"A 'N'ecessary Change to a Classic"

The Mark Twain novel has been an international classic for decades. It has been read by millions both in the classroom and around the world. Yet now, the epic classic has undergone a change in its contents, without the author himself alive to say "yay" or "nay" to the revisions.

The New York Times reported that Alan Gribben, an Auburn University at Montgomery English Professor, proposed the idea of substituting the "N" word in the Twain novel for the word "slave." The word, "nigger" is repeated in the novel a total of 219 times, and could possibly be a reason why today's generation of students are reluctant to read the novel.

NewSouth Books is the publisher of the novel, and has been widely criticized for altering the novel in any way.

Now as a 22-year-old black college student pursuing a career in Journalism, I can understand the arguments of both sides. No more than a year ago, there was a national discussion regarding the death of the "N' word. Did such a ceremony stick? Well, no it didn't. We still continue to hear younger generations using the word as a term of endearment and even as a filler word equivalent to the phrases, "you know" and "oh yeah". To this day, the word is tossed around in casual conversations, song lyrics, and urban novels. But it is nonetheless a word that is still frowned upon by earlier generations both in and outside of the black community.

On the journalism side of the issue, the act of revising a classic novel or any published piece does bring about the possibility of taking away the author's rights and/or the authenticity of the piece. In the case of Mark Twain, he obviously has no say in the revisions of his own work. So the question remains, does changing the word "nigger" to "slave" alter the authenticity of the classic novel?

In reality no one really knows the answer. As a student, I feel that students will be less reluctant to read the novel and grasp the lesson behind the novel if they don't have to be self-conscious of coming across the word if asked to read out loud. Although the word in it's urban vernacular is more acceptable amongst today's urban youth, it is still a word that is frowned upon, generally by the generations that were around when the word was one of offense.

At the end of the day, the morals and lessons behind the novel are not what is being altered; it is merely a word that to this day, may cause students to be more reluctant to focus on the novel's meaning if said in classroom discussions and readings.