Deidre: One note regarding Huck Finn that might ease some of your (and your students' ) qualms regarding Twain's use of the "n-wprd" (n-word, my terminal doesn't allow backspacing): According to several sources in the _Mark Twain Journal_ issue featuring African-American scholars' appraisal of _HF_ on its centennial, the epithet "Nigger Jim" is an invention of Paine's, appearing first in his _Biography_. But as one scholar wrote, the n-word struck a chord with whites and was retained. Hemingway was the foremost example of this-he picked up the epithet and never dropped it when referring to Jim. If you wish, I'll get the exact references for yoyu. Robert Dagnall