While I was doing some research for my ENGL 461R, I came across the ten most banned books in America as of October 1, 2012. As I sped through the top ten, I saw books like Harry Potter, The Catcher in the Rye, and Huckleberry Finn. I couldn't help but be disturbed by the idea that many all-time American classics have been challenged and even banned from the school shelves. Come to find out, Huckleberry Finn is frowned upon due to the excessive use of the "n" word. A few years ago, publishers released a "better" Huck Finn, replacing over 200 "n" words with the words "slave". Since 1884, Mark Twain's novel has been challenged. I find this incredibly relevant with what we are learning in class because I couldn't help but ask myself why in the world would they take out every "n" word and replace it with "slave"? How does making a drastic change such as that, deem the book more "readable" for teens and adolescents? Language is such a powerful thing and I believe that it lies in the love of literacy too. We can't have literacy without language and vice versa.
I guess I should probably define my project a bit more clearly: I want to see how language has changed, how society has evolved, more specifically dealing with Huck Finn. I want my students to be able to come across a novel and look at it critically...and love doing it, of course. I don't want them to be restricted from the greats like Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird simply because the society we live in does not accept the language that was acceptable at the time. I want my students to be able to recognize the differences in the use of language.
