Humanizing Discrimination

The new censored version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will greatly change one of the most important subtleties on the story: the humanization of racism. This forms part of the novel’s social critique. Humanizing this (or at least making it socially acceptable) goes against the nature of racism because, at least during this time, it made all black people subhuman. This quotation captures that feeling completely: “‘Good gracious! anybody hurt?’ ‘No’m. Killed a nigger.’ ‘Well, it’s lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt” (300). The context does not matter. Only the usage of the word “nigger” and how the characters dehumanize him matters.

Through that word Mark Twain conveys the role this discrimination played on everyday life. In addition, it has a completely different meaning to slavery that would exclude the original usage (the way a white person would refer to a black one). Changing a word that Twain deliberately wrote over 200 times on his book will definitively alter its meaning and therefore, its literary value. We must remember, Twain is one of the most important American writers because his book glorified in literature the unique way Americans used English in The South. Replacing any word in it for a more socially acceptable one would be to some extent disregarding the importance this work has for American heritage.

Anyhow, thanks this word, which carries such harsh connotations, the book transports the reader to its time and gives them a view of slavery. With out it the piece looses part of its spirit. One of the main points for defending this change in particular is the fact that the word’s connotation gains more strength as time passes shocking today’s readers. Considering the atrocity that slavery is, why should we try to shield the reader against this? Why try to make softer a harsh topic that should have a strong impact?