By JONATHAN WARREN
NewSouth Books publishing company is sparking debate with its decision to remove the 219 occurrences of the n-word in Mark Twain’s classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The company aims to make the novel more appealing to teachers and students who may be wary of studying a work with such controversial words and therefore to boost its sales. The word “injun” referring to Native Americans will also be removed. The novel will now omit the offensive words or replace them with words like “slave.”
However, some teachers and readers disagree with changing Twain’s original work.
“I resent being treated like I am stupid. My students are all smart enough to understand intellectually Twain’s decision to use the n-word, but not be offended personally by it and accept it,” Advanced Placement Language and Composition teacher Victoria Nicoll said.
NewSouth’s decision raises questions regarding the definition of art. Is Mark Twain’s work still an original piece if others have changed his words? Is Twain’s voice lost? There may be no clear answer, but many remain skeptical of the change.
“Taking the word out of the novel undermines Twain’s intention and makes the novel, frankly, not worth reading,” Nicoll said.