I taught the undefiled, unedited, n***er-and-all text of Huck Finn in Polk
County High School, Columbus, NC, several times over a ten-year period and I
had no trouble at all with students or parents. I explained to my students that
Twain was a realistic writer and that Finn was a realistic book, and that as
such we could expect the characters to speak realistically as they would have
done in the time period of the book. I also told my students that we would not
vocalize the word
n***er in class, but that we would subsitute the word "slave" for it in order to
respect the sensibilities of our minority students and anyone else who found the
word offensive. We then focused on the narrative and the many issues raised by
it, and we spoke no more of the offensive word. No one complained except one
young lady of African-American origin who said her mother would not let her read
the book. I showed the young lady essays by African-American scholars who say
that the book SHOULD be taught, and she then was satisfied that reading it would
be okay. I suppose she convinced her mother.
Polk County High School is a school with about 700 students, about ten percent
of whom are African-American and about ten percent Hispanic, many of whom have
African blood from their heritage in Central and South America. The students
range from below average to well above average in intelligence. We have rural
students and town students, many of whom are very sophisticated owing to their
familiy situations. We have students who come from families who have lived in
this small county for many decades, and students who have moved here from the
North and from Hispanic countries. In other words, a real mixed bag. Both
rednecks and students who are the farthest from being such. And I had excellent
responses from all to Huck Finn, warts and all. We wrote on average ten fairly
demanding essays on various aspects of the novel, so I know beyond doubt that my
students read the book with understanding.
Handled properly, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn can be taught to any
students high school and above, without offending anyone and with great rewards
for all.
________________________________
From: John Bird <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tue, January 4, 2011 8:03:04 PM
Subject: Re: a new Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The issue will be discussed on Countdown With Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, 8
p.m. A bit later in the show, I think...
John Bird
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Kiskis
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 1:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: a new Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A former student sent me this link to a story about a new edition of Huck --
to be edited by Alan Gribben. If you read the story, scroll down to read
the variety of comments.
http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/01/03/huckleberry-finn-n-word-censor-edit/?hpt
=T2
--
Michael J. Kiskis
Leonard Tydings Grant Professor of American Literature
Elmira College
One Park Place
Elmira, NY 14901
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