A classic novel is coming under fire. Should the “N” word be taken out and replaced with something else?
A scholar is publishing a new edition of Mark Twains Huckleberry Finn eliminating the “N” word, which appears some 219 times.
Mark Twain purists think it’s a terrible idea. The executive director of the Mark Twain Museum says the book is an anti-racist book and to change the language is to change the power of the book. She says he wrote to make us squirm and to poke us with a sharp stick, that was the purpose.
“It provides a context of what the world was like at that point in time,” Felton Thomas.
Cleveland Public Library Director Felton Thomas is generally against censorship.
“Once you start looking at words, then scenes, you might want to change all of those things.”
But Thomas says the library has no problem making these new editions available if that’s what the public wants.
And many do want the “N” word removed.
Courtesy Of WOIO.COM
