Chapter 3 Verbal Communication 81neighborhoods they patrol and when they use more formal, bureaucratic language
when interacting with superiors, filling out reports, or testifying in court.
Similarly, you might decide to use high language—a more formal, polite,
or “mainstream” language—in business contexts, in the classroom, and in formal
social gatherings (as when trying to impress the parents of your new romantic
interest). However, you would probably switch to more informal, easygoing low
language (often involving slang) when you’re in more casual or comfortable
environments, such as watching a football game at a sports bar with your friends.
❶ What meaning does
the N-word carry for you?
Does it seem appropri-
ate to use it in a scholarly
discussion? How do you
feel about it being printed
(or not printed) in this
textbook? Does avoid-
ing printing or saying the
word give it more or less
power?
❷ If an instructor chose
to use the word in class,
how might he or she do
so in a way that would be
sensitive to students? Can
students investigate the
word’s meaning and his-
tory without using it?
➌ What is your opinion
on Gribben’s new edition?
Are his editorial changes
sensitive and helpful, or is
he sanitizing history?Teaching Twain
It is considered a classic of American literature, a truly groundbreaking novel that
thumbed its nose at convention when it was published in 1885 and continues to
challenge ideas about race, relationships, and language more than a century later.
At a time when respectable books were written in upper-middle-class
English—and when slavery was still fresh in American memory—Mark
Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told the story of the unlikely relation-
ship between a free-spirited white boy and a fugitive slave, Jim, in everyday
language. Twain carefully constructed Jim and Huck’s conversations with
words, inflections, and phonetic spellings that can shock modern readers.
Most notably, Twain uses the “N-word” over two hundred times.
The book itself remains controversial as scholars and critics continue
to argue about Twain’s characters. It is consistently at or near the top of the
American Library Association’s annual list of books banned or challenged by
parents or school boards. John Wallace, a former public school administrator,
calls it “racist trash” and says that its use of the N-word is offensive, no mat-
ter what the context or how teachers try to explain it (D. L. Howard, 2004).
Yet others come to the book’s defense, noting that it was written as satire
and that Twain’s intention was “to subvert, not reinforce, racism” (Kennedy,
2003, p. 108). Temple University professor David Bradley notes that the word
must be taken in the context of the times and situation: “What was Twain
supposed to do, call them African-Americans?” (Rabinowitz, 1995, para. 16).
Teachers of American literature often find themselves struggling with
self-censorship as they grapple with whether or not to speak the word aloud
in class, since it may cause students to feel hurt and offended. This was
certainly the case for Professor Alan Gribben of Auburn University at Mont-
gomery, who created a revised edition of the work that replaces the N-word
with the word slave. Professor Gribben explains: “I’m by no means sanitizing
Mark Twain. The sharp social critiques are in there. The humor is intact. I just
had the idea to get us away from obsessing about this one word, and just let
the stories stand alone” (quoted in Bosman, 2011, para. 2). But critics pas-
sionately disagree, accusing Professor Gribben’s publisher of censorship and
sanitizing history. Author Jill Nelson notes that changing Twain’s carefully
chosen words to suit contemporary mores and eliminate hurt feelings “is
an abdication of a teacher’s responsibility to illuminate and guide students
through an unfamiliar and perhaps difficult text” (Nelson, 2011, para. 3).THINK
ABOUT
THISCOMMUNICATIONACROSSCULTURES