A lesson which backfired (or did it?), an offended student, another coalition and another protest against Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
In a lesson to prepare students to read Huckleberry Finn, a teacher writes a number of emotionally charged words on the chalkboard. “Nigger” is among them, which offends a student.
So he asked his teacher to shorten it to the “N-word.”
He said his request was met with questions from his teacher.
“She asked me: ‘Does it offend you? It hurts, doesn’t it?’ ” he said. “To me, it was cruel the way it was presented. It didn’t help the lesson at all. It showed improper judgment.” Dallas News
This particular word appears 212 times in the book, and is one of many reasons this book has been ranked the fifth most frequently challenged book of 1990-2000 by the American Library Association. Helping to maintain this status for this decade, “The
Coalition to stop the N-Word,” made up of the National Black United Front, the New Black Panther Party, the Nation of Islam, the Black Coalition to Maximize Education, and the NAACP, has protested on behalf of the family and are calling for the book to be pulled from the curriculum.
The word is highly offensive. Which is the point of the lesson. I was not there the day the lesson was given, but from the brief excerpt of the exchange between the teacher and student shared here, I see nothing that should require her to take “sensitivity training.” Chances are, should she attend them, she will sit through the same lesson. I went through Teach For America to begin teaching and our “sensitivity training” regarding gender and sexuality issues ran exactly like that. Offensive terms were written on the board. We were asked which ones bothered us the most. Then we discussed the power of language at evoking emotional reactions and how words can hurt.
Banning books which handle difficult themes such as slavery and racism will do nothing to lessen racism in America. These are issues which need to be confronted. Students need to be challenged to think, not have the curriculum sanitized to avoid offense. This book is not racist because an offensive term is used (over and over). Nat Hentoff of the Jewish World Review had the opportunity to talk to some African-American students who had recently read the book and their insight into the issue of the N-word is interesting.
Do you think we’re so dumb,” one of the Brooklyn eighth-graders said to me, “that we don’t know the difference between a racist book and an anti-racist book? Sure, the book is full of the word ‘Nigger.’ That’s how those bigots talked back then. –Jewish World Review
Is that a lesson that can be learned through censorship?
“The people whom Huck and Jim encounter on the Mississippi” — Russell Baker wrote in the New York Times in 1982 — “are drunkards, murderers, bullies, swindlers, lynchers, thieves, liars, frauds, child abusers, numskulls, hypocrites, windbags and traders in human flesh. All are white. The one man of honor in this phantasmagoria is ‘Nigger Jim,’ as Twain called him to emphasize the irony of a society in which the only true gentleman was held beneath contempt.”
The book would not be the same and could not make the point as clearly if it were not for the offensive language. But that is something students need to be prepared for. And I think the teacher in this case was doing just that.
[tags]education, Huckleberry Finn[/tags]
Principled Discovery is a place to stop and discuss news and information related to faith, family and particularly education. Pour yourself a cup of tea and join the conversation! 
One of the great advantages in homeschooling is the ability to use common sense when planning a lesson or discussing a topic.
You can be pretty certain no one will be picketing outside your classroom window the next morning.
My husband and I just discussed this word last night–the N-word.
I dispise the term ” N-word.” It irritates me to no end. We don’t refer to “bitch” as the “b-word” and a slug of other offensive and derrogator words as shortened versions.
Yes, the word is ugly. But it is full of history. It is full of emotion. It is a part of our culture–BOTH black and white culture. That cannot be erased even if we “get rid” of the word–which cannot and will not happen. The word has such power because people give it power.
When I taught Huck Finn I did not write the word on the board, because that is a bit of a slap in the face with many immature high schoolers in a class who will laugh and gawaf and make snide remarks; but I did have a dictionary on each desk and I asked them to all look up the word. We read the definition aloud. Surprisingly, the actually definition lessened the word’s power…and we were able to read the story, discuss the political and historical era of the story and the word…without anyone being offended and without smart, goofy, snippy remarks.
Knowledge is power…going on pure emotion can get us in trouble. I hope this book is never banned. I hope no book is ever banned.
Great timing for this post as I will be seeing a Civil War Re-Enactment tomorrow:-)
Acrivities Co…you are very right.
Shawna, I’ll assume you are referring to a female dog so I don’t have to edit your comment. : ) I despise the word as well, but we cannot avoid teaching history because aspects of it are offensive.
I don’t remember really discussing this at all in high school, at least in the US. In Germany, the discussion was interesting. “What is wrong with that word?” My classmates asked. They used the word. There is a German treat known as a “N- kiss.” Separated from its history, the word does lose its power, and I don’t think any of them ever understood why I was so uncomfortable with it and why our German teacher tried to make it a point not to say the word in class.
What really burns me up is that the Thought Police are so subjective. “N” word = bad. “F” word = good.
People very freely use “Christ” as a curse word and swear profligately, but the “N” word comes from satan himself. What a crock!
It is along the same lines as smoking. Smoking is the newest scourge, but fornicating like dogs is exuberantly encouraged in schools.
The old Roman proverb: Mundus vult decipi!
Mrs. Mecomber, I think you are right.
I’m all for encouraging people not to use this word…and I think this particular lesson was designed with that in mind. And I couldn’t help but think of the number of times this word is used in rap, etc. But that is ok, according to some.
LOL Dana…I debated typing that word.
And the word that irritates me most is “N-word” more than the actual word that “N-word” stands for.
We just watched the movie Glory Road, which was full of offensive names for blacks. But the purpose was to show the wrong attitudes, the unjust treatment, the culture of the time, all as obstacles the first black college basketball team faced and surmounted to win the championship.
My children were shocked. But if the words were left out, would blacks have been better served? Of course not! Our sympathies were all with the black players.
Jeanne
Very good illustration.
I do think you have to be careful with these kinds of materials…but the young man in this incident was 17. High schoolers should be able to handle this stuff…they have likely seen it and/or experienced it.
I agree with you, Dana. We read books that have these types of derogatory remarks and we always stop to discuss the reasons behind them and why they are not acceptable. I want to be a person who my children can say of when I die that “she never had a bad word to say about anyone”. For them to not speak down to people, they need to first understand that it is the sign of a STRONG and well educated person to resist the temptation to do so. So learning from these types of books is very important - we gain a deeper sense of our history and can learn from our past mistakes.
This may just be because I love reading, but I think this is one of the best ways to teach these lessons. Children are going to hear these attitudes and this is a good way to teach character.
This was a thoughtful piece. Unfortunately, history and literature are full of offensive language and actions. The Bible doesn’t pull any punches either about man’s reprehensible behaviour and speech.
You may have caught the recent controversy on TV surrounding “Dog” and his use of the N-word. Curiously, it seems to be a topic of discussion in a number of circles at the moment.
Blessings, e-Mom
It is an extremely ugly word and one I don’t like to hear used around me. I hate when it’s thrown around in trashy pop culture and I don’t think it makes any difference whether the user is of African heritage. Just like I don’t think it’s any less offensive when women use vulgar terms for females, KWIM?
However, I absolutely believe that Huck Finn should be taught in high school/college literature classes. The people who are calling for a ban seem to have totally missed the point of the book.
I think that Huck Finn is not a racist book just because it uses the “N word” 212 times. There are several reasons it isn’t. The reason they use that word is because it was a comon word to be used back in that time. If you want to dicuss my point of view you can contact me via e-mail at nona_renae@yahoo.com and my name is Shannon.
Shannon,
I definitely agree with you! I think Huck Finn is actually a wonderful book for pointing out racism and forces people to think about race in a different way. In a book full of questionable characters, the only one who is really decent is the one which the society of the time held as “lower.” The word definitely had a different meaning then than it does now, but even with the changing connotations, the book is not racist.
Thank you for participating in the discussion!
You can’t say that the book explicitly points out slavery. Sure, slavery is an important aspect of the book but Twain doesn’t focus on slavery as an issue. He Utilizes slavery to show the way everybody was back then, and ‘nigger’ is mostly use in common speech. This was commonplace when the book was first written and no offense was found for the term. The original offense that was found were the way Huck deals with adult issues such as stealing, fraud, murder and the like. There is a whole article on this that I’d love to sight but just can’t locate right now. If I find it I’ll post the link here.
John, you are definitely right in that. If anything, the book has the opposite purpose. If you find the link you are looking for, feel free to post it.
i think all of this is so dumn. its just a book you can choose to read it or not.Yes i am black,but if we really have solved these racial issues then we would not be talking about this.