Mark Twain

I enjoy reading the works of Mark Twain, depending on the time period. Huckleberry Finn and "Jumping Frog" are included in this Pod, and several students are reading those selections and completing the related assignments. Mention The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the idea of censorship pops up.

I have very strong feelings on censorship. While I respect the feelings of parents on what their children are reading and studying in the classroom, I also feel that parents should trust the teachers to select appropriate material to be taught. I would never ask my students to read something that I would not have taught to my own daughters.

Eight or nine years ago one of my students brought in a list she had found of questionable books that were being taught in public schools. I was asked how many of those I had taught at West Central. Many of them I had. In fact, most of the novels that I had taught were on the list. Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Me, The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, A Separate Peace (included in the anthology we were using even!). In that class we discussed censorship, why it happened, their viewpoints, and what we could do about it.

Two weeks ago four of us who are full time English faculty stood in the office area at the Kokomo campus when the title of Huck Finn came up. Cody mentioned that he had read that someone was re-writing the novel and removing all of the objectionable or questionable language and situations and making it more politically correct so that the novel could be taught in the public schools.

Our thoughts on that? Just downright wrong. First, what gives anyone the right to tamper with the original works of a great author like Mark Twain? Next, this novel, and many short stories and other novels written in that time period, are full of local color which is a component of Regionalism. What makes Huck Finn so significant is the language, the reflection of that time period, bringing to the reader a slice of life during Twain's era and every day life on the Mississippi River. Would changing the wording and some of the situations create a better version of a novel that reflects Samual Langhorne Clemens' life as a boy on the river? Who would have the audacity to try to 'improve' a classic by changing the diction in the text?

Any time I taught a novel that was on a 'banned books' list, I seized the opportunity to talk about the reasons for that censorship. Lennie, Curley, George, and Slim were not going to sit in the bunkhouse after bucking barley, drinking tea from china teacups, pinkies extended, discussing the latest fashions or the most recent play opening on Broadway. They were gruff men, and their word choices reflected that. Did I encourage my juniors to imitate them? Of course not. But they had a better understanding of the lifestyle during that time period and Steinbeck's style of writing from reading Of Mice and Men.

Will this be a topic during our Pronto discussion next week? I hope so.