Factual (10)
1. What was “The Book Banning Controversy?” (powerpoint)
“The Book Banning Controversy” was a debate regarding whether The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain should be banned
from public libraries and schools since it was banned by the Concord
Library in 1885.
2. How did people view Twain’s words?
People viewed Twain’s words in this novel as “coarse and insensitive,”
as he used words such as “nigger” often, and his humor was hard to
understand for some people.
3. What were the two arguments that took place over this novel? (powerpoint)
Some stated that the book caused racial discriminations and
harrassments among students, while others opposed by stating that the
novel had no relation to racial conflicts.
4. Was the book banned eventually? Why or why not? (powerpoint)
No, the book was not banned, because there was a large number of
people who enjoyed the book. Also, the book seemed to show a story
of growing up, friendship, and childhood to those going against the
bann.
5. What was Twain’s reaction towards the criticism of his novel?
Twain feels that those that criticize his work are dumb because they
cannot understand humor, and states that he will not be disturbed by
those people’s views.
6. What were some reasons on why The New York Herald supported the ban of
the novel?
Reasons on why The New York Herald supported the banning of the
novel were because the book was “absolutely immoral,” and was not a
good book for those seeking knowledge.
7. What did the word “nigger” mean back in the time period when the book was
published?
According to The Hartford Courant, the word “nigger” did not mean
something offensive back then. The main theme of this novel is
friendship, looking at how Huck starts to consider Jim as a true friend
instead of a black slave.
8. Name at least three themes that were found in this novel.
The themes that were found in this novel were courage, nobility,
friendship, respect, morality, and compassion.
9. What was one of the biggest reasons on why the novel was censored?
One of the biggest reasons was that the book was not age-appropriate.
Some argued that what “being age-appropriate” really meant, while
some feared that young kids would be influenced negatively.
10. What do people that criticized the novel believe Twain’s motivations for
writing this novel were?
People who criticized the novel believed that Twain’s motivations for
writing this novel was simply to mock the African-Americans and
express his views towards slavery at that time.
Opinion-based (5)
1. What can you infer from the way Jim talks?
You can infer that Jim was not educated well, by looking at the way he
talks. As he talks, he has a lot of grammatical errors as well as poor
word choices. In this novel, you can notice that Jim is portrayed as an
illiterate and uneducated slave.
2. What do you notice about people’s treatment of Jim? Why do you think Jim is
treated this way?
As you are reading the novel, you can notice that most people tend to
look down on Jim and treat him differently from others. For example,
Miss Watson considers selling Jim for 800 dollars and sending him to
New Orleans, which would separate him from his family. However,
she does not mind what Jim wants at all. It seems that he is
discriminated by others because he has a different race and is at a low
social status.
3. Do you think that Jim would have received better treatments if he was not
black? Why or why not?
Yes, he may have been treated better if he was not black. The word
“nigger” is often used in this novel, which shows racial discriminations
taking place. If Jim was not black, those racial discriminations would
not have taken place as much.
4. Mark Twain had many humors involved in his novel. What was one of the
humors you found that seemed to be related to the controversy?
One of the humors I found that seemed relative to the controversy was
when Jim was talking about being rich. Humor is shown when Jim
believes that he is rich, when he does not have any wealth in reality.
Also, he states that he is going to purchase cow livestocks, which
shows that he does not exactly know what stocks are. This shows how
uneducated slaves are, and how their standards of being “rich” is quite
low.
5. Do you think that the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should have
been banned from public libraries and schools? Why or why not?
I believe that this novel should not have been banned from public
libraries and schools, because the matter of whether this novel causes
racial discriminations or not depends on how the readers interpret the
novel.
Quote Analysis (5)
1. In the following quotation, Jim shows his belief that he is going to become
rich someday because he has hair on his arms and his breast. From this, you
can see that Jim is really superstitious. Twain seems to portray blacks as
extremely superstitious people in this novel, by using Jim’s character.
2. As Huck and Jim see a dead man in the woods, Jim tells Huck not to look at
the man’s face because it is too ghastly. This quote shows how Jim is easily
frightened or scared. This may be interpreted as a racial discrimination to
some people, because Twain is portraying Jim, who is black, as a fainthearted
person.
3. The quotation shows how many people are assuming that Jim was the one that
murdered Huck. Though old Finn also is suspected, there is a bigger reward
out for finding Jim than for old Finn, which shows that many people are
suspecting Jim who is black, more than old Finn who is white though they
both have taken suspicious actions.
4. According to the quotation, Jim is about to be sold for 800 dollars and sent to
New Orleans by his owner, Miss Watson. This shows how Miss Watson does
not consider Jim as a human being at all, but an object that could earn her
money.
5. This quote is significant because it underlines Huck's beliefs concerning his
superstition as well as his view on religion. Through the quote, it is easy to
infer that Huck is definitely a realist and is the type of character that must
experience something himself in order to believe in it. Because of this
characteristic, Huck is prone to being very stubborn, defiant, and thinks he's
right most of the time unless someone proves it right before his eyes. Finally,
the quote the logical side of Huck as well as his childish side because it
reveals he is possibly finding an excuse not to pray.