Back ![Brainerd High School teacher Wendy Vandeputte (left) held up two of Mark Twain's books, including "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey](http://brainerddispatch.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/superphoto/0106_news_teacher_close.jpg "Brainerd High School teacher Wendy Vandeputte (left) held up two of Mark Twain's books, including "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey")
Will taking out the N-word out of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" books and replacing the word with "slave" change the meaning of the books?
A few Brainerd High School literature/English teachers and students think so.
An Associated Press story from Montgomery, Ala., reported a new edition of the two Mark Twain books has replaced the N-word with "slave." Twain scholar Alan Gribben, who is working with NewSouth Books in Alabama to publish a combined volume of the books, said the N-word appears 219 times in "Huck Finn" and four times in "Tom Sawyer." He said the word puts the books in danger of joining the list of literary classics that Twain once humorously defined as those "which people praise and don't read."
Wendy Vandeputte's sophomore Pre-Advanced Placement English class at BHS is currently reading "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
Vandeputte, who also teaches American literature, journalism and speech, said the high school has been teaching students about Mark Twain for years. Vandeputte said before she has her students read the book, the class discusses the N-word. Vandeputte said she shares articles about schools that have banned the books and she has students write a mock letter to the editor taking a stand for or against teaching Twain.
"I tell the students that they can use
whatever word they feel comfortable with (on the N-word,)" said Vandeputte.
"We here believe the N-word is a crucial part of the reality of the Deep South back in those years. Twain uses the N-word for a reason and it identifies the hypocrisy in those years in America. I think the late 1800s was full of this language and Twain's use of satire strongly suggests he disapproved of society's treatment of blacks. This has become a really good topic for discussion for my students and we have a good debates over this issue.
"I think Twain would be rolling in his grave right now to see this happening (the new edition of his book.)"
Vandeputte said the new version of the book would not be true to the original version, and to her would not be worth reading.
Sophomores Marcus Comstock and Michelle Holmes agreed that the N-word should stay in the books and classmate Amanda Kaddatz argued that the N-word should be taken out.
Kaddatz said, "The books use the N-word way too much. I think taking the word out is the right thing to do so nobody is offended. I have a lot of colored friends and I think they would be offended. I think there are other words that can better replace the N-word, like 'slave.' 'Slave' is a better choice of words and people will still get the point of the story."
Comstock said taking the N-word out of the Mark Twain books will change the historical context of the stories. Comstock said the N-word was used during those times and it was then accepted as a word.
Holmes said the N-word is not politically correct in this day and age, but it was back when Twain wrote his books. Holmes said to take the N-word out of the books takes away the author's meaning of the story, including the time period of which it was written.
BHS teacher David Devine, who teaches Pre-AP English, AP language and composition, believes that the words of Twain should be left alone, keeping the N-word. Devine said Twain's satire is embedded in his choice of words for the characters. Devine said part of the beauty of "Huck Finn" is he is a master of different dialect and to change the word choice is demeaning.
Anjanette Kraus, who teaches English at Little Falls Community High School, said she disagrees with changing Mark Twain's words. Kraus said that it is not right to change any written word that has been published, especially historical context. However, Kraus said it is important to teach students that society is beyond using the N-word.
Kraus said she also discusses the N-word or any other type of racism that appears in any novel before the students read it.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.
Comments (33)
Add commentMark Twain is laughing at the PC fools
If after discussion and a look at the history and the context of the book our poor PC sensitive Ritalin doped children cant handle it, then what,we burn it? Its fine if your children hear black people calling each other the N word with endless filth in the music blasting in there ears and on TV. This is another example of Political Correctness run amok. Look how the BDD felt the need to put in an editor's note/disclaimer just to even talk about it. Truly amazing to see people twist and squirm around such a subject.
What's Next...
This just scares me a little bit. They are taking a book that was written and changing it so no one is offended. When do we start to change everything so it is more PC and does not offend anyone. There are a lot of things that i find offensive in art and literature, but knowing that is one persons perspective or there are reasons that things were done the way they were. I say leave it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Congratulations to these teachers!
I applaud you folks for holding with the value of the literature as written. Isn't it a shame that we have gone so far with the political correct terminology that our students try to follow it yet don't really understand their own positions. A good example comes from the following quote from the article.
"Kaddatz said, "The books use the N-word way too much. I think taking the word out is the right thing to do so nobody is offended. I have a lot of colored friends and I think they would be offended."
Amanda has used the term "colored friends" without realizing what she has said. I would asume that all your friends are colored Amanda. All human flesh has color. Thus all her friends would be offended which allows us to assume that those other students which were quoted are not her friends.
Oh, the webs we weave!
Nonsense
Know-it-alls have been rewriting the Bible, too. Only safe version is the KJV or the NKJV.
Amanda, they are "blacks", not "coloreds". On that subject, our president is also a Mulatto, not an African-American.
Listen and learn.
what?
why is this even being discussed? our teachers need better teaching skills so they don't have to change words to their liking,dumb!
Historic context
Teach in historic context and quit being self-righteous guilt ridden PC liberals. 100 years from now calling someone "African-American" may well be considered offensive. Calling someone an "Englishman" is fine now..but a "Chinaman" isnt..a "Colored Person" is offensive but "Person of Color" is fine. Its all so stupid.
semantics
Why is everyone so offended by the word "nerd"? I mean, that is the N-word isn't it?
curious
Will North Minneapolis schools get the revised version or stick with the current? When/Where is the book burning party? This is just another example of how whiney and sensitive our country is becoming. Are rap artists going be asked to create revised copies of their songs to take the N word out?
The funny thing is
that most of our "liberal" teachers are appalled at this choice. This is something that pretty much all of our citizens should be able to agree on. Changing the word changes the entire historical context. It is like saying these attitudes and actions never even happened.
Appalling is the only word I can come up with to describe this. Who exactly is calling for this change? Many prominent black leaders support teaching this great American novel the way it is. I do too.
The author would be, and should be, [filtered word]ed off about this. It is kind of like the people who wanted to change Ray Bradbury's treatment of women in Fahrenheit 451. You know, that novel about burning books and cleansing them so no one would be offended.
People are just ridiculous sometimes.
As a side note
This is one of the best stories the Dispatch has produced in quite awhile. Nice job localizing this story!
Good article
To change the words penned by Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) is akin to leaving out the yeast
in a recipe for making homemade bread.
I would think that it would be illegal without first obtaining permission from the author to do so. Guess what…?
Know-it-alls have been rewriting the Bible
Say there wgpmdp, you say "Know-it-alls have been rewriting the Bible, too. Only safe version is the KJV or the NKJV."
I will beg to differ with you on that one. Both of those versions and the majority, if not all, of our modern translations come from the same basis. What, you say? The manuscript called the TEXTUS RECEPTUS (if I have spelled it correctly) is the basis used for modern translations. When you only use the Bible to interpret the Bible (in other words don't use human logic) you will find that they all say pretty much the same thing. If you are to do a bible study, have a leader of the study who has a solid knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew there with you. With his original Greek and Hebrew versions available he will then be able to cross reference the various translations being used in the study so that you may determine which version is most correct in each instance of differences. You may be surprised at how often other versions are as or more accurate than the KJV or the NKJV !!!
Thank God they did this
I am sure that this a solution that will end racism and hurt feelings once and for all.
Now if only someone could get libraries to do something about removing the Dick in Moby Dick.
way too much violence in this book
Did you know that people are killed and tarred and feathered in this book? IT IS TRUE. How about instead of characters being killed/tarred and feathered, they have milkshakes.
The word slave offends me
Could they please change the word "slave" to "person who works for free".
It's just that slave makes me think of the N-word and the N-word makes me think of an even naughtier word.
I wish...
that they had a decent rating system for comments because the last three cracked me up.
The color yellow makes me
The color yellow makes me sad.
salt needs to be changed
its white, i find it racist, same thing with black pepper. We should all just use orange seasoned salt and crushed pepper for seasoning
where does it end
More ideas
Maybe the publishers can provide Tom Sawyer with an HVLP air gun to whitewash any fences.
Liberal
Democrat
We can't change history
Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it.
No matter if you like Twain's books or not, we should leave them alone. The events depicted are a part of our past and part of what made us and our country who we are.
Why don't they just pile the
Why don't they just pile the books and have a good old fashioned book burning?
This is just silly.
What's next? Removing the word "cracker" from books and grocery shelves?
Oh no, now what - are they
Oh no, now what - are they going to rehash doing away with the name "Coon Rapids" again? That went round and round for awhile a few years ago. And then I think there was a river that was another round and round thingy.
On the other hand...
While I read the "unedited" version of Huck Finn in high school, and thought it lived up to its billing as one of the great American classics, I don't think we should automatically look at this as a sign of some extension of a liberal war for political correctness. Most of the liberals I know have no problem with the original text because it illustrates points about that time in American society that most Americans, liberals included, find abhorent now.
I think we should think about the publisher in this case. The original work has been in print for over 120 years, being published at a time when the universal opinion of slavery and the word "slave" was not yet wholly rejected. Since then, the language used by Twain has made the book controversial, and unteachable in some areas. Obviously it hasn't been entirely rejected, so I think the publisher is overstating his point about it becoming praised and not read. There exist plenty of copies of the book with the original language; if you're looking to sell a book that many people already have, why wouldn't you try to find a niche to define the one that you're marketing.
Someone asked the question about whether or not rappers would change their lyrics and remove the n-word from versions of their songs, because it makes them controversial and unavailable to certain audiences. The correct response is that they've been doing that for many, many years already to garner radio play and increase the amount of people they can market to. My guess is that's what we're seeing here.
Teachable Moment
Rather then changing the book lets use the book in the context and time it was presented to teach children of the history and how we have evolved from this. Sheltering children from mistakes of the past only increases the likelyhood of it being repeated.
if they want to censor this
if they want to censor this book, they ought to censor all the rap music too, the N word is used quite a bit there too isn't it?
but you dont understand
Wha we white folks dont understand is its ok for an African American to use that "N" word, as it is ok for African Americans to call caucasion folks the "c" word or the "H" word. Its a double standard that we white folks dont understand I guess.
nathanberg
Do you truly believe what you just posted. I am a black man, and I must say that it is not okay for a black person to call a caucasion any of the things u posted. So maybe you dont understand. Offensive is offensive no matter who it comes from or what color they are.
Now with that said. I personally believe in the first amendment that grants us free speech. Mark Twain was a phenomenal writer and his words should not be changed for the sake of being politically correct. If Mark Twain wanted to use the word slave then he would have.
throwing the kleenex
Wolfie, you crack me up. Yer nuts, ya know. Oh noooooo a "N" word.
Anyway, I'm throwing the box of Kleenex at ya wolfie. (crybaby)
Snackful, You Got That Right
Dear Snackfu,
When I read what you said, all I could say to myself was "You got that right, SIR" (HA HA does anyone remember when Ed McMann said that to Johnny Carson?).
All I can say is, this betrays the liberals for what they are, which is ridiculus! I cannot believe it! There is nothing wrong at all with reading this stuff.
Now, I am not saying some books should not be banned. All you have to do is look at the Wacko who shot up the poor folks down in Arizona and see what books he read. Like Mein Kamp and The Cather in the Rye and so forth. Whatever he read, that should be banned. I hope they do not use that problem as an excuse for the goverment to take our guns - again! They will use any excuse to take our guns.
One other thing we need to remember, is that sometimes mistakes end up in some printings of some books. The libs have been with us a long time and do we have any doubt that that libs was responsible for putting some stuff in the King James bible. They stuck it away in the old testment and kind of hid it there thinking no one would see it. yes I am talking about gay propaganda. I pulled my king james bible down off the shelf (I will confes that I dont read it as much as I should) but I did thumb through it and I found this scripture from one of these so-called books of the Bible, Song of Songs and I think maybe it will help us understand what god thinks of the love between one homosexual and another one:
"4:10,11: “How delightful you are Caleh, My lover-man, my other half. “Your pleasing masculine love is better than wine. “The smell of your body is better than perfume. “Your moustache is waxed with honeycomb “Honey and milk are under your tongue. “The scent of your clothing is like the smell of Lebanon"
Do not be confused because that almost sounds like what two gay guys would say to each other and it is even kind of pretty language and all that but i have to say it makes my skin crawl to thing of some dude saying that to another dude.
What is this doing in the bible anyway, I asked myself? But then I realize that there are libs in all eras and no doubt they was the ones who did this nonsense.
So, my point is that sometimes books do need to be improved because this is an extreme example because God does hate homosexuals. But this is a rare example. When it comes to good old N------- Jim, that should stay just the way it is, there is no good to come from changing that and it will just give the libs more encouragement!
Do Not Take My Gun