Nora Sullivan-Uncovering the Veil

We live in a society that tries to protect our youth from facing the hardship of reality before they’re ready. Yet by doing this, we shelter them, and leave them innocent and unaware of the appalling and sometimes gruesome events that have taken place, and will take place. Unaware of the grotesque reality around them, are youth, now older set out in the world with a veil covering them, arming them, protecting them.

At the age of nine my father sat me down, on the couch, with a very serious look. He told me that long ago, people didn’t always get along, mainly people with different skin colors. He said that the people with lighter skin color felt like they owned the people with darker skin, that they even had a name which they would call them; nigger. He continued to tell me that his was a word that I was not to say, under any conditions, and that it is an awful word, which connects to awful events. That same year, my mother read To Kill a Mockingbird out loud to me, sometimes letting me read, only if I pronounced every word.

A word is just a word, until society uses that word, to give it a meaning. This meaning could very well be completely separate from the actual meaning of the word. But when you get down to it, the word is still just a word, we give that word the power to break or make us. Which is why the word “nigger” which started as a neutral term for a black person, is now known as a vulgar word, meaning unsophisticated. Using the word, allows for the power of the word is disappear. Leaving only the word.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn allows for its readers to get lost in the past, a time unknown to them. For this to happen the novel must be accurate in its entirely; the grammar, and society, and the language. Thomas Glave stated in his op-ed Obscuring the Past; “The reality is that, to Huck and many white people of the time, Jim would have been both a slave—that is, property to be owned, and abused at the owner’s will—and a “nigger”, the accepted way one refereed to that particular property in the South at the time.” (Glave). For without the language, this is no longer Huck Finn, nor does it have the same impact. The word “nigger” is a big part of racism, therefore you can not have a novel about racism and not include that word. Glave also states that “Great literature that reveals truths about society can enable such learning and thinking: the fact is that Huck simply would not have refereed to Jim as a “slave”. (Glave)

Every word that a writer uses, is chosen with care, and every word is meant to have an impact on the writing, meaning that the word ‘nigger’ is put into The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, for a reason. To take out that word would be taking out that meaning and in turn part of the novel. Jill Nelson writes in his op-ed Part of Our Lexicon; “The notion that one can change one of those carefully chosen words—much less 219 of them—to suit their perception of contemporary mores and eliminate the possibility of hurt sensibilities is an abdication of a teacher’s responsibility to illuminate and guide students through an unfamiliar and perhaps difficult text.” (Nelson) This novel is supposed to be difficult, it covers a difficult time using the diagonal that they would have used. Reading Huck Finn, is important for everyone at least once in their life, but its also important to read it at the right time. Meaning reading this book in middle school is too young for many reasons, there are events in the novel that are hard to understand, events where someone should be mature enough to handle. Which is why high school is the perfect time to read the novel in it’s entirety. To change the novel is, almost like trying to hide what it was like it that time period, and what it was like in society, but if we change the book what does that tell people what its like now and in our society. Shelley Fisher wrote an op-ed in favor the keep the novel exactly the way it is stating “The book succeeds precisely because it requires teachers and students to examine what’s wrong with a society that gives the most admirable person in it—in this case, the slave, Jim—the same rights as pigs and chickens. This forces readers to question why so many people who thought of themselves as “good” –religious, upstanding, well-meaning-supported the indefensible status quo as long as they did.” (Fisher) There is no better time to examine this than in high school.

Those people who are afraid to let their children learn about these issue, are truly hurting their children, because these are real issue, one’s that eventually your children will have to deal with, and you would rather have them prepared. Reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, teaches people about moral issues and friendship, as well as showing them what it was like for people in that time period. This is preparing our youth to step out into the cruel reality, armed with the knowledge they need to succeed.

Glave, Thomas. “Obscuring the Past.”  http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/01/05/does-one-word-change-huckleberry-finn/obsuring-the-past

            New York Times, 5 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 Jan 2014.

Fisher, Shelly. “The Words of Pap Finn’s Rant.”  http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/01/05/does-one-word-change-huckleberry-finn/the-words-of-pap-finns-rant

            New York Times, 5 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 Jan 2014.

Nelson, Jill. “Part of Our Lexicon.”  http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/01/05/does-one-word-change-huckleberry-finn/the-word-nigger-is-part-of-our-lexicon

            New York Times, 5 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 Jan 2014.