Is Mark Twain Rolling Over in His Grave?

Political Cartoon by Nate Beeler, Washington Examiner






There are no less than 454 news stories for today alone on the intended release of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in a new edition in which the words “nigger,” "Injun," and "half-breed" are replaced with the more politically correct "slave," "Indian," and "half-blood."  NewSouth Books, an Alabama Publisher, has drawn criticism from many fronts and has opened up debate that is ongoing and passionate.

Is this rewriting history, taking a revisionist approach, or is it making a great piece of American literature accessible to students who would otherwise not be able to study this book because schools are reluctant to use it?

The Rhode Show (Fox Providence) has done an excellent job of outlining what the buzz is all about.

One thing that all sides seem to agree on is that the word "nigger" makes us uncomfortable.  Some scholars defend Twain's language, believing that his readers should feel uncomfortable since it shines a light on the historic treatment of blacks.  People differ on whether the word should be used if it is within its historical context or whether it should be removed to soothe modern sensibilities.  Professor Alan Gribben, a Twain scholar and editor of the NewSouth edition believes he is helping schools to be able to get this classic book back into the curriculum.   According to Publishers Weekly, Twain himself defined a classic as "a book which people praise and don't read."  Gribben believes that the offensive "n-word" is causing a generation of school children to be deprived of this important American book and that the sanitized edition would make it easier for parents and teachers to accept.

However Twain was angry even when changes in punctuation were made by an editor.  Below is the forward from the original Huckleberry Finn. 

IN this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary ‘Pike County’ dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a hap- hazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech. I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding.

                                                                         -- THE AUTHOR.

I can't help but think Twain is either rolling over in his grave or sitting back and enjoying the furor.  This is a debate that will continue to rage, as long as people are uncomfortable with the language but I can 't help thinking that the problem lies, not in the word itself -- for it is used in many other settings -- but in how schools, teachers, and parents sidestep the real issue -- the harsh reality of the slave trade and its role in America's history.

In the meantime, the double volume with both Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer is schedule to be released in February.

Horror of Horrors

A couple of days ago, I was replenishing the Banned and Challenged Book display at the library and saw a new copy of Tom Sawyer. I happily dropped it down, satisfied that a nicely illustrated paperback had a good chance of going out. Yesterday, I happened to pick it up and that's when I noticed that it was ABRIDGED!

I had a sudden flashback to my teaching career (as a student teacher) when I was told to give the children bits and pieces of Tom Sawyer with canned questions ready to mark from the key in the back of the book. The stories had had anything remotely offensive removed from them and the "n-word" was gone. I couldn't bear to read Tom Sawyer with the children without talking about the issue of racism. I tried to put the book into a context for them.

So, the dilemma for me now is: Should this "whitewashed" version, now found in the library, catalogued, and all ready to go be left in the collection. Although it indicates that it is abridged, Mark Twain's name is prominent on the cover and there is little indication of what the editor has done. Is this a true representation of the book written by Mark Twain?

I'm sure it was purchased by accident. Should it remain in the collection? What do you think?

Download the full, authentic version of Tom Sawyer at Project Gutenberg.

I believe the publisher of the "safe" book is Simon and Schuster and they have also issued a "safe" Curriculum Guide for Tom Sawyer, which interestingly enough deals with issues of depictions of masculinity and femininity, the tension between childhood and adulthood, and of diction and slang and how they can be clues to understanding the characters. No mention of race or colour is discussed.

Tom Sawyer Stays in School

The DesMoines Register reports that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is back in the classroom in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Teachers are not obliged to teach the book but they are not banned from teaching it either. The school district's purchase of 750 books has been approved.

Freedom to Read Poster 1984


Freedom to Read Week in Canada begins three weeks from now on February 25th. Watch for upcoming details of the Pelham Public Library's Banned Book Challenge and start to choose the banned and challenged books you will read from February to June. Find a banned book list at many links on the right side or download the Pelham Public Library's list. You can also search Library Thing or the Pelham Public Library's collection of challenged books and information on where and why they were banned by clicking on the LibraryThing button.

Slur or Dialogue of the Times?

I thought I would answer some of the questions or search strings that bring people to this Fahrenheit 451 site.

"was twains use of racial language in huck finn a slur or dialogue of the times?"

According to Shelley Fisher Fishkin, in an article entitled Mark Twain's America,

The question of whether the presence of the word "nigger" makes "Huckleberry Finn" racist should be looked at in the context of the novel as a whole. Throughout the book, Twain portrays a racist society through the eyes of a child who buys that society's assumptions. The book is the compelling saga of how, on a personal, existential level, that child ends up choosing to violate his culture's norms by not turning Jim in and by coming to recognize that he is, indeed, a human being rather than a mere piece of property. Twain presents a devastating critique of the racism of a society that classifies Jim as less than human. The word "nigger" is central to portraying both that society and the people in it with chilling accuracy.

Shelley Fisher Fishkin is Professor of American Studies at the University of Texas in Austin. She edited the 29 volume "Oxford Mark Twain," wrote the award winning book "Was Huck Black: Mark Twain and African American Voices" and is President-elect of the Mark Twain Circle of America.

According to Wikipedia,

In the United States, the word was freely used by both whites and blacks, until the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s. A striking example is in televised coverage of a march in Birmingham, Alabama, when protesters, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, were met with attacks from dogs and fire hoses. A white woman from another Alabama county was interviewed. Visibly upset, she said, "It's not right. We don't treat niggers like that here." Louisiana Governor Earl Long also used the term when advocating expanded voting rights for "African Americans." At that time, the term was less noteworthy than the expressions of support by white southerners, as it was a common regional term for blacks, along with Negro and "colored." Similar uses of the word were made by Mark Twain and Charles Dickens, and Joseph Conrad published The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897) without racist intent.

My own opinion is that Mark Twain was using the language used within the framework of his own experience and he did not see blacks quite the same way as people in his society did. Anyone who has read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will attest to the portrayal of Jim as one of the most intellegent characters in the book. In my opinion, Twain deliberately had Jim and Finn become friends to cross the racial barrier. Although the word "nigger" may have been recognized as a racial slur, it was certainly used freely within the society in which Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer would have lived if they were real characters.

Read Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn online or download other e-versions along with other Mark Twain titles. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is available with searchable text, as is Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Banned Book Display Banned

Banned Books

Posted 2006-10-05

According to the Daily New Record, Banned Books Week was not recognized by all libraries. Harrison High School in Virginia had set up a display of banned books in order to bring the issue of freedom to read to the consciousness of their students. Included were titles such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Fahrenheit 451, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Bible.

Superintendent Donald Ford noticed that students seemed to be enticed into reading particular titles just because they were in the display and felt that in the interests of the students, the display should be removed.

The editor of the local paper concludes with:

Today’s word has been "irony." Now let’s move on to words such as "ideas," "literature," and "freedom."

A bigger irony would be that the students are even more intrigued by what titles would have been in the display, that they would read them and discuss censorship issues at school