New edition of 'Huckleberry Finn' to lose the N-word
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Nova
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Page 138 in the edition I read in junior high in the 1960s. Trust me, we all knew the page number.
But, no, I don't think i was harmed by reading that passage as a 13-year-old boy.
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Book banning might be as dangerous as racism; changing the word "n.i.g.g.e.r" to "colored man" isn't. Show Boat and "Ol' Man River" did it and they remain American classics without losing their meanings. (Obviously, "Ol' Man River" is part of Show Boat. Somehow I'm making them sound like separate works.)
keeponsearching
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How can you get into a story that takes place in a certain time period and not use the slang. I've read books with that word in it. We all learn at a young age that its a very inappropriate word to say.
I don't recall ever reading that passage in ann frank, maybe I was to young to actually get it.
Why hide, banned, or opt out of letting there kids read it, why not just explain.
I don't recall ever reading that passage in ann frank, maybe I was to young to actually get it.
Why hide, banned, or opt out of letting there kids read it, why not just explain.
Nova
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The passage in Anne Frank details some tentative sexual exploration when she is sharing a bed with another girl. It's actually very sweet. Of course it caused a stir among 7th graders when I was a kid: we didn't have cable TV or internet *advertiser censored* in those days. I can't remember if it was addressed by the teacher or not, but somehow I understood it was just a kid experimenting, it didn't mean that Anne Frank was a lesbian. Maybe the text makes that clear.
I think Huckleberry Finn presents a special challenge because the word we're discussing doesn't appear on one page, but hundreds of times. Educators and activists are rightly concerned that the repetition may make the word seem acceptable to very young readers. (Of course, they should be more concerned about rap and hip hop, where the word is repeated thousands of times. And maybe they are, but can't do anything about that.)