Should 'Hulckeberry Finn' Stay In the English 11 Curriculum?

Most of you already know that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is considered a great piece of literature that is taught across the United States. Being a “local color” writer, Mark Twain uses dialect and more than frequently uses the word ‘nigger’. Recently, some people have begun to voice their opinion on how often Twain uses the word ‘nigger’. They find the word ‘nigger’ offensive, degrading, and inappropriate. Many of them want to switch out the word ‘nigger’ for ‘slave’, but that defeats the purpose of the book.

Honestly, they should keep the book in the English 11 curriculum. Yes, the book says the word ‘nigger’ 215 times, but that was what they called, and still call African Americans. We cannot ignore that fact. Removing the word or the book from the curriculum would be like taking a cake and leaving the icing, or sugar-coating the past. As much as some people would like to do that, the children today need to know the truth about their history, no matter how bad it was, wouldn’t you agree? If they didn’t, then, as I’m sure you would also agree, they would continue to make the same mistakes their forefathers made. Consider these things while you make your decision on whether or not to cut out not only an excellent example of local color literature, but also a crucial piece of history.