"Tweaking Twain"

#1

There is a story here in the United States about a guy that wants to censor Mark Twain’s story about Huckleberry Finn. If you haven’t read the story, Huckleberry Finn befriends a black man named Jim. The story is scathing look at racism and southern US antebellum society.

The story contains the “N-word” for black person upwards of over 200 times and other racial slurs, as well as very coarse language.

Professor Alan Gribben, a Twain scholar, says that the prolific use of the N-word and other slurs (such as “Injun”) and the coarse language is prompting many US schools to stop teaching the anti-racism classic and is pushing for a release where “Injun” is replaced with “Indian” and the N-word is replaced with “slave”…among other edits.

What is your opinion on this? Should it be changed? I’d love to hear the outside-the-US perspective on this, too.

My take is that you can’t just sweep this stuff under the rug and trying to erase it is actually worse than the racism itself. As Twain said, “the difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter”.

Your take?

#2

That’s very close to my feelings. If you don’t show the full unpleasantness of racism then it seems less offensive. Why replace a negative view of obvious ( but accurate ) racism, with a negative view on subtle ( but inaccurate ) racism?

What’s next? History students reading mein kampf abridged so that Hitler thought Jews should be sent to mild discomfort camps because death camps is too offensive? It’s okay to be offended by negative things. Being exposed to the negative things of our past serves as a reminder that we shouldn’t let these things happen again.

#3

An introduction explaining the context etc. about the words would be more than sufficient in my view, for the reasons listed above.
Censoring the “bad words” only serves to minimize the situation.

#4

I don’t think that an introduction is necessary, to be honest. If you can’t intuit that this is a story set in southern antebellum society and all the baggage that comes with it, then an introductory section won’t help.

#5

I meant for a children’s or student’s edition or a school edition or something, if just as a compromise for those calling to censor it.

#6

(You may skip to the last paragraph. It kinda sums the rest up, though maybe not sufficiently)

I´m living in Germany and thus have a good reason to hate(truly hate) censorship in (almost) every way.
I haven´t read the book and so I don´t know if I´m right here but maybe Twain wanted to point something out by using this words. I assume that the “n-word” is used against Jim? Maybe he wanted to point out how offending these words are.
Even if not, it could be used for that very thing. When you as a teacher read out this book you could use that as a perfect chance to let the children see how words can offend people.

I don´t know in which class the book is read in schools. I would suggest to read it not before the age of maybe 12(that would be around 5th class in my country, I don´t quite get the american school system) if the language is really so rough(cuz I think children lack the ability to put themselves into other positions/people). But when you read it then you could get a task from the teacher like: Write an essay in which you try to put yourself into Jim(hope i´m using the right expression here). Point out how he feels when certain language is used in his presence.
Something like that just to make the point clear…

I think that reading the book in it´s original way and letting the teacher put it in the right context using according work assignments would be a lot more productive than just cutting out every piece you don´t like and replacing it with “more suitable” words. Censorship just isn´t the way.

#7

Yeah, this, basically.

#8

This.

#9

Harun: Yes. The word was used that way towards Jim. Others had their own slurs attached. There was a native American person by the name of “Joe” as well that had a slur in his name…and was characterized as very violent, killing a man and blaming it on someone else in the Tom Sawyer book.

#10

I’m sad to say that this doesn’t surprise me at all; I mean, I think Texas (or perhaps just a certain district in Texas?) already passed a law allowing them to rewrite the textbooks to take out all the “liberalism” (read “anything that doesn’t agree with their own worldview”)*.

In my opinion, shit like this, whether you’re censoring opinions or facts or uncomfortable language (used educationally, no less), is one of the more dangerous things society can do to itself.

Sometimes I get real scared listening to the rampant stupidity in my country. :frowning:

*Again, I think I heard that on the news a few months back, don’t ask for a source, 'cause I don’t have one. Just take it for what it is: a vague memory. :retard: :stuck_out_tongue:

#11

I heard about it IRL yesterday, I think the person who had the idea must be forced to change their name to N****r-Hater.

#12

What does it say about the situation that everyone has dodged the use of the actual word? Of course, I’m dodging it too.

#13

I’ve been banned from BM for the use of the word nigger before.

However, I have no problem saying it because I’m not American and my people never enslaved blacks.

#14

I seen this story on the BBC this morning, so it has reached here at least.

I completely disagree with the censorship, you sweep the racist language of the time under the rug and you just make the situation that much worse. What next shall we censor? The book is an attack on racism, without using the words in the context the meaning of the book is easily lost. We can’t defy any form of art because of this new politically correct world, it is a disgrace.

#15

sersoft: I think it largely depends on context, to be honest. If you’re simply quoting what someone else said, it’s less of a problem than, say, actually using the word to describe someone or a group of someones.

#16

Well, that’s America for ya.

Land of the Free (unless you mean freedom of speech, art and literature)

Home of the Brave (unless you mean brave enough to face reality)

#17

anti censorship activists rally to prevent book being published.

#18

Things that are in our face and make us uncomfortable because of the history attached to them are a good thing to keep around.
To remove them from our sight because they make us uncomfortable only leads to them being forgotten in time. When they are forgotten, they are likely to be repeated.

The only way that this attempt at censorship could hold any water was if the books in question glorified this use of language, but my recollections are telling me this is far from the case.

We should not now or ever change works to suit the social climate of the time. Things like literature are, in their own way, barometers of people and culture at a specific time and place. They are an integral element in the overall historical record, and may be by far the most important. That should never be changed or taken away. The very fact that these books make people uncomfortable because of their language means that the language of the books are doing their job. This should not be diluted.

But that’s just my opinion.

#19

You realize that in this story:
a) Nobody’s right to free speech is being imposed upon because
b) The government isn’t censoring the book, one professor is

Just because he’s petitioning to censor the book in schools doesn’t mean AT ALL that freedom of speech is being violated here. If anything, this story is in support of free speech because he’s totally allowed to express his opinion about the matter.

But I know, hurr durr jokes at the expense of the US are funny

#20

i live in a predominantly black area and when the teacher read us the book she said “nigger” and all the white kids were like hee and the black kids were like :I

also if it’s going to be read in class ya an introduction and perhaps something to give parents where they sign it if they dont want their kid to be a part of it

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