[This is the second of three thought-provoking messages sent to me by Wesley Britton, and posted to the Mark Twain Forum on his behalf. Although Wesley does not yet have access to e-mail, discussion and replies concerning these postings are welcomed at <[log in to unmask]>; Wesley receives the Forum's log files periodically and follows the discussion here. If you want to send a private or urgent reply to Wesley, though, you should direct it to his snail-mail address at the end of this message. --Taylor Roberts] On Huck & Race by Wesley Britton Recently, I had a chance to review many of your collective comments on Huck Finn and race, a never-healing wound for general readers and literature scholars alike. I thought I'd share the following story with you after quickly noting that, for those of you interested in Hawthorne and race, you might check out my "The Puritan Past and Black Gothic: Toni Morrison's _Beloved_ in Light of _House of the 7 Gables_." It will be published in the _Nathanial Hawthorne Review_ later this year. Back to Huck. Three falls ago, I taught HF at Paul Quinn College, an all- black school in Dallas, Texas. I learned the previous semester that African-American students take portrayals of their ancestors seriously and personally. I learned black students turned off to stories such as Thorpe's "Big Bear of Arkansas" because the "N" word appears and, for black students, the humor, flavor, and taste of the story evaporated after the word is used. When time came to teach Huck, I asked many questions of my black colleagues: should I teach the book at this school? What happens if the book sparks up controversy? Only the year before, a local Plano preacher lead a campaign to ban Huck from the town's schools, and a lively local debate arose. But that was in a mixed environment--this was something different. I was told to teach the book but to be sensitive to the reactions of a potentially turbulent class. As it happened, I drew a good hand; the class discussions from day one were freewheeling and thought-provoking. It helped ease tensions, I noted, to point out Huck's age and foibles, his gutter upbringing and vernacular, and his growth and bonding with Jim. I set the stage by previewing the novel, stating the book is about a racist who must encounter this racism, and we will see the changes as they occur in him. By forecasting each stage of Huck's development, the students had a roadmap to follow which, in a sense, gave them something to look forward to (at least until chapter XXXI). But the proof of the pudding came on the last day. I came to class and said, "Today, I am Ted Koppel and this is Nightline. You are the panel of experts, having just completed a study of Huck Finn. As you know, recently there has been a local controversy regarding this book. I put it to you-- should Huck Finn be banned from schools?" I sat down and silently listened as the discussion unfolded. Three groups of thought quickly formed. One group asserted the book shouldn't be banned, but shouldn't be taught earlier than perhaps the fifth or sixth grade, and even then, with much preparation. Another group said the book shouldn't be banned from any level, that black people "have to deal with slavery times, we can't hide from the past." One of these students said her father thought the class should have organized a protest against THAT book being taught at Paul Quinn, but she replied "There's more to it than that. You have to get past instinctive revulsion. It takes work." A third group thought the book was disgusting and should be thrown away. Part of the reason, which lead to much debate with group two, was that they were tired of hearing about "slavery times." "If you don't have something positive to say," one girl commented, "don't say it." Others clearly felt Jim's dialect was exaggerated, "No one ever spoke that way." The discussion ended when one girl, who didn't seem to want to choose a position, commented: "You know, back in grade school, I was supposed to read this book but my father took it out of my hands and threw it in the closet. He said it was trash and I wasn't to read it. I didn't read it until now." She held up her copy. "This is the same book, out of the closet." The class sat quietly, almost reverently. "So what do you think?" I asked. She shook her head and asked "Is it worth all the fuss?" We all left with private answers to that question. I subsequently wished I had taught Charles Chestnutt's "Goofered Grapevine" before teaching Huck. The same class found a new perspective when they discovered black authors too used both the "N" word and the thick dialect. They could more readily enjoy the comic humor knowing who the author was. I suspect that if we'd encountered these issues through the Chestnutt story first, some of the sting might have been taken out of Huck. Wesley Britton Sherman, TX