Banned Book of the Month: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Consistently among the most challenged books in schools and libraries, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has courted controversy since its original publication back in 1885, though not always for the same reason. It was first removed from the collection of the Concord Free Library in Massachusetts over its “rough, course and inelegant expressions.”

I suppose it is a sign of progress that one of those expressions, once deemed merely impolite and “trashy,” is now universally regarded as the deeply hurtful hate speech it is. Yet the ongoing controversy occasioned by the book’s frequent use of racial epithets, as well as characterizations which seem to both lampoon and to embody stereotypes, shows that the racial  issues raised and addressed by Huck Finn are far from academic. Author Toni Morrison captures the crux of the problem when she praises the book’s “…ability to transform its contradictions into fruitful complexities and to seem to be deliberately co-operating in the controversy it has excited. The brilliance of Huckleberry Finn is that it is the argument it raises.”

It should be acknowledged that most of the clashes over this classic revolve around how it should be taught in schools, at what grade level, and whether it should be required or optional reading. It is far less frequent for the book to be pulled from library shelves, let alone burned. Still, the perennial arguments surrounding this or any controversial classic raise important questions about how we can discuss difficult issues in schools and other public forums.  Is racism a problem best not talked about? If not, how should we discuss it? Can we examine racial stereotypes in detail without perpetuating them? Can we move beyond such slurs and stereotypes without discussing them? It is clear that Twain didn’t have the answers to these questions, but he has gotten the rest of us talking about them.

This year, the library’s Seattle Reads program has joined the discussion with its selection of Nancy Rawles’ My Jim, a novel that offers a welcome fresh perspective on the Reconstruction Era South that Mark Twain grew up in and wrote about. We also hosted a recent discussion on Huck Finn’s suitability for High School classes here at the library: download the podcast here.