This review is very interesting to me and explains some things that I am aware of but didn’t quite understand. When Hal Holbrook received his honorary doctorate degree from the University of Missouri, he used that word a few times at a luncheon speech while quoting Twain. A Black server dropped her tray with all the food on it. It was a dramatic moment! I’m a token member of a private all Black group centered in Hannibal and there are members that admire Twain for his writing and for what his presence did for Hannibal; Others believe him to be a racist because of the liberal use of that word in his writings. I understand this better now. Regards Susan Madeline Bailey On Mon, Aug 1, 2022 at 8:26 AM Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > BOOK REVIEW > > The following book review was written for the Mark Twain Forum by Kevin Mac > Donnell. > ~~~~~ > > _N: My Encounter with Racism and the Forbidden Word in an American > Classic_. By James Henry Harris. Fortress Press, 2021. Pp. 181. Softcover. > $18.99. ISBN 978-1-5064-7916-3. Ebook: 978-1-5064-7917-0. > > Many books reviewed on the Forum are available at discounted prices from > the TwainWeb Bookstore, and purchases from this site generate commissions > that benefit the Mark Twain Project. Please visit <http://www.twainweb.net > >. > > Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by > Kevin Mac Donnell. > > > This volume is a revision of _The Forbidden Word_ (2012), Harris's earlier > book about Mark Twain's use of the word "nigger" in _Adventures of > Huckleberry Finn_, with a new preface that takes into account the state of > race relations since the publication of that book. Harris describes his > hard-scrabble childhood, growing up in a house with no indoor plumbing and > no electricity, and surrounded by "sex, lies, drinking, liquor, and gossip" > (67-68). There was no health care, and the only books in the house were a > defective Bible and whatever textbooks he and his nine siblings brought > home. These sparse details don't begin to convey the relentless grinding > poverty or the crushing weight of the confusions, injustices, losses, and > tragedies of his childhood years. As if this noxious brew needed seasoning, > a heavy dose of racism was stirred into this miserable mix. > > Harris survived, but not without scars. Now a Distinguished Professor of > Pastoral Theology & Homiletics at Virginia Union University, more than a > decade ago he decided to pursue a Master of Arts degree in English > literature at the age of 53, and enrolled in a class on _Huckleberry Finn_. > He was the only black student in the class, in fact the only minority > member of the class (xv), and immediately found that reading the word > "nigger" on the printed page was one thing, but _hearing_ the word read > aloud and bandied about on the lips of the white students and his white > professor was something quite different, and not merely offensive or > humiliating, but profoundly painful. > > Hearing the word triggered Harris's memories of being called a "nigger" as > a child, which felt "like the sharp jabs of a dagger" (25), which had laid > the foundation of his lifetime reaction to the word, knowing that "when you > hear whites use the word, you know in your spirit that it is intended to > harm" (151). Although Mark Twain is not calling Harris or any of his > readers a "nigger," Harris's life-long conditioning explains what some may > consider his overreaction to hearing it spoken from the pages of Twain's > novel. Writes Harris, " . . . nobody can tell me I am a _nigger_ . . . > nobody has the right to do that, and Mark Twain is no exception" (ix-x). > Harris even describes his violent physical reaction to hearing the word > spoken by his fellow classmates (18). Harris also feels that when anyone, > including "Black intellectuals," substitutes the phrase "N-word" for > "nigger" that this is the equivalent of "nigger" and therefore equally > disturbing (xiii-xiv). > > For Harris, Twain's satire often backfires; he writes that "satire works > too well for Black people. It reinforces the stereotype it was intended to > obviate" (156). But he also acknowledges his admiration of Twain's use of > satire and irony, especially in the portrayal of whites in the novel, and > praises Twain's "marvelous" use of words and phrases (147). Harris makes > clear that "any author willing to send his dear protagonist Huck Finn all > the way to hell on behalf of one of my African American ancestors is > certainly worthy of my acclamation" (47-48), but he still objects to > Twain's use of the word "nigger" and describes his "dialectical > relationship with the writer and the novel" as "Love and hate. Admiration > and disgust" (150). > > At times he seems to confuse Twain's putting the word into the mouths of > his characters with Twain uttering the word himself, but either way it > makes no difference to Harris (148-149). However, this distinction is no > small distinction, and is a valid explanation of Twain's utilization of the > word, but Harris explicitly rejects that argument (xv). To Harris, Twain is > a racist because he uses the word "so flippantly. So cavalier-like. So > wrenchingly and so unashamedly" (31) and that "there is a persistent racial > and cultural hierarchy that permeates the written and visual texts in > _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_" and that "this does mean that Twain was a > racist, and he certainly took advantage of being white" (152). Harris is > either ignoring the satire or simply missing Twain's point; perhaps both. > Even at key moments in the novel, Harris does not soften his objections to > the word, asserting that Aunt Sally's revealing expression of relief that > the steamboat explosion only killed a "nigger" was an example of "racism > and white supremacy" and not a moment of "literary genius" (155). Likewise, > although Harris accurately cites Pap Finn's racist rant about "niggers" and > the government as Twain's way of showing "the racism of the times" he > nevertheless concludes that "it is symptomatic of the reality of white > supremacy in both Pap, the character, Mark Twain, the writer, and Huck the > protagonist" (171). > > Harris refuses to distinguish the racism of Twain's characters from their > creator, and is consistently confrontational and defiant, or else a > provocateur (130). At other times he is admittedly mischievous (136), and > admits that his imagination sometimes may be getting the better of him > (132). He questions his own sensitivity to the word, and addresses the very > different attitude among younger blacks today, but defends his position > (35, 165-166). In class he swallows his anger and instead contributes > mostly "good trouble" to classroom discussions, sometimes getting > jaw-dropping reactions from his fellow students, and sometimes their > understanding. > > At the end of the "brutal and uncomfortable class" (177) which he also > describes as a "slug-fest" that left him feeling "battered" (46-47), each > student was required to recite a one-hundred-word excerpt from the novel in > front of the class. Unable to bring himself to say the word "nigger" in > front of a classroom of white students, Harris instead recites two poems, > ending with Langston Hughes's "Refugee in America'`: > > There are words like Freedom > Sweet and wonderful to say. > On my heart-strings freedom sings > All day everyday. > > There are words like Liberty > That almost make me cry. > If you had known what I knew > You would know why. > > The recitation brings him to tears and hushes his classmates into a "gaping > silence" (178). > > The arguments Harris makes have been raised before by black writers; John > Wallace's _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Adapted_ (1983), and Sharon > Rush's _Huck Finn's "Hidden" Lesson: Teaching and Learning Across the Color > Line_ (2006) come to mind. Most Twainians familiar with _Huckleberry Finn_ > will disagree with Harris's indictment of Twain as a racist, his assessment > of how the word "nigger" functions in the novel, and his conclusions that > "the ubiquitous use of _nigger_ by Twain is the basic reason why his novel > has attained the status of an American classic" (141) and that "Twain's use > of the word _nigger_ . . . is so much a part of his being white that he > does not have to think twice about its use" (147). > > Readers might conclude that _Huckleberry Finn_ was poorly taught in > Harris's class, or more likely, that Harris's visceral but understandable > response to hearing the word spoken in class clouded his perception of > Twain's deliberate use of the word to signify the racism of the characters > in the novel. Some readers might also notice that while Twain puts the word > in the mouths of his characters more than 200 times in _Huckleberry Finn_, > Harris himself uses the word more than 175 times in his own book. But how > else could either man show his readers the evils of a systemic racism that > has continued to infect American culture from Twain's era to our own? > > Readers who find it difficult to understand why Harris (and others) react > this way to the word "nigger" in _Huckleberry Finn_ will find the answer in > the last two lines of Langston Hughes's poem. White readers may question > Harris's arguments, but not his black experiences. This white reviewer > cannot imagine very many black students willing to express themselves in > front of other students--especially white students--as candidly and > emotionally as Harris does in the pages of his memoir. For that reason > alone, anyone, black or white, who teaches Twain in the classroom to > students, black or white, will profit from reading Harris's account. > > T. S. Eliot, commenting on _Huckleberry Finn_ in his introduction to the > 1950 edition, said that "_Huckleberry Finn_, like other great works of > imagination, can give to every reader whatever he is capable of taking from > it" (Eliot xiv). Black and white readers each bring different experiences > to the table, each capable of taking things from this novel that the other > will not, each necessarily viewing the book through black or white-tinted > spectacles. But none can be excluded from the table if a meaningful > discussion is to take place. > -- Susan Bailey Co author The Twain Shall Meet <http://www.amazon.com/Twain-Shall-Meet-Granddaughter-Gabrilowitsch/dp/1499799497/ref=sr_1_1/191-7847938-3534132?ie=UTF8&qid=1415889321&sr=8-1&keywords=the+twain+shall+meet+susan+bailey> Twain Page <https://www.facebook.com/marktwainsgranddaughter> www.marktwainonline.com Greenville, SC