Ortiz 1 Ortiz A. Steve A.P.

English Language and Composition Ryan Shoji 3 November 2013 Essay Books have always been held with high regard as the gates to new lands for ones mind, but with uncharted territory, comes great controversy. In order to have students "fully immersed" in a teacher's lesson, school administrators or English departments, ban certain content deemed unnecessary or explicit. But the literary value found in an "inappropriate" book (such as Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) outweighs the perceived danger found in allowing such content to be viewed by the students. In order to aid administrators and/or department heads obtain this realization, they should consider certain factors before they commit any rash decisions. If there are any problems pertaining to the comprehension of language used or central themes surrounding the novel itself, the English department could consider time as a factor. By this, I mean the time that would be used to prepare the students for what they are going to read which could be key in preventing the issue all together. As Dudley Barlow explains in his article, I arranged my American literature classes not chronologically, but thematically.(The Teachers Lounge) He essentially arranged the lessons in a manner that would flow into each other, each previous lesson setting the foundation for the next, while it would all be under the umbrella of a common theme, which would add a final reinforcing connection between all of the units. This method of preparing a student beforehand can prove to be a very beneficial as the students would not question the themes presented by the novel, since they would have been anticipating such ideas.

Ortiz 2 Another factor that they would have to be put under consideration is why the novel is controversial to begin with. In the case of Huck Finn, where racism and thick dialects run rampant throughout the entirety of the novel, many have tossed it aside after their first glance, feeling that they have enough information to assume how the rest of the book will be like. But as Claire Stocks details in her book, While a superficial reading of the book might well offer plenty of apparent evidence to support these views, a careful analysis of the text challenges the claims made by those who would have the book banned.(Literary Contexts in Novels: Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.) As aforementioned, detailed analysis of Huck Finn reveals that it is much more than the exploits of a racist boy and a runaway slave traveling down the Mississippi, rather it is as Brad Meltzer detailed in his short article, a manifesto. An uncompromising fistfight about injustice and slavery.(Does Fiction Matter?) Claire details that in the story, Jim, or the slave, manages to alter Hucks view on slaves as property to people through the use of subtlety, which is also directed towards the reader as well, trying to get them to read much more carefully to understand the real moral in the story. As people come to label a novel by its content, they do not comprehend the positive potential it has for our young scholars and close that window of opportunity for them. In order to prevent this from occurring, school administrators and/or English departments should consider preparation as well as an investigation into a books controversy as factors in banning any book, particularly Huck Finn.

Ortiz 3 Works Cited Barlow, Dudley.The Teachers Lounge.Education Digest. 2010: p65-69.Ebscohost.web.27 Oct., 2013 Meltzer, Brad.Does Fiction Matter? Saturday Evening Post.2011: p23-23.Ebscohost.web. 27 Oct., 2013 Stocks, Claire.Literary Contexts in Novels: Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Great Neck Publishing.2006: p1-1.Ebscohost.web.27 Oct., 2013