And from what I gather in the English classes I've taken,
Twain was trying to make a point. Huck Finn is one of the
more difficult novels written. Why it's taught in high
schools and ninth grades, I'll never understand. There's an
undertone to that novel. It's satire. The use of the "n-word"
is meant to be overdone. Twain was not in favor of slavery
and he was trying to show how ridiculous the whole situation
in the novel--and the time period the novel took place
in--was.
I believe the novel was written post Civil War, and
there was definitely racism rampant then, and I think Twain
was also trying to comment on that. If I remember correctly,
the black character was a favorable likeable character (Jim??
It's been years since I've read the book.)... So degrading
him at every possible turn was to make a point. And using the
n-word wasn't just lazy writing, but calculated.
Or so the theory goes.
-Dave
James R Winter <
winter_writes@earthlink.net> wrote: Consider the
context. The word didn't mean the same thing... Rather, it
didn't have the same conotation... when Huck Finn was
written. Use it in the 21st century the way Twain used it in
the 19th, and you might want to bolt the door.
Back then, it wasn't really a slur, but over time, it came to
symbolize a very bad phase of our history. Now it depends on
who says it. [And to anyone who says that's not fair, guess
what. Neither's life. Now get over it and watch your f***ing
mouth. :-D]
Jim Winter
----- Original Message ----- From: "Frederick Zackel" <
fzackel@wcnet.org> To: <
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Saturday, March 26,
2005 10:42 AM Subject: RARA-AVIS: Throwing some gas(?) on a
dying flame
>
> Now that we got "fuck" out of our system, I'm
curious what youse guys make
> of Mark Twain using the word "nigger" 282 times in
Huck Finn.
>
> Frederick Zackel
>
>
>
>
>
> RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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