*CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE* Censorship and Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has been one of the most controversial books in the history of American Literature. It is a book about a white kid escaping his alcoholic father and a black person escaping slavery hoping to see his family again. It has been criticized by many people for the use of certain words. It was banned in many schools and libraries in the past. Although The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been criticized by many scholars for offending some people.
Although censorship is needed with issues concerning children, majority of censorship is a violation of our rights because what one person may find offensive and obscene does not necessarily represent that all citizens. The freedom to read is essential to the democratic way of life. But today, that freedom is under attack. The government is working to remove both books and periodicals from sale, to exclude certain books from public schools, to censor and silence magazines and newspapers, and to limit "controversial" books and periodicals to the general public. The overthrow of reading materials is defeat of creative thought.
Although Gossip Girl may be questioned for certain elements within the novel, it should not be banned to everyone. A book that is banned is usually removed from libraries and classrooms because of its content. Books can be challenged or banned for many reasons, such as political, religious, sexual or social content. This would be called censorship, which would inhibit others from seeing certain information. It’s when materials are removed from things we see everyday such as TV, music, books, or the internet, because the content may appear obscene or objectionable.
If a member of a minority group were to be offended by another individual then the minority group member must take stand for himself or herself instead of allowing that certain individual to walk away with these hate words. The best way to combat hate speech is to speak out against it. Not only will they set things clear for others but they’ve made an effort to stand up and clarify situations that they may find offensive such as racist stereotypes. Speech codes do not allow people to clarify situations; all speech codes do is silence individuals. These very individuals still do not know what’s wrong and right and will still have a mindset that will offend others in the future when they’re out of college.
In the book, To Kill a mockingbird written Harper Lee, there are prejudices expressed in this book, racial prejudice, Social prejudice and Fear of the unknown. These prejudices were expressed in the Town of Maycomb County in the eyes of Scout. Racial prejudice was expressed very carelessly in the book, a lot of people could go around calling African American people a ‘nigger’ and even more so, a ‘black’ or ‘coloured’ person. When Atticus knew he would be defending Tom Robinson, he knew he would be receiving negative comments and gossip, he also knew that his kids will also be getting negative comments from school or around the community. One example is when scout was at school and Cecil Jacobs approached scout and told her that “scouts daddy defends niggers”, when Scout told her father, he told scout to ignore any gossip because Atticus knew what he was doing was right.
Solomon 1 Angela Solomon Jane Riches Digital Citizenship 31 Oct 2012 Should Hate Speech Be Blocked or Censored? Should hate speech articles be blocked from viewing? “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. (George Washington - Brainy Quotes).” I think hate speech should only be blocked if it causes physical harm to a single person or an ethnic or religious group. Just because a person takes offense to something that someone said online and in the public, doesn’t mean the person who wrote it shouldn’t have the ability to say it.
A student’s mindset comes from negative labeling from parents or teachers, or stereotypes based on race and class. Even though students get fixed mindsets from many ways, parents will be a major factor, parents always gives their children negative labeling which causes them to have peer pressure. In the nonfictional article, “The Case of the Purloined Paper”, written by Brigid Schulte, she
The word “Nigger,” used for a member of any dark-skinned race of people and is often known for being offensive, is used over two hundred times in Huckleberry Finn. The word fuels and contributes to black people’s feelings of low self-esteem and to white people’s disrespect for them. In the classroom, while reading Huckleberry Finn, students do not want their differences highlighted to their fellow classmates. Huckleberry Finn accentuates their one difference that is always apparent, which is the color of their skin. People against the use of Huckleberry Finn in the schools believe black children are offended by the use of the word “nigger’ anywhere, no matter what the teacher uses to justify it.
If the government were to ban this because of its highly offensive and challenging nature, the people might slowly see their freedom of speech disappear as more and more ‘offensive’ actions were banned. The framers were not ignorant to the possibility of flag burning; they formatted the Constitution to protect the freedoms of the people- including the freedom to protest the government which is supposed to strive to protect those freedoms. Though the people may be offended by these actions, we must attempt to defend the ideals the flag represents instead of their physical form; for these ideals cannot be destroyed by fire, but they can be damaged by the restrictions of the freedoms the flag represents. The Amendment proposed to ban flag desecration would affect many Americans. Strict laws would prevent all flag burning- even the respectful disposal of flags by organizations like the Boy Scouts.
Books are constantly beint banned. Parents do not want their children to be exposed to materials the find inapropriate. Although it is easy to understand a parent wanting to protect his/her child sometimes borders are crossed. People are right when they say limits should be set, but the question comes up..."who should be held responsible for setting them.?" Who gets to choose what is right and not right.