Following up on this, 60 Minutes did a story tonight about re-writing Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
I understand the desire to drop the N word, particularly for children. It's tragic that our boys will not experience the sheer pleasure of reading these two stories because of that word, but if removing the word is what it takes, so be it. I disagree with calling him "Slave Jim." Why not just "Jim"? It is understood from the context of the story what his background is.
I realize I am walking on a slippery slope. But it seems to me that the choice is now a) These two stories are denied to our kids or b) They read them without that word.
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4 comments:
I made sure to buy the old, genuine Twain stories for my kid way before she could even read. No, we don't use that language (anymore), even though in the rural area where I grew up, it wasn't nearly as perjorative as it seems people nowadays take it.
We even got hold of Song of the South, which Disney won't sell anymore. Seems much as I remembered -- much more sypathetic to the poor blacks than anything else at the time. Shame to see that one "off limits" forever more.
Whether the politically correct ones like it or not, all those terms are still part of history -- till history is remade, I suppose.
It's the same impulse that spurns rental companies to produce G-rated versions of popular Hollywood movies. That's fine. Those movies are edited multiple times before being released, anyway. But Huck Finn isn't just a good story. Like NoVa said, it's primary document in history.
I grew up as a white kid in a predominantly black neighborhood. Academics tracts kept us surprisingly segregated, though. Most of my peers were white & Asian. Until freshman year, when we were forced into heterogeneous English courses. I was the token white kid in a mostly black class with a few Hispanic/Asian kids.
Would it have been cool to read Soul On Ice as a class? That would have been tough, sure. But to censor the unpleasant parts would have defeated the whole point of the exercise.
One more thing, outright banning the book would only increase its allure. Maybe that's a good thing?
It gives parents a rare opportunity to play the subversive card & teach their kid how to "stick-it-to-the-man".
Challenging authority ought to be part of a healthy upbringing.
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