Twain also said things that could be considered disparaging - although usually with some degree of jest - about Italians, French, Portuguese, Irish, etc. I have native American, Portuguese, and Irish blood, and these things he wrote don't bother me, but ... that's me, I guess. - B. Clay Shannon From: "Richey, Ms. Carolyn L" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Tuesday, January 3, 2017 2:29 PM Subject: Re: Reasons to quit (using the "N" word) This is a side note to the original post regarding the comment that none of= Twain's writings addresses the Nature vs. Nurture debate so prevalent in t= he 19th century and after. In Pudd'nhead Wilson, he most definitely addres= ses the nature/nurture discussion through Roxy's switching of the master's = son and her own son. Her son is raised to be a despicable character and th= e master's son was so damaged by his "nurturance" as a slave that when all = was set right, he could not leave the kitchen. =20 Also, regarding the original topic of the N word, watch the old Disney movi= e of Huck Finn where they substitute slave for the N word and the whole ide= a of slavery seems like a romp in the park. Carolyn Leutzinger Richey Tarleton State University Department of English and Languages Office: OAG334 Box T-0-300 254-968-9511 [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Holmes Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2017 3:10 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Reasons to quit (using the "N" word) Purely a technicality but Twain was in fact a racist in that he recognized = distinctions between groups/populations of peoples and accepted both qualit= ative and quantitative distinctions between them. He may or may not have come to accept Native Americans as fully human but f= or most of his writings they were on a par with African bushmen - also a ma= ssively unfair and racist judgment call on his part. =C2=A0Twain was an Ori= entalist, the accepted sociological theory of the day. It's unclear if his = distinctions were made from a biological perspective or cultural. =C2=A0I c= an't recall anything about the nature/nurture debate in Twain's writings. -- There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. http://bscottholmes.com