Tuesday, April 14, 2015

How do I feel towards this language

As I read along the lines of Mark Twain’s caricature novel, I can see how much controversy it can bring just by the repetitive use of N*****. In the times of the author’s life, Huck Finn brought up much dispute, but where the book took era in, extreme derogatory language and having inferiority towards African-Americans was casual. The depiction of the relationship between the two races were segregated to the maximum in any status(social, economic,etc.); African-Americans were slaves and the Whites were the ones who owned them. The infrastructure meant that the only interactions that Blacks and Whites had were based on “work” -- they didn’t have friendly relationships.
Growing up, my peers and I picked up on the colloquial speech of the area. This included the word N*****. Although I knew it was a harsh derogatory word, the consistent hearing of the use of it around me created a sense of desensitization. Something that meant something so oppressive is now synonymous to ‘dude’. Because of this, viewing the word n****** in a text doesn’t generate much of a strong reaction as others would. Yet, I can’t ignore the fact that the way that it’s used in the book is so much different; the spelling/pronunciation that I’m used to hearing is drastically different compared to the context Mark Twain used. The word placed on African-Americans was originated to dehumanize them for Whites thought they were less than them. It’s ironic to think that a word that was particularly used against a group of people, is now applied to calling themselves that--recognized as historical trauma.
As for Huck, he lived in a period where n***** was said casually . It was only said to those of whom were classified as African-Americans. In spite the fact that it was said in their everyday vocabulary, the primary use of it was to create segregation of who’s better than a n******.

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