The Day They Came to Arrest the Book

The open hearing of the textbook review committee takes place in the school auditorium. It disturbs Barney that more parents than kids attend. There is a vigorous back-and-forth between attendees both about the book itself and about the principle of censorship. Carl and other Black parents and students believe that the book does not deserve to be present in any setting where it could possibly offend children. Others speak up in favor of the book. Professor Stanley Lomax, a committee member, mentions Georgia Governor Eugene Talmadge, who in 1941 tried to ban any kind of literature that promoted interracial cooperation or said anything negative about the South.

Mrs. Nancy Dennis, a member of Parents for Moral School, attacks the book with her husband, claiming it promotes the idea that children should make important decisions without parental input. The Dennises also condemn Huckleberry Finn as immoral because Huck and Jim often float naked on the raft. Deirdre points out that Huckleberry Finn is a highly moral book because Huck repeatedly resists the urge to turn his friend Jim, a runaway slave, over to bounty hunters. Deirdre scoffs at Mr. Dennis’s accusations of sexual immorality. She asks, “Could you show me, sir, one homosexual act in this book?” (112).