Sunday, January 6, 2008

Should Huckleberry Finn Be Taught At school ?

I believe that the book Huckleberry Finn should be taught in school. Here are a few reasons why; the first reason is that the book is historically accurate. Secondly, the book deals with very important issues that need to be discussed. Thirdly, the book is meant to be a parody.

Firstly, Huckleberry Finn is historically accurate. There is no way around it; in this time period the n word was used. A white boy who was raised in a time of slavery is going to use the word. In the story, it was never used as an insult; it was used simply as a description, like how we would call someone black or white today.

Next, the book deals with important issues that need to be discussed. In the story, racism is something mentioned a lot. Teaching these issues allow to think about something not just read it and forget about it. Another thing talked about is how opinions have changed since then. If we don’t talk about these issues they become the invisible elephant in the room, it’s still there but everyone is ignoring it.


Lastly, the meant to be a parody. The tone of the story is highly ironic. You can see this when you read how different people use different ways of speech When you read the story you realize how highly moronic the people who believe in slavery actually are. This book was a way Mark Twain could convey his own opinions about slavery and Southern culture.


In conclusion, I believe Huckleberry Finn should be taught at school. There are three reasons why .The first is that the book is historically accurate. Secondly the book serves as a discussion point. Thirdly, Huckleberry Finn is a parody. Don’t let this great piece of literature simply because of the language an undedicated character uses.

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