Huck Finn Gets Some Changes

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

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.

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.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

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.

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

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Jen

Some more recent, non-classic books have also been edited. YA author Lois Duncan is updating all of her books that were originally published in the 1970s and 1980s to account for modern names and technology. I have yet to read the updated versions, but I'm very intrigued how they've changed, because I love her originals.

The Sweet Valley High books have also gotten an update to modernize them.

Part of me understands it's all about the business of selling books, but it's hard to feel like books have any permanence when they're changed at the drop of a hat now.

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.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by Jen

Some more recent, non-classic books have also been edited. YA author Lois Duncan is updating all of her books that were originally published in the 1970s and 1980s to account for modern names and technology. I have yet to read the updated versions, but I'm very intrigued how they've changed, because I love her originals.

The Sweet Valley High books have also gotten an update to modernize them.

Part of me understands it's all about the business of selling books, but it's hard to feel like books have any permanence when they're changed at the drop of a hat now.

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.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Jen

The Sweet Valley High books have also gotten an update to modernize them.

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

[Gusteau]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

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.

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.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

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

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.

[Shellfish]

Originally Posted by 33girl

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.

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.

[Animate]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

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?

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.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Animate

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'.

[ThetaPrincess24]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

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 Uncle Tom's Cabin does a better job teaching about slavery, but that's just me. I enjoyed reading this book much better than Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer.

[ThetaPrincess24]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

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.

I read that in college and am in agreement it is easy to understand.

[Animate]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

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

Not right or wrong in my opinion. Its usage can make it not smart though.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Animate

Not right or wrong in my opinion. Its usage can make it not smart though.

Right (and I think we are starting to go a bit into a circle) and the biggest issue is being able to properly educate anyone when it's misused.

problem is, of course some people don't want to be educated.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

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

GOD YES! I think I've mentioned that on this site sometime before, but I was about to type it again here. Worst book I've ever read.

"Hand, why won't you open. Open hand. I want to catch this marlin," or so on. A whole book of that. I'm not sure what a high schooler is supposed to get out of that other than torture.

Other books I read in High School that I recall:
Of Mice and Men
A Separate Peace
Fahrenheit 451
The Great Gatsby
Huckleberry Finn
Lord of the Flies
Excerpts of Moby Dick
Cry the Beloved Country
The Power of One
To Kill a Mockingbird
Oliver Twist
The Crucible (technically a play)

Of these, the ones that made the biggest impression on me were Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, The Power of One and To Kill a Mockingbird.