by Jennifer Rohde and Theresa Wood

As students at Snohomish High School, we feel that the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is not appropriate as classroom reading material. Our experience with reading the novel has brought us to this conclusion. The excessive use of offensive words, bad grammar, and the way Mark Twain constantly illustrates blacks as inferior to whites are what have made us believe this. The most obvious debatable issue for censoring the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the constant swearing, and the excessive use of the "N" word. Every chapter of the book contains one if not both of these. Although during the time period the "N" word was accepted, today it is found offensive by many. As quoted directly from the book by Jim, a slave owned by Miss Watson, "Dey�s mighty good to me, dese ni**ers is�Dat Jack�s a good ni**er, en pooty smart."(pg. 109) The fact that a black man uses the word so casually proves that in that time period it was just another word. However, today when it is used, it is interpreted as a negative and demeaning term, offending both African Americans and whites alike. The cursing used throughout the book is also offensive and unnecessary. This could encourage whoever chooses to read the book to model the characters and their language. When Huck�s Pap gets drunk and stubs his toe on a metal tub, he "uses the hottest kind of language�mostly hove at the ni**er, government and the tub too."(pg. 28) Even though the actual words are not in the text, it implies that swearing at the smallest thing, like stubbing your toe, is appropriate. The bad grammar displayed in the story is another reason the book should have been banned long ago. The examples of bad grammar in the book are infinite, such as the use of "and" ten times in one sentence, as well as words like "sunshiny" and "brung."(pg. 210) Whenever Jim talks, you need to reread his words just to understand them. The author did this to portray Jim as uneducated, which while not uncommon during the time period, seems to degrade and demote him, which is completely unnecessary. As well as Jim being depicted as dumb, near the end of the book, Tom Sawyer and Huck are planning a way to free Jim from slavery. The way Tom goes about this, it is if it were a game that humiliates Jim and mocks the fact that a mans life and freedom are at stake. Tom�s shenanigans cause Jim pain and suffering, an example being when Tom and Huck send him a loaf of cornpone bread with a brass candlestick. "When Jim bit into it it most smashed all his teeth out; and there warn�t ever anything could �a� worked better. Tom said so himself"(pg. 240) When Huck suggests fleeing with Jim out the front door, Tom says they have to do things "by the book", and since Huck idolizes Tom due to Tom�s higher education and moral development, he just goes along with him, even though he does not agree with it. Jim says "He couldn�t see no sense in the most of it, but he allowed we was white folks and knowed better than him; so he was satisfied, and said he would do it all just as Tom said." (pg. 239) This is just another example of how degrading this book is to minorities. In conclusion, we feel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be banned from public schools. Mark Twain only offers his readers excessive swearing, bad grammar, and the degrading of African Americans. This does not benefit readers in any way, and therefore should not be part of standard school curriculum.