The Controversy Over
the N and I words in
Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
By Mark Twain
Published in
1885 in the
United States
and Canada
The Trouble with Huck
 Since its original publication in 1885 many people have
opposed the novel for its immorality, lack of respect
for authority and religious blasphemy. However, prior to
1950 no one had ever objected to the use of the N or I
words in the novel.
 Recently NewSouth Book Publishers released a
politically correct version of The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn that replaces the N word with the
word slave and removes the I word from the text
altogether. These new editions were published in an
attempt to reintegrate these important works of
literature into the educational curriculums nationwide.
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
Mar 17, 1885
The Concord Public Library in
Massachusetts immediately banned
the book because
"It deals with a series of adventures of
a very low grade of morality; it is
couched in the language of a rough
dialect, and all through its pages there
is a systemic use of bad grammar and
an employment of rough, coarse,
inelegant expressions. It is also very
irreverent. . . . The whole book is of a
class that is more profitable for the
slums than it is for respectable
people."
American Heritage
1902
“Denver and Omaha public libraries
exclude Huck for fear that the 'immoral
and sacrilegious' book would 'put wrong
ideas in youngsters’ heads.‘”
1905
Huckleberry Finn banned from Brooklyn
Public Library.
Junior Version
1930 to 1939
Many libraries introduce a "junior version" that
omitted certain sections and simplified the
language.
Accused of Racism
1957
The NAACP begins
their campaign against
the books use of
“racial slurs” and
“belittling racial
designations”
Teaching Huck Finn
1963
"In 1963, the Philadelphia
Board of Education banned
Huck Finn and replaced it
with an edited one that
"toned down the violence,
simplified the Southern
dialect, and deleted all
derogatory references to
Negroes."
The most outspoken opponents of the novel The Adventures of
Huck Finn present an argument based on the premise that the
racial epithets in the book are repulsive, insensitive and
unnecessarily harmful..
The introduction of Allen Gribben’s revised addition of Mark Twain’s Huck
Finn states:
The n-word possessed, then as now, demeaning implications more vile than
almost any insult that can be applied to other racial groups. There is no
equivalent slur in the English language. As a result, with every passing
decade this affront appears to gain rather than lose its impact. Even at the
level of college and graduate school, students are capable of resenting
textual encounters with this racial appellative. In the 1870s and 1880s, of
course, Twain scarcely had to concern himself about the feelings of African
American or Native American readers. These population groups were too
occupied with trying, in the one case, to recover from the degradation of
slavery and the institution of Jim Crow segregation policies, and, in the other
case, to survive the onslaught of settlers and buffalo-hunters who had
decimated their ways of life, than to bother about objectionable vocabulary
choices in two popular books.
Why should we change Huck Finn?
At NewSouth, the publishers saw the value in an edition
that would help the novel find new readers. “If the publication
sparks good debate about how language impacts learning or
about the nature of censorship or the way in which racial slurs
exercise their baneful influence, then our mission in publishing this
new edition of Twain’s works will be more emphatically fulfilled.” NewSouth
Joseph Podlasek, executive director of the American
Indian Center in Chicago, commented Wednesday in an e-mail
interview, "I think it is truly time for a great piece of work to be
edited and respectful of people. Kids should read about Native
Americans and other cultures without a stereotypical twist or
derogatory insult toward the first people of these lands."
Teaching Huck Finn
1972
"I can still recall the anger I felt as my white classmates read aloud the
word "nigger." In fact, as I write this letter I am getting angry all over
again. I wanted to sink into my seat. Some of the whites snickered, others
giggled. I can recall nothing of the literary merits of this work that you term
"the greatest of all American novels." I only recall the sense of relief I felt
when I would flip ahead a few pages and see that the word "nigger" would
not be read that hour." -Allan B. Ballard
American Heritage
1976
Huckleberry Finn removed from the required reading
list in Illinois high schools chiefly because of the nword.
Culture Shock: About the Book
1982
"The reading aloud of Huck Finn in our classrooms
is humiliating and insulting to black students. It
contributes to their feelings of low self-esteem and
to the white student's disrespect for black people. .
. . For the past forty years, black families have
trekked to schools in numerous districts throughout
the country to say, 'This book is not good for our
children' only to be turned away by insensitive and
often unwittingly racist teachers and administrators
who respond, 'This book is a classic.'"-John
Wallace
Was Mark Twain a Racist?
Can we judge people from the past by what we now consider to be
acceptable social norms ?
"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was written by one of the most prolific
and insightful writers and observers of the 19th and 20th century
American scene. Mark Twain was not afraid to highlight all of his
country's strengths and foibles. He used the N-word deliberately -- and
not because he was a racist. We know he wasn't if we read the book
thoughtfully we discover his personal abhorrence of racism.
The difference between the right word and the almost
right word is the difference between lightning and the
lightning bug.
~Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took Twain eight years to write and
between manuscript 1 and 2, he made more than 1,700 revisions with 88
percent of these revisions being: word changes, spelling, punctuation and
adding emphasis. He used the words he used for a reason. Twain scholar
Dr. Cindy Lovell said it best:“Twain pokes us with a sharp stick, makes us
squirm, makes us highly uncomfortable. And it’s effective.” When Huck
says, “—you can’t learn a n****r to argue.” (1293) Twain was angry
with American Universities for their white-elitist views about the natural
intelligence of white men vs. black men. Twain believed the opposite of
what Huck says. Huck is blindly expressing an attitude which he has
picked up from the Southern culture he grew up in.
Why shouldn’t we censor Huck Finn?
Dr. Sarah Churchwell, senior lecturer in US literature and culture at the
University of East Anglia, said the development of revised editions made
her "incandescent" with anger. "The fault lies with the teaching, not the
book. You can't say 'I'll change Dickens so it is compatible with my
teaching method'. Twain's books are not just literary documents but
historical documents, and that word is totemic because it encodes all of
the violence of slavery. The point of the book is that Huckleberry Finn
starts out racist in a racist society, and stops being racist and leaves that
society. These changes mean the book ceases to show the moral
development of his character. They have no merit and are misleading to
readers. The whole point of literature is to expose us to different ideas and
different eras, and they won't always be nice and benign. It's dumbing
down."
"The ALA really condemns this kinds of censorship, and
- make no mistake about it - we believe this is
censorship," Barbara Jones, director of the Office for
Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association,
which is headquartered in Chicago, said Wednesday in a
telephone interview. "Any expurgation of words is
censorship and is a real disservice to the freedom to
read. What this does is deny access to the entire work,
and that is a real tragedy."
"Twain used the 'n-word' deliberately because he hated
racism and he hated slavery," Jones continued. "Children
who read this book deserve the chance to read the book
thoughtfully and in its entirety and to understand and to
ask questions about why Twain used the word and then
allow teachers, parents and librarians to answer their
questions."
There are vast differences between calling a character “nigger”
and calling them “slave.” They are not interchangeable. Writers
choose their words thoughtfully. Our words construct, illustrate,
reveal, and contextualize the stories we tell. The notion that one
can change one of those carefully chosen words -- much less
219 of them -- to suit their perception of contemporary mores
and eliminate the possibility of hurt sensibilities is an abdication of
a teacher’s responsibility to illuminate and guide students through
an unfamiliar and perhaps difficult text. What’s next? Substituting
orange for red in a painter’s work because some observers find
red too aggressive?
Filmmakers and funny people Gabriel Diani and Etta Devine have come up with
their own clever satirical response to publish a version inserting the word
“robot” instead of the offensive ----- word.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzpVZo
G23qE
Final Thoughts
The controversy over The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn does not appear to have a
solution nor will this controversy stop with just the
adventures of Huck and Jim. Library media
specialists will be faced with the question of what
to do within their own libraries.
What will you do?