Taking P.C.to ostrich level

Published 12:00 am Sunday, January 9, 2011

Is it better to understand a bad situation, or simply ignore it?

New versions of the famed Mark Twain stories, “Huckleberry Finn” and “Tom Sawyer” are being released with offensive words like the N-word changed to “slave,” references to Injun Joe to “Indian Joe” and half-breed to “half-blood.”

The new versions reportedly are intended to expose the books to a wider audience and to lessen discomfort for those who must read aloud the books with their offensive language, like a college professor who does so as part of classroom teaching.

But John R. Deitrick, a professor of English and chair of the Humanities and Languages Department at Becker College in Massachusetts, told a newspaper in his area the idea of cleaning up the language is “misguided and unfortunate.”

He noted, “All the more ironic is the fact that Twain not only abhorred racism but was countering, with the marvelously warm, generous, protective, decent, and good character of ‘slave’ Jim, the wrongheaded and vicious intent of those who denigrated African Americans with the N-word and who attempted to dehumanize African Americans with their racist practices.”

Becker said of reading the books aloud, “I have experienced that same discomfort whenever I have taught the novel, as well. But I always preface my reading by explaining that Twain was using the dialect of the period and region in the novel. It was part of his realistic portrayal. Moreover, he was, in fact, satirizing racism in the novel.”

The slurs used by characters in Twain’s books reflect not racism on the part of Twain but the times in which they lived.

And while there are references to the N-word, in particular in “Huckleberry Finn,” it is clear that while the slave character, Jim, is referred to in a most lowly fashion, he is a person clearly portrayed as someone worthy of respect and admiration.

Isn’t it more meaningful and wouldn’t it accomplish more to explain how such language was used in the late 1800s when these books were published and to point out how Twain made a point of countering those negative stereotypes in characters like Jim?

Our history, both good and bad, is our history.

Changing the words that were used doesn’t change a thing. Using the lessons learned over the years and talking about why things have changed would seem much more effective than trying to pretend something never happened.

Changing the words in these books to some less offensive seems akin to the ostrich that reportedly sticks its head in the sand to avoid a problem.

WILLCHAPMAN

PUBLISHER