See the Fightin' Whities
Posted on 11/03/2006 6:54:37 PM PST by Stoat
Nigger Jim is the only character in the book with true integrity. Obviously the parent never read beyond the first n-word.
According to accounts in both this posted article as well as the much-better Detroit News article (link posted above) this event was brought about entirely as a result of the complaint by One Black Parent.
Guess they had to make room on the shelves for copies of "My Two Daddies" or "Mommy's Girlfriend" ?
Didn't Rush used to refer to Detroit as "New Fallujah"?
The crucial scene in the novel shows Huck at war with himself; the society of his day has been teaching him from birth that turning in Jim is the right thing to do, the legal thing to do, the only thing to do. It goes even deeper: Huck thinks he will be literally damned to Hell if he doesn't turn in Jim to the authorities. But he doesn't, willing to endure the fires of Hell forever rather than betray the trust of his friend.
There is no greater lesson.
Those banning 'Huckleberry Finn' aren't reading 'Huckleberry Finn'. This kind of thoughtless PC hypersensitivity breaks my heart.
Abso-goldarn-LUTely! There are lots of men in the book, but only one mensch, and that's Jim.
The mother in this case just took out a book that ought to make her child proud (and ought to make all humans proud of Twain's perceptiveness and gentle way of getting it across.)
Has this mother ever actually read this book?
Great! Then drop all of the homosexual indoctrination campaigns because you hurt the Christian and Jewish kid's feelings.
Is that all it takes, a parent's complaint, to have a book removed? Hasn't anyone complained about books that advocate homosexuality?
I think the problem is ... they've never actually read the book and how Huck helped Jim gain his freedom
I'm guessing that at just about every school where those homosexual-deifying books you reference are made available or taught, there are most likely several thousand principled complaints (which are overlooked and jeered at by the 'educators').
This exercise in book banning was brought about by the complaint of One Black Parent.
Didn't Rush used to refer to Detroit as "New Fallujah"?
I'm not sure who originally coined the phrase, but it's a great one! Highly descriptive!
You wrote, "Samuel Clements (Mark Twain) was an abolitionist."
Mark Twain's real name was Samuel Clemens. When young, barely a teenager, he was (very briefly) a Confederate soldier. As a full grown man, he would not have been an abolitionist since slavery had already been abolished.
See the Fightin' Whities
In The Private History of a Campaign that Failed Twain recounts his risible participation in an informal local militia formed to fight for the Confederacy. He was lucky not to have been hanged by a Union colonel named Grant who was rounding up and hanging little guerrilla bands like his. Without benefit of an ACLU Lawyer. It speaks well of his character that he provided financial support for Grant at the end of his life.
In his writings he is extremely sympathetic to Blacks and clearly feels that their talents and strengths are under appreciated, but I don't think he could have been called an abolitionist in the sense of publicly advocating the end of slavery prior to the Emancipation Proclamation.
People who know history understand that. Unfortunately, the schools have to cater to the "sensitivity" of those who have an extremely narrow and ignorant view of things. And the more ignorant someone is, the more "sensitive" he is likely to be. On the other hand, rap stars can use the "N" word and say all kinds of demeaning things about black women and we are expected not to just tolerate it -- we are commanded to celebrate it like it is something wonderful.
Huckleberry Finn is a classic, and should not be banned. As the little girl in the DN article said, there are books in the school library with worse words.
Almost, but not quite, the first thought that occurred to me. Since I don't listen to rap, I wouldn't know about that part. I was thinking I hear "the racial epithet" used in casual conversation by African American kids on the subway or the street all the time.
Next I thought that the non-African American kids in the class would be more traumatized having to hear or say a word that's been drilled into us is a bad word. I remember how embarrassed I was when I first heard it used in a pejorative fashion by someone in public.
Also from the Detroit News article, "In earlier years, it was targeted because of its sympathetic portrayal of African-Americans". How ironic. I wonder if Mama Offended is aware of that little fact.
I stand corrected.
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