Poor Readers

Often in the class we discuss about words since the class revolves mainly around words and their composition. Shakespeare’s play Hamlet touches the ambiguity that words can be when Polonius asks Hamlet what he reads and he answers “words, words, words” (Act II, ii.) simultaneously referring to what we read, words. Literature is words, communication is words, interacting is words, basically it all narrows down to words. As cliché as it may sound, what are words without meaning? And the meaning they are given depends on the situation, the context, and the point of view of its receiver. Insults for example are very complicated words, and the tone, time and intention that they are used make the difference. So what is the problem with the word “nigger” in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn if its intention was not an insulting one?

To ban the novel or to feel uncomfortable with the language bad enough to publish a new edition altering the original vocabulary seems to me as an act of close minded people. Or a way to make money selling the new edition with the excuse that it is an “expurgation of more than 200 'hurtful epithets' will counter 'pre-emptive censorship' that has seen Mark Twain's classic dropped from curricula”. If some people want to make a fuss about it, go ahead and do it, but it is ridiculous. Twain lived in the XIX century, slavery was a reality along with African American’s discrimination, the novel reflects that, positively because one of the protagonists was a slave and the whole novel describes his noble character and Huck Finn’s determination to protect him and set him free. Twain does not write in a racist point of view at all, the use of “nigger” is simply used to refer to the slaves and African Americans, not to insult them. Slavery is not an issue anymore, and discrimination either, it's different time periods. I agree with Dr Sarah Churchwell (senior professor of US Literature) when she stated that “The fault lies with the teaching, not the book.” Poor teachers are the ones that have complained then, and poor readers that have felt insulted. I insist, it was a marketing strategy and not a moral issue.