What makes you assume that they’ve read the book, Dio? I’m afraid that the SDMB can give you an overinflated opinion of what standards of evidence lots of people use.
After that, they can read the bolded part again.
Am I the only one that thinks that maybe we should just challenge Huck Finn because it’s really really boring?
Yes.
I certainly hope so.
(But I can’t say I’m very surprised.)
Sqube, I wonder if your teacher would have excused you from reading the book if you had expressed discomfort. And if he/she had, would people have decried it as unfair or inappropriate.
This is only tenuously related, but I remember when I was in the ninth grade and we were reading “Of Mice and Men”, a girl in the class told the teacher she wasn’t comfortable reading the curse words out loud in class. The curse words being mostly “damn” and “dammit”. The teacher allowed her to skip those words if they came up during her turn. I’m remembering it now because it makes me think of all the books I was assigned throughout high school that had much more graphic language and imagery…and the teachers never asked if anyone felt uncomfortable. Reading offensiveness was kinda required to do well in the classes.
Many of the books we read in my AP English classes would have been rated R if they had been movies.
On the other hand, I remember asking my eighth-grade English teacher if I could do “The Bluest Eye” for my oral book report and her turning me down because she thought I couldn’t handle the graphic content, not knowing that I had already read it. I hadn’t understood everything, no, but I had understood enough to do a five minute book report. And the teacher had had the book on her shelves where it was generally understood that everything was fair game. Although I was insulted back then, I realize now she had my best interests at heart. I think teachers should consider the emotional maturity of their students before assigning “heavy” stuff.
Care to explain?
I recall reading that this was objected to because of the poem where a boy is offering his sister for sale.
As for Huck Finn, I seem to be the only person in the history of the American school system who was never assigned to read this book. Finally read it on my own about three, four years back. Loved it, natch. I can understand why some people would have been uncomfortable reading it in class, but I can’t say that I really care. Great literature isn’t supposed to give you the warm and fuzzies, it’s supposed to challenge and distress. You didn’t like reading the book in class? Right a paper outlining why. Don’t hire a lawyer to do it for you. God forbid our schools teach us how to think.
I wasn’t assigned The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but read it anyway. I had already read and loved The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and didn’t even like HF until I read it again as an adult.
As Diogenes pointed out, the character of Huck had never known any other word, nor any other attitude toward slaves. His struggle with Jim’s obvious humanity in view of his erstwhile belief that black people were a little less than human is the nut of the story.
As for the “N” word, remember that another Missourian, Harry Truman, used the word frequently, though it was he who integrated the US Military and actually started the ball rolling on civil rights policies which FDR had promised but had failed to implement. I don’t believe that use of that word made Truman a racist, just a Southerner of his time as MT (and Huck Finn) were Southerners of theirs who saw a wrong and sought to right it.
I’m rambling, I know, but it’s after 4 a.m. and I haven’t been to sleep yet.
While he asked if I would feel comfortable reading the book, I have no doubt that he would have removed the book from our reading list had I complained enough. I also believe, however, that he was exposing us to this book precisely because of how eloquently hidden the anti-racist sentiments of the book were. Which is why I believe that it’s important that students read the book. If you feel uncomfortable discussing your past, don’t try to stop other people from doing so.
And here’s a quote from the original article:
This is all the more reason to read the damn book. Throughout this novel, someone who had lived their entire lives being trained in the belief that African-Americans were sub-human came to the conclusion, based on personal experience, that African-Americans were as human as everyone else. The fact that he said it the way he did only means that he didn’t have the language to say “Wow, Jim really is a decent chap after all.” I mean, don’t forget that it’s not like Huck had any sort of education. His words amount to “How about that? He’s black, but he’s a good guy.” What more anti-racist sentiment could you possibly want? Your ancestors were hung on the damn magnolia tree because someone else’s ancestors didn’t think of them as humans. What more beautiful legacy than to have those same people’s descendants decry what was done as wrong, and to use the language of hatred in favor of those who were hated?
Plus, as our teacher said, the word SHOULD make us uncomfortable. It’s supposed to make us think.