I was reading earlier about the new expurgated version of Huckleberry Finn, and I must say I was surprised. The “n-word” (not going to write it here, not because it bothers me particularly, but because I don’t want my post to get pulled) is an ugly word, and my parents, for example, never used it a day in their lives. Nor do I. I can see why it would bother many people deeply, especially people with slavery in their family backgrounds.
However... it is a part of our history. Slavery is a part of that history. Ignoring it will not erase that history. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We should all bear that in mind.
Huck Finn is better than just a good book. It is an important book.
The people who wish to sanitize Huckleberry Finn would have a stroke if they ever tried to read through Joel Chandler Harris's respectful and affectionate archive of slave-dialect folk tales. In both cases, a word viewed with horror today was not nearly as pejorative in its day, merely descriptive.
Well said. The banning of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was carried out so effectively that most kids have never even heard of it.