Mark Twain scholar Alan Gribben prepares a new version of Huckleberry Finn, which removes the N-word among others. To me this result raises the barriers attacked by Twain.
When I read The Life and Times of Fredrick Douglas, one passage always stayed with me. After speaking to an abolitionist audience, Douglas considered the evening a great success, because he concluded his talk believing these people were convinced he was equally human with them. Those who saw the TV show Roots can remember the president of the black college being asked to sing by his benefactor to convince the woman she was with about how precious these people were because of their wonderful voices. Even the strongest supporters of blacks questioned whether they were as fully human as themselves.
Now comes Mark Twain in 1876, just a few years after the decline of the KKK, saying that even “poor white trash” like Huck Finn can figure out that “Nigger Jim” is just like him. Twain uses a precise choice of words to wash away the entire pretense built up from etiquette, education, wealth, etc., which people acquire to form opinions of themselves and others. Because of Twain’s extraordinary word picture what remains on that raft is two people who can look directly into each others’ eyes.
In his final indictment Twain speaking through Huck Finn tells the reader that the accoutrements of civilization prevent one from being human and recognizing the humanity in others. I find that lesson timeless.
You touch on a good point, one I don’t think has ever been addressed . That is how poor Southern Whites felt about slavery, not so much from the moral position but how did they feel seeing blacks, for better or worse, being kept feed and working, albeit as slaves but certainly their lot was slightly better than poor whites if simply because sick and hungry slaves do little work. Dead ones don’t do any at all. For all intents and purposes no one gave a damn what happened to poor white Southerners.