What do you think?

[rep the dems]

In a recent assignment for English class, I had to write a satire from Huck Finn's point of view if he were alive today. Naturally I wrote about the Republican Party, but that is not the point of the story.

In writing this essay, we were expected to use the same dialect that Huck would, but we were asked by the teacher not to include the word "nigger". She said that instead we could write "n--" or anything else we could think of with somewhat of a Huck Finn feel to it. We were warned that if we used the word "nigger" we would lose points.

While I did not necessarily agree with this logic, I decided to abstain from using the word figuring it really wasn't worth causing a problem over. A friend of mine, however, used the word three times, I believe, and thus lost about 10 points (as I recall).

My friend feels like I do, that these kinds of things should not be of major consequence if used in a meaningful way. He is not a racist. He thinks that if we are supposed to use southern dialect, then we should not be told not to say "nigger." However, he seems to ignore the fact that we had been told what would happen if we chose to say it.

I was thinking about this tonight, and figured what better way to get intelligent feedback than to post this story on DU. Since I am unable to post a poll, I'll simply ask, what do you think?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

1. I'd Say Your Friend Deserved To Lose The Points.

It was an assignment with clearly stated boundaries, of which he intentionally broke. It really isn't any more complicated than that in my opinion.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[rep the dems]

4. Excuse me?

[Glorfindel]

3. I see your point...as offensive as the "N" word is

we can't go back and change the past to conform with today's viewpoints. Huck (and Jim) would have used that word in a matter-of-fact manner. One of my favorite magazines when I was a boy was "Argosy," one of whose aims was "to keep the little woman firmly in her place." Horribly sexist, of course, but not unusual for the 1950's (yes, I'm older than dirt) and not even meant all that unkindly. The magazine ran lots of stories about big-game hunting, which I found exciting at the time but absolutely repulsive now. Having said all that, there would have been nothing wrong with your friend's using n--- or some other formulation. I recall Mark Twain using "Mr. C----" referring to himself in at least one of his short stories. I agree with your decision, and think your friend was just stubbornly trying to make a point when none needed to be made.