To me, the key question is: "Why is the book still relevant in 2004?" My
answer is that if it weren't relevant, there wouldn't be a controversy.
Mark Twain engages us on a wide variety of issues that troubled this
nation long before he wrote the novel and that trouble us still: race,
class, religion, morality, and conscience. The "n-word" is a touchstone
for such issues, and the ability of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
to inspire rage, laughter, fear, and a wide range of emotions speaks to
its continuing power and greatness.

Jim Edstrom
William Rainey Harper College, Palatine, Illinois