Ooooooooooh I Read a Bad Woooooooord!!!

By simply reading the title of the article, "New Huckleberry Finn Edition Censors 'N-word,' " I already had a pretty good idea of what I would be reading. As I began to read, different scholars expanded on why they thought that the racist words such as "nigger" and "injun" should be changed for more common and less hurtful words. They were very persuasive and had a very valid point. One of the best arguments that struck me was "The n-word possessed, then as now, demeaning implications more vile than almost any insult that can be applied to other racial groups," he said. "As a result, with every passing decade this affront appears to gain rather than lose its impact."At this point I completely agreed with them.

Having been raised in the United States, it has been drummed into me my whole life that everyone is equal. No matter if you are rich or poor; or if you differentiate in race, religion, or gender, everyone should be treated with respect and dignity. I am not sure if my peers here have the same point of view that I have, for they have been taught that social classes are important and that you should associate with the people outside of your social class as little as possible. This change was one of the hardest for me to overcome when I first moved here. Because of ballet, many of my friends apart from school are from lower social classes, and it breaks my heart not being able to invite them over as much as id like or go to their neighborhoods when they invite me. I saw the idea to remove these terrible words and replace them with synonyms as a splendid idea.

As I continued reading, the point of view of the article changed. Different scholars put forth what they thought and also made valid arguments. The argument which changed my point of view completely was "The point of the book is that Huckleberry Finn starts out racist in a racist society, and stops being racist and leaves that society. These changes mean the book ceases to show the moral development of his character. They have no merit and are misleading to readers. The whole point of literature is to expose us to different ideas and different eras." This scholar agrees with the problems the language gives and how hurtful they can be, but that does not mean that children need to be babied until they are adults. If we did not have texts with this grave dialect, then we would not know what it was like to live in other eras. I believe they should keep the language and just make sure that the students understand what the words mean and the era in which the book tok place.