A new, censored edition of the classic American novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which sees over 200 instances of racially offensive language being removed from Mark Twain’s original text, has been widely condemned by many of our British panellists.
Twain scholar and editor of the book, Dr Alan Gribben, argued that the censorship made the book more suitable for children studying it at school, and claimed that it was a way to ‘counter the pre-emptive censorship' that was already taking place in British schools, many of which have dropped the book from their curriculum over the ‘inappropriate’ language.
However, others have argued that the book’s language is merely a reflection of the society it portrays, and, they say, given Twain’s own well-known standpoint against racism, it was clearly not intended to be offensive in the first place and so should be left to stand.
Many of our panellists disagreed with the censorship and thought that the context and history of the novel could be used to justify the use of offensive language, and used to educate children.
Many saw the censorship as another step towards an increasingly restrictive culture of political correctness.
Others accepted the problem with using offensive language, especially in classrooms, but many largely felt that censorship was not the solution.
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published in 1884 and details the experiences of a trip down the Mississippi river through the eyes of Huckleberry ‘Huck’ Finn. The novel satirises Southern society, with particular focus on the racism prevalent at the time, following Huck as he understands the error of his racist attitudes and ultimately rejects them. The book has enjoyed controversy right from its publication and was banned from several libraries in 1885. This has continued to the modern day, with the novel recently ranked 14th in the American Library Association's list of the most ‘banned or challenged’ books.
