I read an article today that saddened me a little bit. A classic book is being republished by a company; sounds innocent enough, right? The book is Huckleberry Finn, and the company in an effort to make this book less offensive for today's politically correct society, is replacing the word (I'll say it) "nigger" with "slave". They are also replacing the word "injun", so as to not offend Native Americans.
My heart broke a little when I read this. I'm almost certain that when Mark Twain wrote this great piece of American Literature that he did not intend to offend readers in any way. Those were the times, and those words were regularly spoken as part of the culture that he was living in. If anything he used those words to show how repulsive and derogatory they could be, so that future generations would learn something from his writing. I read this book more than once growing up, and love books like that because they take you to a different place when you're reading them. It is in essence, historical.
I understand that the company that is doing this hopes that certain schools that have banned this book will allow it again, because if it's "less offensive language". But will the children reading it really get the same message if the words are different? Perhaps, but they won't get the true enjoyment of reading the author's own words, the way he meant them to be read.
I'll get off my soapbox now - good night, and happy reading!
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