Earlier this month I decried the effort to censor Huckleberry Finn. I noted that what I took away from the book was the need to defy the authorities when they are wrong. Huck decided to help Jim when the law and the societal values said otherwise. That was a powerful lesson.
When I read that book in the 1950s I was a white fifth grader. To me the word “nigger,” used some 200 times in the book, did not carry the weight or meaning that it would to a ten-year-old black kid in 2011.
Lorrie Moore, an author I respect, wrote an essay in today’s New York Times opposing the censorship, but she also urged that Huckleberry Finn not be taught until college, or even graduate school. She noted that a book that used “kike” or “bitch” some 200 times would never be assigned to a high school class. While I would argue that the historical context of those words is different, I see her point. She writes, “Huck’s voice is a complicated amalgam of idioms and perspectives and is not for the inexperienced contemporary reader.”
I agree with that. If Huckleberry Finn is taught in high schools, it ought to be accompanied by a large amount of supplementary contextual material. Ms. Moore recommends Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian as a book to hook boys into reading. It’s no Huckleberry Finn, but it is contemporary, relatively easy, funny, and contains a positive message.
And please don’t sneer and tell me I’m being “politically correct.” That term needs to be retired.
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