In 2011, the NewSouth Publishing company revealed their intentions for a new edition of Mark Twain’s classic, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, and has caused plentiful of controversy in the public. Alan Gribben, a Mark Twain scholar, and the company joined together to create this new edition and made a rather large decision to replace the ‘n word’ with other words found more suitable. The word appears more than 200 times and is to be replaced with words such as “slave”.
Their hope was to help make the novel more comfortable to read for young students. Many have found that this change was needed due to Mark Twain’s unnecessary and insulting word choice, while many find it disrespectful to the author. In the three articles that we have read, …show more content…
Moore believes, like many others, that Twain had his reasons for using such language and no one should have the right to change his work. Huck Finn has been attacked for the language and dialect used since it was first published and banned in 1885. She quotes that “trying to erase the word from our culture is profoundly wrong”. When people learn the history of the word and how it relates to our country, it won’t be made such a big deal. Moore believes that “the book without that word is not Huckleberry Finn”. Mark Twain knew what he was doing when he wrote his book and should not be disrespected, nearly a century after his death, just to give readers a more enjoyable read.
In the second article, “Send Huck Finn to College”, our Author expresses a different view on the censorship. Lorrie Moore believes that the novel should not be taught in high schools, or anywhere that the concept language could not be understood properly. “Huck’s voice is a complicated amalgam of idioms and perspectives and is not for the inexperienced contemporary reader.” She sees Twain’s use of the “n-word” as inappropriate. She states that any African-American that was to read this could easily be offended or overcrowded with the outdated, degrading story of a mistreated black man. Moore seems to find that Twain can be viewed as insensitive by displaying Jim as a “figure of howling fun, ridicule that is specific to his condition as a black man”. School systems should realize …show more content…
gives us an example of how the novel could be less effective if censored. He agrees that Twain is probably one of the “most politically incorrect American Authors” but believes that Twain is an intelligent man and should have his work honored. Mark Twain knew what he was writing and wanted to help give a true representation of the time in history. This “timeless tale” should be accurate and should not be changed to be made more “comfortable”. In our culture today we are faced with common racist situation that our often overlooked, such as the music industry. Pitts explains that we can not shield our children from real historical facts because of a term that was commonly used over a century ago. “..It is troubling to think the state of reading comprehension in this country has become this wretched, that we have Tweeted, Playstationed and Fox Newsed so much of our intellectual capacity away..” He is saying that our generation has tried over analyzing a classic from one of the most famous authors in our country so much that begin to oversee the true meaning of the
Their hope was to help make the novel more comfortable to read for young students. Many have found that this change was needed due to Mark Twain’s unnecessary and insulting word choice, while many find it disrespectful to the author. In the three articles that we have read, …show more content…
Moore believes, like many others, that Twain had his reasons for using such language and no one should have the right to change his work. Huck Finn has been attacked for the language and dialect used since it was first published and banned in 1885. She quotes that “trying to erase the word from our culture is profoundly wrong”. When people learn the history of the word and how it relates to our country, it won’t be made such a big deal. Moore believes that “the book without that word is not Huckleberry Finn”. Mark Twain knew what he was doing when he wrote his book and should not be disrespected, nearly a century after his death, just to give readers a more enjoyable read.
In the second article, “Send Huck Finn to College”, our Author expresses a different view on the censorship. Lorrie Moore believes that the novel should not be taught in high schools, or anywhere that the concept language could not be understood properly. “Huck’s voice is a complicated amalgam of idioms and perspectives and is not for the inexperienced contemporary reader.” She sees Twain’s use of the “n-word” as inappropriate. She states that any African-American that was to read this could easily be offended or overcrowded with the outdated, degrading story of a mistreated black man. Moore seems to find that Twain can be viewed as insensitive by displaying Jim as a “figure of howling fun, ridicule that is specific to his condition as a black man”. School systems should realize …show more content…
gives us an example of how the novel could be less effective if censored. He agrees that Twain is probably one of the “most politically incorrect American Authors” but believes that Twain is an intelligent man and should have his work honored. Mark Twain knew what he was writing and wanted to help give a true representation of the time in history. This “timeless tale” should be accurate and should not be changed to be made more “comfortable”. In our culture today we are faced with common racist situation that our often overlooked, such as the music industry. Pitts explains that we can not shield our children from real historical facts because of a term that was commonly used over a century ago. “..It is troubling to think the state of reading comprehension in this country has become this wretched, that we have Tweeted, Playstationed and Fox Newsed so much of our intellectual capacity away..” He is saying that our generation has tried over analyzing a classic from one of the most famous authors in our country so much that begin to oversee the true meaning of the