The Day They Came to Arrest the Book

“‘He’s going to be right inside the door,’ Luke said to Barney as they neared the entrance to George Mason High School. ‘He’s going to be standing there with that big phony smile and that chocolate voice.’”

Through these opening lines, Hentoff establishes the setting and characters: two teenage boys entering their high school, named for the revolutionary era patriot and proponent of free speech, George Mason. Hentoff also depicts the principal, Michael “Mighty Mike” Moore, as an individual whom the students perceive to be false and pretentious. Since the title of the book implies a coming conflict, Hentoff sets the stage for readers to assume the principal will not be a dependable leader of integrity.

“‘Mind you, this young Frenchman admired a lot about America, but he also wrote: “I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.” […] It was one thing to dissent against the British in 1776, but by 1831 de Tocqueville found very few Americans who dared to dissent publicly against popular opinion in this new nation.’”

History teacher Nora Baines quotes De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America to point out that, less than 60 years after the Revolutionary War, US citizens were reticent to speak out against public opinion. This reluctance to take a stand for independence of thought, Hentoff implies, tends to allow the loudest individuals and groups to make decisions for the entire nation. Hentoff also demonstrates through the storyline that citizens tend to follow the path of least resistance and that they can be swayed by illogical arguments.

“I brought that Huckleberry Finn home, and my father is calling Mike today for an immediate appointment. You know, I figured Miss Baines was a decent lady, but she doesn’t give one damn about how somebody black like me feels having to read ‘n*****,’ ‘n*****,’ all the time. And not in some Klan piece of garbage, but in a school book!”

Gordon McLean expresses his discomfort and anger over the use of racial slurs in Huckleberry Finn. He criticizes Nora's use of the book, claiming she did not consider the feelings of her Black students (or disregarded them if she did).