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Publisher's Weekly Article
I put the above article for anybody who wanted to read it themselves, but the gist of it is that NewSouth is going to publish a version of Huckleberry Finn that replaces the word "nigger" with "slave" and also removes "Injun" (I'm not sure what the replacement word for that is going to be). The man who is the driving force behind this says that the intent is to view race through a 21st century viewpoint. But it's not a 21st century book; otherwise Tom and Huck would be texting and poking each other on FaceBook.
I understand that many view "nigger" as a hurtful word. I don't myself, because I prefer to look at the intent of language rather than, as George Carlin points out, automatically make a word a "bad word". It is not a word I generally use, but I have--mostly when I am singing along to the Too Short song, "Don't Fight the Feeling", which I am sensible enough to not do around others; and in discussions about race or language.
Huckleberry Finn was written during a time in which "nigger" was used much more freely than it is now; to remove it from the book is another attempt to whitewash what is a part of our history. Not the history that is taught in school, which, in general, is one in which America is generally right (and by America, I mean white America) and not one that destroyed cultures and killed people for land, profit, or fun. This censorship in the classroom is one of the reasons we are among the dumbest Western societies in the world. It is also why I get closer and closer to deciding once and for all to homeschool my youngest daughter. If you can't get students to understand Twain's use of the language, you shouldn't be a teacher; and if you stop the teacher from teaching this book, you should not be involved in the school at all.
I find it interesting that there is such an effort to erase this word from Twain's book, but to not have any issue with the violence in the book. You can explain the violence and how the use in the book doesn't mean you should go out and off drunk-ass pappies, but you can't explain the language in the context of the time. Was there no conversation about what the cross-dressing scenes might have done to impressionable youth (there probably was).
Of course, the copyright on this book is long gone (I assume, based merely on my knowledge I can get a copy of it on my Kindle for free), so it appears that legally people can change the words. I can't believe that a professor would spearhead this effort. An author spends a long time on a novel, and he or she generally has specific purpose for the words he or she uses, and for somebody to come after it has been published and say, no, I think we should do it this way instead--that's just lunacy.
I didn't plan on writing another blog today, but this got my Irish up (oh, wait, sorry, is that a stereotype? I'll have to change that), and I decided this was a better solution than spouting literary crimes to the pets.
I put the above article for anybody who wanted to read it themselves, but the gist of it is that NewSouth is going to publish a version of Huckleberry Finn that replaces the word "nigger" with "slave" and also removes "Injun" (I'm not sure what the replacement word for that is going to be). The man who is the driving force behind this says that the intent is to view race through a 21st century viewpoint. But it's not a 21st century book; otherwise Tom and Huck would be texting and poking each other on FaceBook.
I understand that many view "nigger" as a hurtful word. I don't myself, because I prefer to look at the intent of language rather than, as George Carlin points out, automatically make a word a "bad word". It is not a word I generally use, but I have--mostly when I am singing along to the Too Short song, "Don't Fight the Feeling", which I am sensible enough to not do around others; and in discussions about race or language.
Huckleberry Finn was written during a time in which "nigger" was used much more freely than it is now; to remove it from the book is another attempt to whitewash what is a part of our history. Not the history that is taught in school, which, in general, is one in which America is generally right (and by America, I mean white America) and not one that destroyed cultures and killed people for land, profit, or fun. This censorship in the classroom is one of the reasons we are among the dumbest Western societies in the world. It is also why I get closer and closer to deciding once and for all to homeschool my youngest daughter. If you can't get students to understand Twain's use of the language, you shouldn't be a teacher; and if you stop the teacher from teaching this book, you should not be involved in the school at all.
I find it interesting that there is such an effort to erase this word from Twain's book, but to not have any issue with the violence in the book. You can explain the violence and how the use in the book doesn't mean you should go out and off drunk-ass pappies, but you can't explain the language in the context of the time. Was there no conversation about what the cross-dressing scenes might have done to impressionable youth (there probably was).
Of course, the copyright on this book is long gone (I assume, based merely on my knowledge I can get a copy of it on my Kindle for free), so it appears that legally people can change the words. I can't believe that a professor would spearhead this effort. An author spends a long time on a novel, and he or she generally has specific purpose for the words he or she uses, and for somebody to come after it has been published and say, no, I think we should do it this way instead--that's just lunacy.
I didn't plan on writing another blog today, but this got my Irish up (oh, wait, sorry, is that a stereotype? I'll have to change that), and I decided this was a better solution than spouting literary crimes to the pets.
This is a test post.
Per our FB discussion, I agree. We have got to STOP "whitewashing" and censoring everything. Context is key. My suggestion is this.....instead of censoring the word "nigger" and "injun" from Mark Twain's works, why not put an emphasis on adding African-American and Native American literature (among others) to standard school curiculums? Teach the poetry of Langston Hughes. Teach the book "The Song of Solomon" (which I adore). Teach Huckleberry Finn, and then teach Ragtime. Instead of censoring the content of a book, use it as a teachable moment and expand on it. This is frustrating!
Carla, you're living in a fantasy world. That's not an insult, as I wish those things would happen, too. But the educational system is a paint-by-numbers one today. They have to fulfill their check marks, so that students can pass the standardization tests--there is no time for thought and analysis. There is only "eat this and shit that". It's a nice thought, though.