Mark Twain’s Banning

What does Banning mean?

• It is an official prohibition or edict against something.

The man

• His true name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

• He was born in November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri.

• He started to write at the age of 18.

Literary Work

During his life, Twain wrote more than 52 books, and two of his most famous works were banned:

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Banned because:• As Twain used Mississippi’s dialect in

this book, it was considered unappropiate for studying and reading in public libraries. The Concord Public said: “it is rough, coarse and inelegant, dealing with a series of experiences not elevating, the whole book being more suited to the slums that to intelligent, respectable people" (Boston Evening Transcript March 17, 1885 p. 6).

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Banned because:• Twenty years later, the library in Brooklyn, New York, excluded

Twain’s book from the children’s reading room because it felt that the character of Huck set a bad example for young people.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Why it shouldn’t be banned:• Margaret Norris, an African American teacher from San Francisco, believes it is because Twain’s attitude reaffirms that, “This

is how you are, like it or not and that’s why the book is so painful and important, because he is still telling us today.”

• Another teacher, David Bradley, feels “if we’d eradicated the problem of racism in our society Huckleberry Finn would be the easiest book in the world to teach."

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Banned because:• Removed from the seventh

grade curriculum in the West Chester, PA. schools (1994) because parents complained about the racially charged language used in the book.

• In the story, Pap Finn is an envious drunk man who beats on Huck, which is seen as something unacceptable. (and it is!)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Why it shouldn’t be banned:• This historical accurate story

revolutionized modern American storytelling and impacted all young adult literature which followed; inspiring the frank and open first person narrator style.

Resources

• Twain, Mark (1884) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. United States, Illinois: The American Publishing Company.

• Twain, Mark. (1885) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. United States, New York: Charles L. Webster & Company

• http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/canadian_tourism/49239• http://www.cesa6.k12.wi.us/newsfile17122_1.pdf• http://www.marktwainhouse.org/theman/major_works.shtml• http://books.google.com/books?

id=nJcPzcOQV5MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Huckleberry+Finn&hl=es&cd=3#v=onepage&q&f=false