The Adventure Continues

Since its debut in 1885 to as recently as January of 2009, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” has been surrounded by controversy. Days after its initial publication, the Concord Library in Massachusetts described it as “trash of the veriest sort” and became the first library to ban it from its shelves. Over the years many libraries, including the Denver Public Library, the Omaha Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library and even the New York State Reformatory have followed suit. The reasons have included the characters’ questionable morality, the book’s flippant and irreverent nature, and Twain’s vulgar use of language. Twain was amused with the controversy and responded to the bannings by stating: “That will sell 25,000 copies for sure”.
Although it has been banned for many reasons, the charge of racism emerged in late 1950’s and remains at the forefront of the controversy to this day. For Assignment 2, I decided to focus on a recent challenge made in Federal Way, Washington.