The Ink and the Quill

An open note to New South Publishing:

It has come to our attension that you intend to republish The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn devoid of the terms "nigger" and "injun." We understand that because this particular book is rife with these epithets, and is required reading by such a wide range of school systems, you wish to provide a copy of the tome that is updated to today's sympathies and sensitivities. In response, we would like to say, way to go you gigantic dildos.

Have you ever even read Huck Finn? What in the holy hell is wrong with you? Are you able to comprehend the English language, or do you just see a series of letters and words and assume that you know what the fuck you're reading? While perhaps your intentions to be sensitive to African and Native Americans are in some senses noble, you are majorly misguided for two main reasons.

First, the story of Huck and Jim is that as they travel down the river, Huck slowly comes to realize Jim's humanity. Hence, Huck finally attempts helps Jim escape to freedom, regardless of the consequences, which would have been harsh to be sure. When Tom Sawyer is shot in the botched escape attempt, Jim sacrifices himself to remain with the boys, rather than continuing on to his path towards freedom. Huck, the most unlikely character in the book, un"civilized" and uneducated, rises above the expectations of society and proves himself a better person than any of the wealthy, land owning, learned individuals. Jim, the slave, the property, the chattel, gives more of himself than anyone else in the book and through his self denial, elevates himself above the viewpoint of society. As Huck and Jim follow the current of the Mississippi, the young boy's outlook is changed, and he is reborn free of the racist expectations of those who see themselves as attempting to curb his backwoods upbringing. Huck and Jim are the heroes of the novel; they are the two characters to be admired and emulated.

Second, Huck Finn was intended to be representative of the time in which it is set. Mark Twain wrote the novel well after the end of the Civil War, when racial relations were supposed to be improving. However, little had changed, particularly in the south, where blacks were still treated as less than second class citizens and had made few inroads into society. In most senses, they were still subjected to the will of "proper" society and hence continued to be treated as property, or worse, since now white people didn't even have a financial investment in black folks. The book is, in full, written in the language of the time, even to the extent that dialogue is spelled phonetically and slang, for good or ill, is intact. Twain intended for readers at the time to draw parallels between the setting of the book and the current time, and to realize that they could not simply pat themselves on the back for a job well done following the Emancipation Proclamation. There was still work to be done--people needed a wake up call that all was not well on the racial prejudice front.

The river, and the ensuing journey, are symbols of new life, as water always is in literature. To change the language, is to devalue to the premise that Huck and Jim are able to transcend the values and ideas placed upon them. Twain intended the n-word to be hurtful, hence why Huck's transformation is so amazing and carries so much power. Without the realistic tone of the novel, Huck's rebirth and Jim's selflessness lose their rather remarkable meaning. Twain's challenge to all of us is the same as it was for the audience at the time of publication; to realize our own society's limitations and shortcomings, and to rise against them. We here at I Hope You're not Squeamish urge you to reconsider your attempts to strip one of the great American novels of its meaning and soul. Don't be a bunch of ignorant cunts. Pretty please.