Hello dear readers
I am close to finishing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and am in the process of watching Let Me in; you would be surprised at the fact that I am having trouble with that one. We’ll get to that when I get to my review of it. No, I’m not here to talk about books that I have reviewed or will be reviewing I’m here to talk about a book that is considered a classic by many. Not all but many; the removal of the N-word from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In the original version it is mentioned 219 times; and why? Because during that time it was accepted as the word for black person.
This day and age have seen many politically correct movements. Movements to ban the n-word, the word retard, or any racially derogatory word from our vocabulary. I can’t say I agree with it, because really the only people who give a word power are people who pay attention to it; and yes I realize by writing what I write in this entry I will be giving the word power. However, at the same time I feel it needs to be said, or at least reiterated as over the past few days it has been trending on twitter, and within my own circle of personal friends on facebook I have gotten ten or eleven replies when I linked the article which I will give you at the end of this article. Why I feel the need to speak about this is because of my love of history and the need for understanding.
First off, I get why this is happening; let’s face it the N-word is offensive but it is only offensive to those who let it be offensive, and by banishing the word itself you won’t get what you want. As a matter of fact you will give it more power:the power of fear. Which is what the racists who use it want. I also understand the professor’s need to keep the classic relevant but mark twain himself was quoted as saying “A classic is a book that everyone praises but nobody reads. “ So by trying to keep it relevant you are going against the author’s wishes. Now this isn’t the first time this has happened; but when it usually happens it’s just in the way that we as a literary public see the work. Take for example Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 which the educated public think is a tirade on censorship, but in the author’s eyes it was actually the new invention of the Television overtaking reading; looking at the literacy rates in this country alone, it speaks volumes to Bradbury’s purpose more than censorship.
Truth be told, I’m surprised they haven’t tried this before. I’m not one for political correctness, I think being politically correct is giving more power to those who are actively seeking to harm us but that’s my view and I’m in the minority; but, this action alone is not political correctness, it is outright censorship. The thing is like I said the N-word was not the word it is today, nor is the south. I speak from living in the south myself. We aren't the backward people you think we are; hell in Huntsville, Alabama my birth town we have more rocket scientists than rednecks. But back when Twain published this book(1884) it was accepted. As a matter of fact, it was published as a satire of society then; I’m not trying to say that the word isn’t powerful because let’s face it, it is. What I’m saying is by taking the word out; your giving it even more power. Twain meant it to be a dark mirror for us in the south to look at; it was meant to be a way to look at the past and our actions and simply be appalled at it. If it was offending you well he did his job. Of course with this it opens a whole slew of possibilities up all of which make me rather freaking scared.
With this does this mean that no book on the public domain is safe? Can I go back and make a pro-socialist 1984? What about taking Dante’s Divine Comedy and making it more in line with scripture? Or as one of my closest friends that is a girl put it: “Does this mean I can go back and make the bible more pro-women? You want to make a friendlier version of Huck Finn? Fine take Mark Twain’s name off of it; hell one of the “Quirk” classics that I talked about a while back is named “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Zombie Jim” and you know how much I railed on those! This right here makes me afraid. It makes me look at us and wonder are we really heading down the right path? To those who will say; “well it’s not going to catch on they won’t use it in school” that’s one of this man’s goals! He doesn’t want the classic forgotten, which hey I can applaud that but doing this is just sullying the name of Samuel “Mark Twain” Clemons. That my friend is what pisses me off.
