HUCK FINN & THE N-WORD

JacksinPA · Sep 15, 2023

Library Guides: Banned Books Week Guide: Huck Finn & the N-Word

October 1 - October 7, 2023

davenport.libguides.com

CHANGING HUCK FINN

Mark Twain's classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has been under scrutiny for the use of language since it was first published in 1884. It continues to be one of the most challenged books in the United States. In 1885, the Concord Public Library banned the book for its "coarse language." Critics deemed Twain's use of slang as demeaning and damaging. One reviewer called it "the veriest trash more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people." The Brooklyn Public Library banned the book in 1905 for the use of the word "sweat" (instead of perspiration) and for saying, "Huck not only itched but scratched." Twain fired back by saying, "Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." Although the "n" word appears 200+ times in the book, it didn't initially cause much controversy. More recently Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been banned or challenged for racial slurs.

In 2011 NewSouth published a sanitized version of the book by replacing the word "nigger" with "slave" and the word "injun" with "Indian." An English professor at Auburn University at Montgomery proposed the idea to the publisher because he felt the pervasive use of the slurs made it more difficult for students to read the book. In an introduction to the new edition he wrote, “even at the level of college and graduate school, students are capable of resenting textual encounters with this racial appellative.”

You can read the complete, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, here, made possible by Project Gutenburg.
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Books have been banned because of either the language used or the central topic since the 19th century. The repugs are only trying stir up popular emotions around a nothing topic.

TheParser · Sep 15, 2023

I agree that word should be deleted.

There is simply no excuse for using that word today.

It could only hurt the feelings of many people.

We should let that word die a natural death.

Lutherf · Sep 15, 2023

Just don't mess with the damned book! It was written in an era where that particular word was widely accepted. If you don't want it on your bookshelf then don't buy it. Same applies to the "gay" books they talk about today.

JacksinPA · Sep 15, 2023

TheParser said:
I agree that word should be deleted.

There is simply no excuse for using that word today.

It could only hurt the feelings of many people.

We should let that word die a natural death.

That word has been in common usage since long before the Civil War & during the Tulsa & Ocoee Massacres in the 1920s. There are a lot of words in common usage that are considered unacceptable in classrooms as well as polite society but they are used often in slang & every day usage. But the repugs are making political theater out of them. They (the repugs) don't have enough to do.

Luce · Sep 15, 2023

That's stupid. Leave it be. It demonstrates how people behaved in that time period.

Jesus, next they'll be after Rudyard Kipling.

Luce · Sep 15, 2023

"Sanitized" books. Ugh.

SkyChief · Sep 15, 2023

TheParser said:
I agree that word should be deleted.

I disagree.

Huck Finn is a literary work. It's not fair to the author to edit or make changes to the text - even misspellings.

Literary works should remain unmolested.

History Books - - I have no problem deleting the N word from them.

TheParser said:
There is simply no excuse for using that word today.

It could only hurt the feelings of many people.

It would be fine to put some disclaimer on books or literary works which contain the N word, to protect those who might be offended - but without changing the actual text of the work.

Bok Tuklo · Sep 15, 2023

Publishers are free to do as they choose. But I won’t buy one.

btthegreat · Sep 15, 2023

JacksinPA said:
Library Guides: Banned Books Week Guide: Huck Finn & the N-Word

October 1 - October 7, 2023

davenport.libguides.com

CHANGING HUCK FINN
Mark Twain's classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has been under scrutiny for the use of language since it was first published in 1884. It continues to be one of the most challenged books in the United States. In 1885, the Concord Public Library banned the book for its "coarse language." Critics deemed Twain's use of slang as demeaning and damaging. One reviewer called it "the veriest trash more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people." The Brooklyn Public Library banned the book in 1905 for the use of the word "sweat" (instead of perspiration) and for saying, "Huck not only itched but scratched." Twain fired back by saying, "Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." Although the "n" word appears 200+ times in the book, it didn't initially cause much controversy. More recently Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been banned or challenged for racial slurs.

In 2011 NewSouth published a sanitized version of the book by replacing the word "nigger" with "slave" and the word "injun" with "Indian." An English professor at Auburn University at Montgomery proposed the idea to the publisher because he felt the pervasive use of the slurs made it more difficult for students to read the book. In an introduction to the new edition he wrote, “even at the level of college and graduate school, students are capable of resenting textual encounters with this racial appellative.”

You can read the complete, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, here, made possible by Project Gutenburg.
======================================================================
Books have been banned because of either the language used or the central topic since the 19th century. The repugs are only trying stir up popular emotions around a nothing topic.

maquiscat · Sep 15, 2023

JacksinPA said:
Library Guides: Banned Books Week Guide: Huck Finn & the N-Word

October 1 - October 7, 2023

davenport.libguides.com

CHANGING HUCK FINN
Mark Twain's classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has been under scrutiny for the use of language since it was first published in 1884. It continues to be one of the most challenged books in the United States. In 1885, the Concord Public Library banned the book for its "coarse language." Critics deemed Twain's use of slang as demeaning and damaging. One reviewer called it "the veriest trash more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people." The Brooklyn Public Library banned the book in 1905 for the use of the word "sweat" (instead of perspiration) and for saying, "Huck not only itched but scratched." Twain fired back by saying, "Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." Although the "n" word appears 200+ times in the book, it didn't initially cause much controversy. More recently Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been banned or challenged for racial slurs.

In 2011 NewSouth published a sanitized version of the book by replacing the word "nigger" with "slave" and the word "injun" with "Indian." An English professor at Auburn University at Montgomery proposed the idea to the publisher because he felt the pervasive use of the slurs made it more difficult for students to read the book. In an introduction to the new edition he wrote, “even at the level of college and graduate school, students are capable of resenting textual encounters with this racial appellative.”

You can read the complete, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, here, made possible by Project Gutenburg.
======================================================================
Books have been banned because of either the language used or the central topic since the 19th century. The repugs are only trying stir up popular emotions around a nothing topic.

While I can agree with the idea that a book such as this should have a warning or disclosure that the language used is not acceptable in today's society, it should not be altered. As long as it is not illegal to own, buy or sell (true censorship), then I could care less who wants to carry it or not. Bookstores will, for the most part, continue to carry it, especially when local book "bans" happen, because people will buy a copy just to spite those wanting to ban the book.

mrjurrs · Sep 15, 2023

JacksinPA said:
Library Guides: Banned Books Week Guide: Huck Finn & the N-Word

October 1 - October 7, 2023

davenport.libguides.com

CHANGING HUCK FINN
Mark Twain's classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has been under scrutiny for the use of language since it was first published in 1884. It continues to be one of the most challenged books in the United States. In 1885, the Concord Public Library banned the book for its "coarse language." Critics deemed Twain's use of slang as demeaning and damaging. One reviewer called it "the veriest trash more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people." The Brooklyn Public Library banned the book in 1905 for the use of the word "sweat" (instead of perspiration) and for saying, "Huck not only itched but scratched." Twain fired back by saying, "Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." Although the "n" word appears 200+ times in the book, it didn't initially cause much controversy. More recently Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been banned or challenged for racial slurs.

In 2011 NewSouth published a sanitized version of the book by replacing the word "nigger" with "slave" and the word "injun" with "Indian." An English professor at Auburn University at Montgomery proposed the idea to the publisher because he felt the pervasive use of the slurs made it more difficult for students to read the book. In an introduction to the new edition he wrote, “even at the level of college and graduate school, students are capable of resenting textual encounters with this racial appellative.”

You can read the complete, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, here, made possible by Project Gutenburg.
======================================================================
Books have been banned because of either the language used or the central topic since the 19th century. The repugs are only trying stir up popular emotions around a nothing topic.

I hate the 'n-word'. Imo, we would be better served if we tasted the bile rising from using the actual derogatory term. Pretending we didn't live the way people lived in the past is a disservice to everyone.

btthegreat · Sep 15, 2023

nope. Then You might as well just take Twain's name off the book if you are going to replace his words with someone elses. Next you will be sanitizing both his ideas and his words to conform with modern values. Its not today's standards that you are teaching when you teach this work. Its the standards of 1884 as Mark Twain interpreted them. Words change meaning. Words have different connotations and they served to accomplish different goals in 1884 when Twain used them than they do today.

The narrative has context, the characters are drawn from people Twain knew and grew up with, and the language that they used provides the color and realism to those characters. Thats all part of learning how to read literature.

SNOWFLAKE · Sep 15, 2023

noonereal · Sep 15, 2023

TheParser said:
I agree that word should be deleted.

Horse ****in shit.

What you are suggesting is the same as teaching the sugar coated his history of slavery.

We need to leave the past alone. Change our current behaviors but not cover up the past.

Tigerace117 · Sep 15, 2023

Luce said:
That's stupid. Leave it be. It demonstrates how people behaved in that time period.

Jesus, next they'll be after Rudyard Kipling.

Boo ****ing hoo. Literal racial slurs can safely be edited out without changing shit.

Simon W. Moon · Sep 15, 2023

publishing a sanitized version
seems different than
never publishing the original version ever again

Lots of classics get dumbed-down, simplified versions made of them for younger readers

Loulit01 · Sep 15, 2023

Let's rewrite Mark Twain. Times have changed and now we know better.

The hubris.

Everyone who's actually read the book will have their opinion taken seriously.

Is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a Racist Book?

Let's be careful on this one. I believe direct quotes from the book should be allowed but the mods may disagree.

debatepolitics.com

mrjurrs · Sep 15, 2023

Loulit01 said:
Let's rewrite Mark Twain. Times have changed and now we know better.

The hubris.

Everyone who's actually read the book will have their opinion taken seriously.

Is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a Racist Book?

Let's be careful on this one. I believe direct quotes from the book should be allowed but the mods may disagree.

debatepolitics.com

Yes it is a racist book, written in racist times.

Loulit01 · Sep 15, 2023

mrjurrs said:
Yes it is a racist book, written in racist times.

You never read the book.

btthegreat · Sep 15, 2023

Tigerace117 said:
Boo ****ing hoo. Literal racial slurs can safely be edited out without changing shit.

It literally is 'changing shit'. Those 'slurs' were common regional vernacular. Everyday people brought up in that time period, in the geographic area used those terms to describe black people. It would be out of character for them not to use them. We have no business sanitizing what Twain actually wrote to appease you or anyone else. If he wanted to use 'slave', then he would have written 'slave' instead of the word he chose. Language and society changes, and specific words gain or lose connotations. Some end up with 'baggage' that gets so heavy we barely use them at all as time goes by. These are concepts that you can teach a middle schooler or high schooler and they are concepts you should teach when you teach literature, or history.

If I will forgive an author of fiction or poetry today deciding to use those words to help describe or define a racist character or time he is creating (maybe an imaginary KKK wizard or a neo-nazi on the blogsphere for example) , I sure as hell will not be in favor of censoring Twain when he is doing the same thing over a hundred years ago. We DO NOT rewrite literature to erase what offends our sensibilities!

reinaert · Sep 15, 2023

mrjurrs said:
Yes it is a racist book, written in racist times.

Nope.

Twain was satirizing the shit DeSantis wants to sanitize.

Lutherf · Sep 15, 2023

Loulit01 said:
You never read the book.

Exactly. The story recognizes various racist norms of the time but in no way advocates for racism, and, in fact, presents us with a main character that generally works AGAINST those norms.

reinaert · Sep 15, 2023

"Mark Twain was American literature’s first critical race theorist as well as America’s greatest writer. His most famous work, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is a nihilistic satire about systematic racial and gender oppression, a rejection of sanctioned education and religion, and a searing metaphor for the failure of Reconstruction. But for over 130 years, no one got the joke, so to speak, or, if they did, their voices went unheard. Instead, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was turned into a comic book, a Disney riverboat ride, a movie vehicle for Mickey Rooney’s overacting and Ken Burns’s slow pan. The joke that Twain so artfully and ironically crafted was that America was a nation of freedom and equality where everyone had “unalienable rights.” And since Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’s publication in 1886, in addition to being one of the most frequently banned novels, it has been consistently and carefully misread by generations of scholars who, consciously or not, were collaborators in the whitewashing of American literature and history. Twain’s covert and disruptive meanings were as submerged as the wrecked steamboat Walter Scott, and his audience both then and now was inclined not to look beneath the surface of the muddy Mississippi."

Mark Twain was American lit's first critical race theorist (opinion)

Laura Skandera Trombley and Ann Ryan explore Mark Twain’s writing as just one example of how thoroughly American it is to try to unravel the knot of race, racism and U.S. history.

www.insidehighered.com

Loulit01 · Sep 15, 2023

“All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”

― Hemingway, Ernest

bongsaway · Sep 15, 2023

Lutherf said:
Just don't mess with the damned book! It was written in an era where that particular word was widely accepted. If you don't want it on your bookshelf then don't buy it. Same applies to the "gay" books they talk about today.

Isn't this a free speech issue that so many on here defend? I once tried to read a Dan Bongino book that I thought was going to be about the secret service that soon turned into a book bashing obama. I stopped reading a short way into the book. Why more folks can't do just that, amazes me?

HUCK FINN & THE N-WORD

CHANGING HUCK FINN​

Weaponized Funk

Weaponized Funk

USN Veteran

I Shave with Occam's Razor

CHANGING HUCK FINN​

Maquis Admiral

CHANGING HUCK FINN​

CHANGING HUCK FINN​

Crazy Canuck

RESIST

RESIST

Mono no aware

Mono no aware

RESIST

“All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”​

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency

CHANGING HUCK FINN

CHANGING HUCK FINN

CHANGING HUCK FINN

CHANGING HUCK FINN

“All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”