thesis 2: While choosing books for students is important for their education, giving them the freedom to make their own choices, even in such small instances, surpasses that importance. Thesis 3: The concept of free choice is far more humane than that of censorship. Final Thesis: Censorship placed upon school books rids students of their choice in reading thus school boards should not have the audacity to ban books solely because they do not accord with their personal opinions and levels of comfort. Proof: * “In discussion, teachers pointed out that since it is the policy of the Washougal School District to assign an alternative book to any student who objects on any grounds to reading an assigned one, the attempt to prevent a whole class from reading a book was an attempt to change policy, replacing free choice by censorship” – pg, 257, 1st paragraph * “Censorship, here or in Russia or wherever, is absolutely anti-democratic and elitist.
What might her expectations and fears be? What might she be worrying about? Mrs. Higgins was thinking about how disappointed she was in her son. She was worried about were her son would end up in the future. Also she is worried because he has stolen in the past, and doesn’t want it to be his future.
Many people think that Twain is condoning slavery. On the contrary, Twain is actually showing the evils of slavery through this novel. There are things one must consider before categorizing this work as a racist novel. One must consider the novel’s time period and culture, the friendship that Jim and Huck share, and Huck’s view of slavery before assuming that this is a racist novel. The question of whether or not this novel should be taught in schools depends on the age of the group, how well they have been educated about the subject, and who is teaching them.
Moral vs Influence: Huck's journey “How can a society that debases human lives on a mass scale consider itself civilized?” This comes from an article, Twain in 85 by Shelly Fishkin, that articulated the irony of the morals of civil society as a whole. It directly criticizes racism which was not “allowed” because slavery was considered justifiable. Mark Twain, originally named Samuel Clemens, was one of the few who questioned the morals and ideas of society because he believed that they weren't right. He used Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to characterize the irony he saw in societies clashing standards that decided slavery as right but thought that every human had inalienable rights such liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Huck's moral and the development of that moral is advanced through Jim's search for freedom where it can be seen him growing as a person by accepting Jim, a slave, and the stages of his development: absence of morality and clashes of societies standards with his own.
In the late 1600s, individuals to be considered 'mad' were thought to have been possessed by the devil or some other evil spirit, and so were mocked and considered dangerous and unapproachable (as suggested by Sir Toby in Act 3 Scene 4 “defy the devil”). In some ways, they weren't even thought of as the same species to conventionally 'normal' people. For this reason, an Elizabethan audience may find the joke to be comfortably within boundaries and possess the acumen necessary to find humour within the text and jokes. Another reason a 17th Century audience could consider the joke to be within the boundaries of comedy is the possibility of Malvolio being an ill-considered puritan to them. A puritan is a religious person who's personally opinionated line between what is wrong and what is right is absolute and solid.
Martin Luther King Jr. states “Oppressed People cannot remain oppressed forever.” (Cahn, 2009 p. 387) As we have seen throughout history, this is a true statement. Oppression is not something that sits well with any type of person that is under the oppression. To resist the oppression, one must carefully chose those laws that they fill are unjust and oppresses them, and once they are chosen then one can make a stand against the oppression. Oppression is unjust law that limits the power of the people that are oppressed into feeling powerless. The United States fought of the oppression over the colonies in the late 1700’s by first peacefully protesting the unjust taxes waged against them.
No books should ever be banned because for each book that is banned, there possibly could be one life lesson that will not be learned by the next generation. Censorship of books in schools and libraries is wrong for it limits what students can potentially learn. Books such as To Kill a Mocking Bird, Of Mice and Men, and others teach valuable life lessons, which is why they are considered classics. Books such as these are being banned for they have questionable material. In the same book introduction as the opening quote, Judy Blume wrote, “Those who were most active in trying to ban books cam from the ‘religious right’ but the impulse to censor spread like a contagious disease.
It is a true statement that Facebook can be used for educational purposes but are the students really going to stay focused on the assignment if they cannot control what’s going to pop up next on their walls. Are students really expected to turn off chat and ignore distractions when it’s time to work on the assignment? The school board cannot possible believe that children are going to do something most adults don’t do. The school environment is supposed to be designed to prepare student for the next level of life, college, then a career/job. Most careers/jobs do not use social networks like Facebook as a tool of communications; even though some careers do, it would not be in good practice to start students off this way especially without the appropriate training that most student do not possess.
Some would stay it is because students do not want to study and just find it much easier to just purchase a essay online or to park their seat next to the “nerd” in the class to ensure that you ace every pop quiz. Others would say that the pressures of being scholastically advanced are too much of a burden, so they cheat to ensure that their goals are achieved they way their parents and teachers visualize for them. Whatever the reason, is it worth the risk or should students just be satisfied with the grades that they actually earned. Cheating may not always be the first option for some students but end up being the last resort in some situations. In high school, if a child is trying to land scholarship or trying to get into a prestigious school that only accepts the elite of the elite you are pressured to excel in all aspects of your academic career.