So Dumb to Censor His Books in Libraries
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Mark Twain
PretoriaDZ — 12 years ago(July 30, 2013 03:13 PM)
Mr. Twain's use of the "N" word has a valid purpose in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It is to shock, it is to impart the unjustness of slavery, and it is to impart sympathy for the slave, Jim, who is clever, kind, and a good friend to Huck. The people who use the "N" word are shown to be ignorant and ignoble. What better ideas to convey than these? Twain had dear friends who were former slaves - he knew first hand the harshness, the inhumanity of it.
Rather than censor this superb writing, better to teach it in schools and have class discussions about the history when that word was in more prevalent use, why it was immoral, and how Twain purposely used the language he did to create a realism to the situations and the heartbreak Huck feels when he see the situation his friend Jim is in. -
alien777 — 12 years ago(August 31, 2013 05:12 PM)
I'm sorry - do you mean his books are censored? Where? In which country?
I knew there was a bit of a ruckus in the 1980's over his book not being recommended for children in some conservative libraries in the US or something. But outright censorship? I've never heard of it. -
jcaraway3 — 11 years ago(February 28, 2015 04:48 AM)
This is a little late, but yes, in 2011 NewSouth published an edition of Huckleberry Finn wherein they replaced the N word with "Slave". I remember thinking this was incredibly stupid, as slave is not a derogatory term, or even closely related, making every sentence it's used in lose it's power. I think there's also something called "The Hipster Huckleberry Finn" where the N word is replaced with "hipster", which sounds quite funny.
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Destinata — 10 years ago(April 23, 2015 11:46 PM)
Thank you. Exactly.
Twain married into a family that was one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad. He wasn't a bigot. Quite the reverse. He was probably the first person to advocate for what we now call Affirmative Action.
To censor his books is to parade ignorance.
You will probably disagree. That's the nature of discussions they have two sides.