On Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and the ‘N’ Word

My response to Publishers Weekly and NPR articles on the new editions of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer that remove all racial epithets.

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter.”

—Mark Twain

English class was the one place that we could air all our crazy teenage/twenty-something philosophies about the world, history, language, art, religion, fashion, technology, and so much more. I recall it being the one class I never skipped. We hashed out race and gender issues, theological differences, and ideals verses reality. I feel that removing “offensive” language from literary classics robs students and teachers from being able to have these kinds of meetings in the classroom.

Of course teachers should be well trained in how to facilitate effective and beneficial conversations on controversial topics, but I remember leaving my classes feeling enlightened and more aware of my neighbor’s plight. My professors were brilliant! We didn’t have to agree, but we were encouraged to respect and understand.

Are we so politically correct that we are afraid to confront the hard stuff of life head on and then make our way back to common ground? It is a scary thought. My husband and I stay happily married because we aren’t afraid to confront the hard stuff. Our “talks” can get pretty heated. However, we approach them with the desire for understanding each other a little better and being able to empathize with the other’s feelings or position. This is a discipline. Empathy is a discipline. We were taught this at home and at school through many avenues, one of which was open discussion about cultural, religious, and racial differences. Twain's novels encourage this kind of discourse. Do we care that this is at stake with NewSouth Books' way of thinking?

I’d have to say that this removal of the racial epithets in the Twain novels is not the beginning of our lack of addressing cultural/ethnic differences. Our discussions have been decreasing in frequency and substance over the last several decades to the point that our children lack empathy and understanding of people who are different from them. I believe that NewSouth’s thinking is partly the kind of thinking that has contributed to the rise of bullying and cold-heartedness in our schools.

You may be able to hide relics of the past, but the memories bubble up in the form of passive aggression.

NewSouth has continued to stand by their decision to publish the novels without the N word, saying that they have provided a detailed introduction that examines the use and context of various racial slurs and why their edition will not contain them. But I agree with Stephan Tawny, who said in his blog Tuesday, “If the publisher finds it acceptable to confront the language head-on, why not place the note in the front of the book and then leave the original text alone?”

We can rob the upcoming generations of their opportunity to have an understanding of other ethnic groups if we erase the historical context of what makes these ethnic groups who they are. None of us want to glorify the past or stay stuck there, but we need it to stay in tact so that we can grow from it.

What I’ve also been privy to is that the editor, Dr. Alan Gribbean, who sought to make these changes is white, and because I am blessed to have a multiethnic group of friends and colleagues, I understand that my white friends are very sensitive to the N word—sometimes more than I am. It hurts them to the core. So I do hear Dr. Gribbean’s heart on this. However, let’s not cover up the past or erase it. Let’s use it as a learning tool, as a jumping-off point. Maybe from now on, books should be careful to not use the N word.

So what does this one move by NewSouth Books mean? Should we start hiding Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Roots, Birth of a Nation and The Color Purple? Then what do we do about classic books that have demeaning messages about women (The Scarlett Letter was pretty deep) or any other minority group for that matter? Why stop with just those two books?

This is a bad idea. Cover-ups like this have the potential to promote further ignorance, which leads to fear, which leads to hate.

I’m thinking I’d better go buy the editions of these books with the racial slurs in them before they’re all wiped out!

What are you thinking?