Response to the article, “Part
of Our Lexicon”, by Jill Nelson regarding the removal of the word “nigger” from
Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.
Nelson is an African American writer from Harlem in New York. She has written several pieces on race, gender, politics, media and other topics. The article Jill Nelson published about the censorship talks about how omitting the word "nigger" from the novel would take away from its meaning. She also draws attention to the modern usage of the word in the first part of her article.
To me, Huck Finn is a novel about a lot of different issues surrounding the main idea; Huck coming of age. Slavery is the most obvious of the issues, but others exist as well with the Shephardson's family feud and the King and Duke's constant scheming. But, the main focus is on the main character and his growth. I thought the novel did a good job expressing a realistic adventure and maturity into adulthood for Huck, but I also thought the book was boring to read.
Nelson is an African American writer from Harlem in New York. She has written several pieces on race, gender, politics, media and other topics. The article Jill Nelson published about the censorship talks about how omitting the word "nigger" from the novel would take away from its meaning. She also draws attention to the modern usage of the word in the first part of her article.
To me, Huck Finn is a novel about a lot of different issues surrounding the main idea; Huck coming of age. Slavery is the most obvious of the issues, but others exist as well with the Shephardson's family feud and the King and Duke's constant scheming. But, the main focus is on the main character and his growth. I thought the novel did a good job expressing a realistic adventure and maturity into adulthood for Huck, but I also thought the book was boring to read.
I completely agree with Nelson that the word "nigger" should not be taken out of Huck Finn. The word has a meaning in the culture of this country, it is entwined into our history and given that our nation is young, it was present and
prevalent for a sizable amount of time, and it still exists today. My stance; let it exist. One cannot force opinions on another and one cannot simply omit
such a powerful word from an American classic, it takes away from the meaning.
Mark Twain used the word often and some readers are unsettled by its use. It is
a powerful word, but it is meant to be powerful. American classics as a genre are meant to
be powerful and taking away this word is taking away part of the essence of the
book. I’m not implying that the word “slave” has a different meaning than the
word “nigger”, essentially they mean the same thing. But one would be lying if they taught that the word “nigger” has the same affect when it is said as when "slave" is said. And when Huck says, "he was most always right, he had an uncommon level head, for a nigger"(ch. 14), I can see that "nigger" and "slave" would be interchangeable here. But, it would not be in the true essence of Southern society at that time. Part of the reason why the word is so powerful in the book is because it is used so easily in the place of "slave". The word adds character, and it is a huge part of the identity of Huck Finn as being an AMERICAN classic. Every civilization in
history has had slaves, but we are the only nation to have niggers. I also feel that changing replacing the word undermines Huck's development throughout his adventure. "Nigger" puts a negative connotation on Jim as a person, but it is meant to, because at the time people did mean for it to be offensive. At the
beginning of the novel, before any of the words from the actual story are even
said, Twain talks of how careful he was in including the dialects from the
different cultures included in the book.He states at the beginning, “In this book a
number of dialects are used…The shadings have not been done in a haphazard
fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly”(Twain, Explanatory).The author meant for the words he wrote to be read
by the public and he certainly did not mean for any of them to be changed.
I disagree that the novel should be censored but that is only my opinion and people are free to believe what they want. If one wishes to read a censored novel they should. But, I think it’s important to have the option to read the uncensored version too. People should have a free choice of what they want to read, if one wishes to experience the true feeling of the novel, he or she would probably want to choose to read the original, not the baby version.
I disagree that the novel should be censored but that is only my opinion and people are free to believe what they want. If one wishes to read a censored novel they should. But, I think it’s important to have the option to read the uncensored version too. People should have a free choice of what they want to read, if one wishes to experience the true feeling of the novel, he or she would probably want to choose to read the original, not the baby version.
I like most of this, but I disagree that the word "slave" could ever be interchangeable with the n-word. If Huck said "slave," he'd only be referring to the African-American people who were stuck on plantations, NOT the entire African-American population in general. In my opinion the quote you used isn't a good example of an instance where the words are interchangeable, because it changes the meaning of the quote from being about black people in general to only about slaves.
ReplyDeleteI would like to disagree with you in that the word "slave" would only refer to African Americans. "Slave" is a very broad term in which it does not have an appointed race. This means that slave should not be used at all. This book is solely based on a boy who is growing and learning the in's and out's of society of the time period. "Slave" takes the history and meaning out of the word, "nigger". Therefore it is best to forget the word "slave" in almost every aspect of this novel.
DeleteI think it is interesting that you think the point of the novel is Huck's coming of age. I know this is not truly what you are arguing in your response, but I would have to disagree that it is the purpose of this book. If we are having such a hard time deciding what words should be used in this novel solely because these words are degrading to African Americans, then this idea of racism and fighting it, in my opinion, takes a bigger role than Huck's coming of age. But I think word use is just as controversial as the purpose of the novel! Even Smiley says, For Huck Finn's besetting problem, the disparity between his best impulses and the behavior the community attempted to impose upon him, is as surely ours as it was Twains's" (Smiley). I think she means to say that even Twain struggled in the meaning and messages of his writing, and we are meant to struggle and compromise what it means as well! You wrote a very nice response Maddy! Good job!
ReplyDeleteMeghan thank you for your thoughtful response! As a group, we feel that Huck Finn is a coming of age more so than it is a comment on slavery and racism because each of Huck's struggles against racist actions towards Jim deals more with a struggle against society's standards rather than a struggle to determine Jim's worth relative to white people. Huck feels he is betraying Southern society when he treats Jim well-- an example of a child's journey towards adulthood and the formation of mature, personal beliefs based on experience. Almost no point in the novel presents Huck comparing white and black people's worth in his mind. This is something the reader infers and analyzes but Huck never deals with the question of African American rights himself.
DeleteI made a mistake, it was written by Leo Marx, not Smiley (for the quote I used).
ReplyDeleteI think you are right in many of the points you make.
ReplyDelete1. "Let it exist." - For the people who believe it is so bad that they should make a revision of Twain's work, they are fools. It does it exist; it is the past, so it can't be changed. If teachers think the book is inappropriate for high school students to read, I think it is inappropriate for them to teach. All the teacher is doing by not teaching the book to the student is keeping the student ignorant of the word, but the student is very likely to come across it at some point in his life, and it is a shame the student would get past high school and not know about the culture and time period that the word came from.
2."Every civilization in history has had slaves, but we are the only nation to have niggers." - Yes, you said it, and you are right! Yes it is disappointing to look back and say, Yes, that was us, the Americans, who treated people so disgustingly bad. But you know what? We frown upon the way Germany treated Jewish people in concentration camps, but no one in Germany will say it didn't happen. No one is proud of such an awful act that affected, even hurt and killed, so many people, but they don't omit World War II from their history textbooks, and I think it is ridiculous someone thought it would be a good idea to omit "niggers" from one of our history books.
3. "People should have a free choice of what they want to read, if one wishes to experience the true feeling of the novel, he or she would probably want to choose to read the original, not the baby version." This is like doing pushups (believe it or not :). Women will often choose to do the easier pushup (on their knees instead of feet). It is true that they are still working hard and gaining strength, but they will not have the same kind of strength and endurance as they would if they do regular pushups. If you read Huck Finn, but only the censored version, you can say you read the book. But you are NOT getting the same read as if you read the uncensored, original version. Maddy is right in saying the word was used specifically to be insulting, and if you aren't reading the "insulting" version, you aren't really understanding the culture of the time. "Slave" is a general history textbook word, while "nigger" has some regular-kind-of-pushup power.
Love the push-up comparison!
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