Mark Twain wrote that “the difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter.” A new edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer will try to find out if that holds true by replacing the N-word with “slave” in an effort not to offend readers.
The N-word is Nigger. It is an offensive word. It is also a word that was in common use during the 19th century. According to the publisher, NewSouth Books, the N-word appears 219 times in “Huck Finn” and four times in “Tom Sawyer.” In addition to replacing the N-word, the publisher changes the villain in “Tom Sawyer” from “Injun Joe” to “Indian Joe” and “half-breed” becomes “half-blood.”
Recently a voice was recorded at a California Democratic party planning meeting for the upcoming governor’s election. Someone was heard calling the GOP opponent a “whore.” That recording was re-played repeatedly on radio and television.
Ray Bradbury’s book, Fahrenheit 451, is about censorship and those who ban books for fear of creating too much individualism and independent thought. In late 1998, this book was removed from the required reading list of the West Marion High School in Foxworth, Mississippi. A parent complained of the use of the words “God damn” in the book. Subsequently, the superintendent instructed the the teacher to remove the book from the required reading list.
Many have read John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Several months after the book’s publication, a St. Louis, MO library ordered 3 copies to be burned for the vulgar words used by its characters. It was also banned in Kansas City and in Oklahoma.
Favorite plays have depicted things we don’t like with language we find hateful but realistic. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Street Car Named Desire come to mind.
If you don’t like to hear or read those words no one is forcing you. Just don’t take away my freedom to make the choice.
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