Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The N Word

This is truly the hot topic among scholars surrounding Huck Finn and education right now, the censorship of the novel itself, the offending N word, and racism and where I plan to focus my research. The article Aly found for me addresses the attempt by teachers of Huckleberry Finn to teach in an anti-racist way that often brings up subconscious or unnoticed racism. Thus the teaching of the novel itself is under severe debate.

One noted Mark Twain scholar, Alan Gribben, has produced an edition of the book that replaces the word "nigger" in a new edition of Huckleberry Finn with "slave" so as not to offend readers and open up potential audiences (i.e. high schoolers) that the book might not have had before. Research I did previously in the Chronicle of Higher Education reveals intense academic debate about the censorship issues this presents. 

 The article Taylor provided for me addressed the N word/ censorship issue as well stating that on the American Library Association's banned- books list on the Web, Huck Finn is right up there in the top ten. I think the fact that this novel and the censorship of it are so controversial is a perfect subject to discuss in an ebook for educators who may be interested about where the conversations about Huck Finn are happening online, what the general public has to say about them (and so their possible students), and even a summary of what is being said. This is a potential aim for my article. I think it would not only interest educators, but i could also write in such a way that it could act as an avenue for the average Joe to become interested in the novel.

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