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Huckleberry Finn

Should the book Hucklebery Finn be censored to remove the words ****** and *****?

  • Yes, they are horrid words that have no place in American society

    Votes: 1 4.3%

  • No, it is a classic piece of American literature and should not be "sanitized"

    Votes: 22 95.7%
  • Total voters
    23
It's a bad idea, but if the alternative is that some schools simply won't carry the book in its present edition then we're stuck with an imperfect choice between two censors.
 
Sirkickyass said:
It's a bad idea, but if the alternative is that some schools simply won't carry the book in its present edition then we're stuck with an imperfect choice between two censors.
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What about the 3rd alternative? We just burn all books?
 
it's not about a word being horrid and this doesn't come off as an attempt to whitewash history to me. the n word carries different baggage today than when twain wrote huck finn. gribben's point is that the word itself can be a stumbling block for certain students, effectively poisoning them against the material.

i don't know where to land but i think a worthwhile question to ask is what are we trying to teach by assigning huck finn in our high school classrooms? is it really that valuable of a novel for students of that age? if so, how affected is the message by changing these words to something that reflects the injustices of the time, but doesn't cause as visceral of a reaction today? if twain's exact words are sacrosanct, are we better off not teaching it in high school at all?
 
Yes, I think they should be replaced with a * for every letter in the word so people have to guess which word it is, and go through every bad word they can think of in their minds.
I think it would be good for the imaginations of every American child.
 
If the schools won't carry it, where's the harm? I think they should gather all copies of the book and burn them. And then burn the ashes. Future generations should be sheltered from America's past. No more mentions of Jim Crow Laws, the Civil War, or slavery. Any mention of Abraham Lincoln should mention that he stars in Geico ads and General Lee is a car in an old TV show. No need causing the kidlets to know that America has skeletons in her closet.
 
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JazzSpazz said:
Yes, I think they should be replaced with a * for every letter in the word so people have to guess which word it is, and go through every bad word they can think of in their minds.
I think it would be good for the imaginations of every American child.
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it's not that i disagree with you but the guy is proposing swapping out '******' with 'slave', so
 
After this, they should update Shakespeare. Iambic pentameter can be a stumbling block for high school students, effectively poisoning them against the material.
 
YB85 said:
If the schools won't carry it, where's the harm? I think they should gather all copies of the book and burn them. And then burn the ashes. Future generations should be sheltered from America's past. No more mentions of Jim Crow Laws, the Civil War, or slavery. Any mention of Abraham Lincoln should mention that he stars in Geico ads and General Lee is a car in an old TV show. No need causing the kidlets to know that America has skeletons in her closet.
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That my friend is called Fahrenheit 451 if I am not mistaken.
 
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