Teaching, Sensitivity, and Literature: When Objectives Clash

I read with great interest Joni's post on the controversy surrounding the "sanitized" Huckleberry Finn, partly because Mark and I had just gotten through having an hour long discussion about it over dinner, and partly because there's some interesting debate going on amongst my friends in the UH rhetoric and creative writing programs. Most of us take the stance Joni has taken, that changing the n word and the i word (Injun to Indian, really?) amounts to censorship and is at worst whitewashing history, and at best nonsensical. But there are some who see the problem as going deeper than this, deeper than the controversy around this one novel. For some of us, this misguided attempt to alter a classic really centers around another elephant in the room--the state of our U.S. education.

As a teacher, I know what it's like to walk a fine line when dealing with controversial texts, or texts that have drawn new controversies as times have changed. This semester in my American Drama class, for instance, I switched out two plays because the previous time I taught the course, the plays drew such negative reactions. I've switched them out for two different plays which accomplish the same objective and are equally controversial, but which I hope will not cause students to run in groups crying (literally) to my office and telling me about their sexual assault experiences. I'm trying to meet these students where they are and challenge them--without traumatizing them.

And yet as a writer, I squirm at what I just wrote. Because great literature often cuts. Great literature is often intended to cut. And several smart studies of Twain have shown that he most likely did intend the novel to provoke debate and controversy. And as Shelley Fisher Fishkin writes, "racism is ugly. The history and legacies of American racism are our nation’s own peculiar brand of ugly -- and the n-word embodies it." But, as Fisher Fishkin continues to say, it's not the n-word itself that's so much the problem; it's the racism that persists in America that is. And as much as we hate to admit it, that racism often extends to the very teachers who are assigning and leading discussions of the novel.

Unfortunately, there are too many teachers who aren't savvy or experienced enough to handle this novel in the classroom. I saw this first hand when I taught for Writers in the Schools. Some of the teachers would use the n-word themselves when they thought no one was looking. How can you expect a teacher like that to "get" what her students are feeling? How can you expect her to explain social context and irony and all of the other myriad issues that accompany the text? And yes, we could argue that a teacher like that shouldn't be teaching, but I think you'd be surprised at how deeply and pervasive this attitude is. And even well-meaning teachers often go overboard in talking social context, giving what Paul Butler calls "tortured explanations" for the n-word's use.

So where does that leave us? Personally, I'd like to see the novel taught, but not to as young a child as it often is. I think the novel needs to be introduced during late middle school or even high school, and to students with enough literacy to understand and grapple with concepts like irony and sarcasm. And yes, it should be left as it is, but handled with care and coupled with a good deal of historical context. In fact, the history lessons should come first, rather than getting into the novel and then bringing up the history as if it's an apology. We also need to consider the social context of our classrooms and our society now, realizing that a white teacher in an inner city with an all black class is going to have a very different experience using the text (and perhaps any text) than a white teacher in an all white Catholic private school. The race of the teacher matters. The race of the students matters. It shouldn't, but it does. We can escape our own context no more than we can escape Twain's.

And I'd also like to see parents discussing these issues with their children more, but the sad reality is that that's also an ideal. How many parents are really going to take the time to sit down and read with their children, let alone open the discussion up to an issue such as this one? How many are equipped to? Ultimately it's not the fault of the text, but of our society and our own inability to handle these issues--inside and outside of the classroom.

If you're interested in further reading, by the way, there have been some great case studies done on the history of teaching Huckleberry Finn and how different demographics have responded. And for teachers, there are some interesting books on how to work with Twain in the classroom, and specifically how to negotiate the conversation.

Satire or Evasion: Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn
Black, White and Huckleberry Finn: Reimagining the American Dream
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Case Studies in Critical Controversy
Making Mark Twain Work in the Classroom

Online articles:
Does One Word Change Huckleberry Finn: Room for Debate (features perspectives from a number of authors, including Francine Prose and Jane Smiley)
Huckleberry loses the N-Word (just to offer a different perspective)