Why was Tom Sawyer a banned book?

Answer 1

"Tom Sawyer" was banned for containing racial slurs and derogatory language towards African Americans, Native Americans, and others. Some critics argue that these portrayals contribute to negative stereotypes and attitudes, making the book inappropriate for young readers.

Answer 2

Not so much Tom Sawyer, but Huck Finn got in really Hot swamp waters as one of the major characters is a Black Man and the derisive N-word is used at least 200 times in the novel, so it cannot be accidental. Sawyer, which I never read, somewhat makes light of juvenile delinquency- the fence painting scheme and so on. I think there is a transvesitite incident in the book, and/or a botched suicide attempt, not exactly My Three Sons.

Answer 3

Possibly because some viewed it as being racist, portraying blacks in a demeaning manner, and/or in a negative way.

I'm not so sure that Tom Sawyer has been banned, but its 'companion' novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been banned since its very publication by various schools and libraries. This is most often in response to the use of the

"N-" word, which Wikipedia will not even let me use in this answer, in the book. However, there are two problems with this - first off, the book was written 'in the vernacular', which means that Mark Twain specifically tried to reproduce the actual language that would have been used at the time by the people he was portraying. In other words, the language and dialog was authentic for the time. People talked like that in the 1850s in the South (and the North,for that matter).

The second problem is that Twain used the word to illustrate the folly of racism and point out its problems. If you read the book, you see that, with the exception of Huck Finn himself, nearly all the white people are portrayed as ignorant and crass, while Jim, the main black character, is noble, thoughtful, and one of the few characters in the book who is portrayed as kind and benevolent. He and Huck form a friendship that would have been fairly rare in reality in the days Twain was portraying. So much of the novel is taken up by Huck gradually coming to the realization that Jim (and by extension, all blacks) is a decent and good human being, and is no different from a white person, after all. Huck Finn is a great novel, but I'm not sure that most young people would understand the REAL meaning of it until high school. It is not a children's story.

Answer 4

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been banned, the Adventures of Tom Sawyer has not been banned.

Answer 5

Tom Sawyer has not yet been banned in America, but it has been banned in Brazil in 2003

Answer 6

It depends where you go. In some places it might still be banned.

Answer 7

well it was banned from many different schools at different times. It was never officially banned

Answer 8

It has not been banned but some people want to bann it because there is some use of racist words.

Answer 9

Yes, there are some schools that have banned The Adventure of Tom Sawyer. They said that Tom had a questionable character.

Answer 10

TheAdventures of Huckleberry Finn has been banned, the Adventures of Tom Sawyer has not been banned.