Huck Finn: And why I think the N-word should remain in the novel. Rebutting: “Huck Fin: Censorship? Sure, it is, but changes to ‘Huckleberry Fin’ are warranted”
Mark Twain was a scholar who wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in1876 and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884. When Mark Twain was writing these two pieces of classic literature he used the N-word to reveal the oppressive culture of the South at the time of these novels. He did not use the N-word with the intent to offend anyone, instead he used the word in the proper context of the time in which the novels were written to depict the historical context and to assist in the development of the characters. In today's society the N- word is generally thought to be offensive, racist, and culturally insensitive. It is my belief that by censoring the novels by changing the N-word to something less offensive would comprise the integrity of the novels.
In the article, "Huck Finn, Censorship and the N-Word Controversy (2011), Delia Lloyd explains that it is the fourth most banned book in the United States because the novel says the N-word over two-hundred times. Lloyd goes on to argue that when a famous piece of work is censored for the general education it loses all sense of history behind it. Further illustrating the point that the censorship affects the historical context, she gives the example of an editor in the 19th century who created a family version of “Shakespeare” by removing all of the sex scenes so it did not offend the Victorian wives and children. If the vocabulary in a book needs to be changed to make the language more appropriate for the reader then maybe the reader should wait until they are older and more mature to read the work in order to understand it in the proper historical context of the time in which it was written.
In the editorial that I am refuting the author says “We don’t blame elementary school educators for holding back the original versions of “Huckleberry Finn” and “Tom Sawyer” based on the language” (Editorial. par. 3). If the language is being changed for elementary schools than a change like that seems ridiculous as the students are already too young to be reading the book to really understand what is actually happening. People do not understand the social constructs of racism and discrimination until they are at an older age such as when they are in high school or even older. Thomas Quirk an English professor stated that if he were a middle school teacher he would not assign the sanitized or un-sanitized piece of literature because of the difficulty to comprehend (Davis. par.16). The editorial also states that the new version of the literary works is for lower- level grades in the school. If the new novels are for lower levels, why couldn't they wait until they are perhaps a junior or senior in high school to read the books?
If a person prefers the historical value of the book it will always be there for the reader to find (Editorial. par.4). However, that is not the point that I am trying to make. It does not matter if someone else likes the historical piece over the new piece it is what the younger generation will think after reading the censored piece of literature. When reading Mark Twain, he wanted people to know what was happening in the south and the harsh punishments that people endured. When changing words there is the possibility that people could misinterpret the meaning of what Twain was actually trying to say and it could change the whole perspective of the novel. Peggy Placier, who is an associate professor in MU’s College of Education believes that “Changing Twain’s work ‘still does damage to the authorial voice and the historical reality’ of the text” (Davis. par.13). Quirk also states that the book is not for boys, it is for adults who used to be boys (Davis. par.17). He states this because the book should not be read until a person is at an age when they can fully comprehend what is actually going on in the story and they can understand the racism of the novel and why the N-word is actually used. If we all listened to Quirk and did not read this novel until the last couple of years of high-school or even into college then there would be no need to revise the book. The revision of the N-word is meant to protect and shelter younger adults at the risk of ruining the voice and meaning of the novel. Instead, people should wait until they are older to understand the word was used to illustrate a difficult time in the past of America's culture.
If a person prefers the historical value of the book it will always be there for the reader to find (Editorial. par.4). However, that is not the point that I am trying to make. It does not matter if someone else likes the historical piece over the new piece it is what the younger generation will think after reading the censored piece of literature. When reading Mark Twain, he wanted people to know what was happening in the south and the harsh punishments that people endured. When changing words there is the possibility that people could misinterpret the meaning of what Twain was actually trying to say and it could change the whole perspective of the novel. Peggy Placier, who is an associate professor in MU’s College of Education believes that “Changing Twain’s work ‘still does damage to the authorial voice and the historical reality’ of the text” (Davis. par.13). Quirk also states that the book is not for boys, it is for adults who used to be boys (Davis. par.17). He states this because the book should not be read until a person is at an age when they can fully comprehend what is actually going on in the story and they can understand the racism of the novel and why the N-word is actually used. If we all listened to Quirk and did not read this novel until the last couple of years of high-school or even into college then there would be no need to revise the book. The revision of the N-word is meant to protect and shelter younger adults at the risk of ruining the voice and meaning of the novel. Instead, people should wait until they are older to understand the word was used to illustrate a difficult time in the past of America's culture.
The N-word would be changed to the word “slave”. I find that to be heart wrenching because now when the N-word should have been used it would say the word “slave” and that could change the context of the story. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary both of these terms have completely different meanings. The N-word is defined 'as a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons, one who may feel completely out of the political process'. While slave is defined as ‘a person held in servitude as the chattel of another’. Whenever I hear the word slave I automatically think of an African- American person working for someone else because that is how I was raised and what was taught in school. I do not ever hear the word slave without it meaning to work for someone else. When I hear the N-word it affects me a lot differently then the word slave because I have grown up in a household where that word was inappropriate to use. When the N-word gets replaced with slave I would begin to misinterpret what the text is telling me because now I am thinking that this black individual is working for someone and is not actually a poor man, but just has to work hard to live. That meaning is completely different from the N-word because that could mean they are actually poor and do live on the streets where every day is a struggle. John Hudson who wrote an essay on this issue stated "Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century” (Hudson. Censors the N-word.). A person has to be able to relate to the past and the issues that happened in this country, and changing a word does not teach the younger generation the harsh realities of what the time was actually like when the novels were written.
The N-Word should not be changed to the word “slave” because it leads to misinterpretation of the novel and the context of how the word is being used. Mark Twain wrote the literary works The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The adventures of Huckleberry Finn a long time ago to depict the oppressive culture of the South and what the lives of people were like every day during that time period. These two books are literary classics. When a word is removed that defines the harsh reality of the times it is insulting to the famous author who chose the vocabulary to depict the historical context of the time and the development of the characters in the book. It would be scary and upsetting to think of what the new context would sound like and how much changing one word would actually change the whole context of these literary classics.
Works Cited
Lloyd, Delia. "Huck Finn, Censorship and the N-Word Controversy." Politics Daily
Feb,1 2011: Web. 1 Mar 2011
Hudson, John. "New Edition of 'Huck Finn' Censors the 'N Word'." the Atlantic Wire, Jan, 24 2011. Web. 1 Mar 2011.
Davis, Michael. "MU scholar defends Huckleberry Finn revision." Missourian, Feb, 8 2011. Web. 1 Mar 2011.
The Lufkin Daily News. “Editorial: Huck Finn: Censorship? Sure, it is, but changes to ‘Huckleberry Finn’ are Warranted”. The Lufkin Daily News, Jan, 6 2011.
Web. 1 Mar 2011
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