The Advertures of Huckleberry &$(#@!

Apparently they are releasing a new addition of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.  In this version they have removed the n word and replaced it with "slave".  I was listening to NPR on my way home today and there were several people calling in expressing their anger about this and several thanking the publisher.  I don't get it.  The reason they decided to release this new book is because a lot of teachers have been unable to use the book in their classrooms and now they can.  Personally, I remember reading the book when I was young and I don't find myself using the n-word.  If anything, I felt the hatred that was in that word.  Mark Twain was displaying how the blacks were treated back then, he wanted us to see it as an ugly word.  All the same, I understand some people just feel too strongly that children these days shouldn't have to read it.  For those people I say, great, have them read the new version of the book.  Make yourselves feel better, convince yourselves that that kind of racism doesn't exist anymore.  You're kids are still going to hear that word, they are still going to see that there is ugliness out there.  One of the guys that called in said that changing the word made the work no longer Mark Twain's work.  I don't know that I would go that far.  It's not like that was the only word in the book.  There was a lot more to that story than just a derogatory term.  I do think they are doing the children who will be reading it a bit of a diservice.  As I recall, reading that book opened a discussion on my classroom about racism and history.  Being from a town where there weren't many blacks around, a little exposure to understanding what its like to be a minority couldn't have hurt.  I'm not saying reading Huckleberry Finn is the ultimate lesson in racism, but its definitely a start.  Along with other books like To Kill a Mockingbird.  I don't see a problem with someone wanting to read an edited version of the book as long as they understand, its probably not going to read the same way.  They won't get the full effect of what Twain was trying to convey.  I know it won't be on my shelf.  On the bright side, it could be worse, they could have added Zombies to the storyline.