Recently it was announced that a new edition of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn going to be released.  The reasoning for the new edition is the use of the n-word throughout the text.

The word occurs more than 200 times in Huckleberry Finn, first published in 1884, and its 1876 precursor, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which tell the story of the boys’ adventures along the Mississippi river in the mid-19th century. In the new edition, the word will be replaced in each instance by “slave”. The word “injun” will also be replaced in the text.

The new edition’s Alabama-based publisher, NewSouth books, says the development is a “bold move compassionately advocated” by the book’s editor, Twain scholar Dr Alan Gribben of Auburn University, Montgomery. It will have the effect, the publisher claims, of replacing “two hurtful epithets” in order to “counter the ‘pre-emptive censorship‘ that Dr Gribben observes has caused these important works of literature to fall off curriculum lists worldwide.” ¹

Surely Mark Twain is going to spend years haunting the people who approved this.  Writers (at least the really good ones) choose words for a reason.  They use words to evoke a sense of place, to provoke the reader into the mindset that will carry the individual deep into the text.  Twain’s use of the n-word was very deliberate; part of his social commentary on the era in which the use of such language was prevalent.  That word today is verboten, as it should be, in common speech.  However, to remove it from a text such as Twain’s Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer is not only censorship but also a revisionist version of history.

Our society is so consumed with avoiding the possibility of offending others that we have tossed common sense & critical thinking out with our unrecycled styrofoam.  How can we learn from our history if we are so busy snipping, patching & denying what happened?  Yes there was a time where people used racial slurs on a regular basis…it is a sad part of our past.  We cannot pretend it didn’t happen–doing that not only rewrites the past but it also negates the work done by civil rights activists.

When I was learning about these stories in elementary school we discussed the mentality of the times, the language, customs etc. We were taught why the racial slurs were unacceptable…not just in school but at home too.  Now we treat our children like mushrooms…keep them in the dark & feed them a fine line of crap.  Rather than use Huck Finn as a discussion tool we sanitize it to make sure nobody is offended.  Our educational system should be the finest in the world.  Instead we are rewriting history, smoothing over the ugly parts of classic literature and generally removing the process of critical thinking from learning.  We are creating children who accept whatever they are told.  There isn’t any reason for them to examine what is right & wrong (or socially acceptable–think Golden Rule).

Sanitized literature (and history) does no favors for anybody.  It keeps us from learning, from repeating the mistakes of past generations…as Satayana famously said, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it”.  I shudder to think what we are dooming our children to repeat by not remembering & teaching our unvarnished past.

Main Entry: grate·ful

Pronunciation: \?gr?t-f?l\

Function: adjective

Etymology: obsolete grate pleasing, thankful, from Latin gratus — more at grace

Date: 1552 1 a : appreciative of benefits received b : expressing gratitude <grateful thanks> 2 a : affording pleasure or contentment : pleasing b : pleasing by reason of comfort supplied or discomfort alleviated

Main Entry: thank·ful

Pronunciation: \?tha?k-f?l\

Function: adjective

Date: before 12th century 1 : conscious of benefit received <for what we are about to receive make us truly thankful> 2 : expressive of thanks <thankful service> 3 : well pleased : glad <was thankful that it didn’t rain>

Main Entry: ap·pre·ci·ate

Pronunciation: \?-?pr?-sh?-??t, -?pri- also -?pr?-s?-\

Function: verb

Inflected Form(s): ap·pre·ci·at·ed; ap·pre·ci·at·ing

Etymology: Late Latin appretiatus, past participle of appretiare, from Latin ad- + pretium price — more at price

Date: 1655 transitive verb 1 a : to grasp the nature, worth, quality, or significance of <appreciate the difference between right and wrong> b : to value or admire highly <appreciates our work> c : to judge with heightened perception or understanding : be fully aware of <must see it to appreciate it> d : to recognize with gratitude <certainly appreciates your kindness> 2 : to increase the value of

synonyms appreciate, value, prize, treasure, cherish mean to hold in high estimation. appreciate often connotes sufficient understanding to enjoy or admire a thing’s excellence <appreciates fine wine>. value implies rating a thing highly for its intrinsic worth <values our friendship>. prize implies taking a deep pride in something one possesses <Americans prize their freedom>. treasure emphasizes jealously safeguarding something considered precious <a treasured memento>. cherish implies a special love and care for something <cherishes her children above all>.