Huck Finn Gets Some Changes
 

I think I just heard a cheer from "post-racial" America. :rolleyes: As long as the original version is still on the shelves, ehh.

come on son.

Ridiculous.

We can cut the 'nigger' out of Huck Finn but can't cut it out of rap lyrics.


Right....gotcha.


Hmmm...which one would kids rather have? A Mark Twain classic or Lil' Wayne's latest?

I was a little surprised this was news. I mean, there have been similar "edits" before.

And I'll admit -- I've tried more than once, and I just can't get more than a few chapters in Huckleberry Finn before I give up.

This is why I hate this debate over the word....because there is no across the board rule...it's 'bad' in some instances and 'ok' in others.

And some of the places where it's 'allowed' in my opinion, are the WRONG places....like..........RAP MUSIC.

I remember there was a stand up act I was watching that i cut off before it really got started because the comedian seemingly said the word almost as much as he was breathing (literally) while in his act.

Society sits on the fence over the word.

It's ignored in some instances but when Dr. Laura or Michael Richards uses it, we need to go get pitchforks and torches....

Ugh.

Likely schools told publishing companies that they would simply read different books until the edits were made. Publishing companies, wanting to continue to sell books probably complied.

As long as the historically accurate version remains available, I don't really see the problem.

I'd rather they just not teach Huck Finn at a high school level. There are plenty of other ways to teach about slavery or about Twain that don't involve an uncomfortable room full of teenagers saying the N-word all day long.

I remember reading this book in middle school. I lived in an affluent suburb at the time, but was not uncomfortable using the word in that context. Everyone else got nervous while reading it, to the point where they were asking me to say it every time the word came up.

/random sidebar

Yeah obviously individual experiences will vary. I just don't see the necessity of teaching the book. I don't think the book itself does a good job of counteracting the language in it. Also, reading in dialect is and always will be a pain in the ass. I'd rather kids read something more equivalent to the Diary of Anne Frank than Huck Finn if the point is learning about slavery in America. If the point is learning about Twain he's written other books, articles, and short prose as well. I know my teachers didn't do a good job of handling Huck Finn, and I never felt like I really learned anything. In all truth it may have been the first time I'd run across the n-word knowingly.

I was reading a relatively modern book out loud for a therapeutic book club at a day program and one of the characters is flashing back to his time working for a racist boss. I ended up reading the story as written even though I had several n-words, several c-words, and an assortment of the ones that I do actually say myself. I gave a warning ahead of time and just barreled through it. I'm not sure it was the best choice, but we talked about it after finishing the passage.

/my cool story bro.

I agree -- there are other works that do a better job of teaching people about slavery. I think HF has become one of the everyone else has read it, so you'd better read it too, lest you miss some references! books.

I think we've left a lot of those behind too. I don't know anyone who reads Moby Dick even in college for example - Call me Ishmael. And I can't even think of Huck Finn references that would be so important anymore. But insistence on the 'classics' is what made me read the Great Gatsby and I can't think of a more inane book. Except maybe Catcher in the Rye... no I take that back, Holden annoyed the crap out of me but there was some sort of point.

"I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." ~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 23, spoken by the character Scout.

Harper Lee, when she used racial perjoratives, did a masterful job of carrying emotion in the words. It was much more shocking, which was, I believe, the intended effect.

It is, IMO, all in the context. I slogged through Huckleberry Finn in HS and frankly, I think Twain wrote some better works. The man WAS funny, but this isn't about Twain, I don't think...

I'm surprised this is just now getting to GC, but I think this is stupid. And replacing it with "slave" instead. One, it's not always going to make sense, two, it thoroughly implies that all usage or it was in that context.

And I agree with the rap song points. If you can't use it in literature you shouldn't be able to use it in a song. But that isn't ever going to stop.
Whatever, maybe it's fine for school editions, but I don't think it should be taken out of all editions. Then again, who read Huck Finn except during school? Was kind of boring.

Oh. And I liked The Great Gatsby when I read it the first time. Maybe because I had to read three other VERY borings books that summer class, but I enjoyed it.

Very true. I guess we're destined to walk around with scarlet Bs on our chests since we can actually discuss these works.



(See what I did there? I'm awesome. And my coffee hasn't set in yet)

Lord of the Flies anyone?

Actually enjoyed LotF although I got into a pissing match with my teacher over how you pronounce "conch."

Exactly. The two words aren't interchangable in all contexts.

Meh. The "n-word in rap music" debate will not stop. I don't care either way. As long as people keep buying it, though, it'll continue.

I think that book is the reason my ego problem began.

We did some role-playing while reading this book (also in MS) and I had an affinity for being in charge.

I don't have a problem with it being there at all. I don't have a problem with any words in songs or books, I just don't like usage or certain words to insult people directly. Words are just words.
But there shouldn't be a double standard.

I agree, and I think that HF uses it so much it's kind of.. numbing maybe? Which I really think defeats the purpose.

This is also random, but did everyone read A Modest Proposal in school? It's an example of a skilled humorist writing something that lays out exactly what the English thought of the Irish in a way that modern readers can actually understand I think.

But we're not teaching rap music in school. It's not really the same people holding a double standard. And it's possible to hold different opinions on two different media.

If we got rid of all art that insulted people directly, we'd have no art left lol

Listen to Alanis Morissette - Are You Still Mad (first song that popped in my head). The entire song is insulting its subject, but she does it without using any obscene words.

If we stop the use of the word, it won't stop insults at all.

ETA:

Ditto

Role playing huh?

I think I will walk away from that one...

too many S&M and D&S jokes I can make.

@drole...slight correction, there are hip hop courses that are being taught in schools.

Tupac's poetry was being taught in LA at one time and I believe that NC also had a course in their high school.

This is the main reason I've never made it past a few chapters. It drove me crazy.

:eek:

:eek::eek:

I loved Catcher in the Rye. Loved, loved, loved it. Fairly early in our marriage, I learned that my wife had never read it, and I was bugging her that she had to. I remember watching while she finished it. As I looked at her expectantly, she put it down and rather slowly said, "So . . . you liked this?"

(At least I laughed when she said that.)

Seriously, sometimes I've wondered if it's a high school-or college-aged guy's book.

As for a more inane book, that's easy: The Old Man and the Sea.

THIS IS LAME.

Yes. My middle school English teacher brought whips and chains to class so we could act our our sadistic and masochistic fantasies.

Oh, DS1 lol

It's not a great book, which makes sense, because it wasn't intended to be (in many ways). As far as teaching it, that's part of the point and the problem: it exists to make a point (and is taught to make that point), but doesn't deliver the point in a particularly easy way, and kids who "get it" easily likely don't need the lesson anyway.

Second this eek

... but not necessarily this one.

I think it might be - anti-heroes still require the reader to relate, and it's really hard for a lot of people to relate to a precocious, whiny, angry, unsure-yet-cocksure, rage-against-the-machine dude feeling his way around the world. Except for other guys in that same spot.

Yeah, I loved it when I was a ragey 14 year old stuck in a small town with crumby friends. Then, when I read it again a few years ago, it made me really sad in some spaces.

Roots, maybe?

Tangent, Anne's gotten edited on & off over the years as well. Some people weren't cool with her rhapsodising about another girl's boobies. :)

As for The Great Gatsby, I don't think it should EVER be taught to HS students. It's one of those books you can't appreciate till you're older. I didn't read it till I was in my early 30s and it's one of my 2 favorite books. I know I wouldn't have "gotten it" in HS.

Re dreck: The Red Badge of Courage. Yuk.

http://www.smilieshq.com/smilies/confused0060.gif

I'm not sure I like the implicit assumption here.

I HATE THIS. Dang it, I read books from the 1950s and enjoyed them (admittedly, I was a weird child). Anne Emery occasionally updated books in this way (jitterbugging was changed to disco dancing) but the general message of the books definitely stayed with a 1950s ethos (i.e. no one was doing anything sex-wise).

And Lois Duncan? SRSLY? I can't think of anything that dated those books, honestly. The other thing that put me over the edge was Judy Blume changing so that Margaret had beltless pads. I guess that one actually makes a little more sense though.

One of these days I'm going to make a dossier of "Movies That Would Have To Change Their Whole Plot Because Of Cell Phones." Foxes is #1 on the list.

For me, a lot of it depends on the role the book has. I know that recently, Judy Blume approved changing parts of "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret," to reflect the changes from pads/belts to tampons and pads. Since a lot of young girls do read that book as part of a rite of passage, it doesn't bother me so much (even 20 years ago, I had to ask my mom what a belt was). If it doesn't change the spirit behind the book, then it's not much of an issue.

This Huck Finn thing is just lame.

Somehow I just refuse to believe that updating the Sweet Valley High books belongs in the same discussion as editing Mark Twain. :p

On the other hand, I feel like a learned a lot of things about history and culture by investigating the things I didn't understand in books. I tend to see "out of date" references as a learning opportunity, but I get what you're saying.

I never read Huck Finn, so I can only comment further by saying how disappointed I am the Drole doesn't like The Great Gatsby.

Haaaaaaaa - yeah, that could have used some proofreading ... I just meant that those types of feelings, that type of idealism, seems much more "common" among youth.

Just like Munch, I loved it when I read it in school, but can't relate nearly as well now. Part of me feels like that's a bad thing.

The Blair Witch Project! I always use this as an example of how cell phones weren't all that common even in 1999, which must surprise young people.

As for edited books, last year I was reading about the authors of the Nancy Drew books, and it turned out that many were revised in the 1960s to lose offensive stereotypes in the originals from the 1920s and 1930s. I have to admit that this made me want to get hold of one of the older versions just to see how bad they were, because I'd probably only read the newer versions.

Two different beasts. I think editing literature is pretty lame. Rap, hell entertainment, is derived from society. You want lyrics changed you have to start at the source.

I honestly don't care about usage most of the time. I don't like when terms are used as insults. It is all in the context being used.

part of that source is what are we teaching to those that need to be educated.

I mean me personally, leave the book alone but when it comes to using that word in society, what are we doing to educate those that are on either side.

There are just as many that refuse to use the word "because it's wrong" and have no clue on the etymology of the word as the ones who do.

And even still just because it's in society, doesn't make it 'right' or 'smart'.