Today, while on the phone with my boyfriend's mom, I learned that revised editions of the books Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, will be released as early as February. The new editions will be revised to replace the "N" word with "slave."
The idea for the revision came from Alan Gribben, a Twain scholar and a professor at Auburn University. He is working with New South Books to combine the two novels into one, with the newly revised text. According to Catherine Martin from the Columbia Daily Tribune ,"Gribben noted the N-word appears 219 times in Huck Finn and four times in Tom Sawyer."
As I'm sure you can imagine, this has stirred up quite a debate. Some people think that the revised book will just be a benefit to the students. Other people think that the book teaches that using the "N" word is offensive and gives students the idea that they should not use the word.
According to the Columbia Daily Tribune , Elisabeth Bergman, a middle school teacher said, "This is history, and this is an author’s wording, and Mark Twain does not use it in a manner that is meant to be derogatory,” she said. “The use of the word offers the opportunity to teach history and historical perspective. Would Germany want to get rid of the word Nazi in literature because it’s offensive?”
I think that she makes an excellent point about Germany not getting rid of the word Nazi. These books give a good glimpse into our history, and I don't think that some parts of our history should be "revised."
I think that these revised copies will send the message to students that parts of history can just be covered up and ignored. I also think that by allwoing this revision to happen, the door has been opened to who knows what. What will someone want to revise next? What do you all think? Will these revised copies benefit students, or is this just a bad idea?
Do you think the word Nazi and the N word are comparable?
ReplyDeleteI think the words are comparable. They are similar in that they can both be interpreted in a derogatory or racist manner, and both words seem to have been given negative connotations over the years. In regards to revising books using the N word, I do not think that is beneficial. I definitely believe that using the N word in an offensive manner is wrong, but using the word to tell a story is different. Taking the word out of the books will definitely change the manner of the book in a way that was not intended by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is so sad. These books are classics that I definately enjoyed reading both of them when i was younger. I realize that the use of the "N" word is not ok and not politically correct, but at the same time I think that the way it is used in the book is gives an accurate view of the way the world was durring that time period. Also it makes me sad because they are changing a work of art. I think the books should have been left alone!
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