What is the solution to the N-word?

Everyone has heard about the publisher who's replacing the N-word with the word slave in Huck Finn. The question is, should they or shouldn't they?

I understand why people want to take the offensive word out. I once taught high school literature in a private school that had few black students. I wanted 10th graders to read Huck Finn. My problem was that the class had only one black student. My solution? I gave Joe (let's call him) a copy of the novel and asked him to read some of it and let me know what he thought. When he returned it, I asked if he would be embarrassed if we read it, and he gave me the kind of if-you-weren't-a-teacher-I'd-roll-my-eyes-at-that-dumb-question look and said no.

Some people probably think I should not have asked, while others probably think we should not have read the novel. I did have the advantage of teaching in a small school where students were close. No one in that class--or high school, for that matter--would have done anything to embarrass Joe. Honestly, I don't remember even discussing the use of the word with students, though I taught the novel for three years. I don't think anyone ever brought it up, including Joe.

Maybe the ease with which I sailed over the issue colors my opinion, but I don't think they should take the N-word out of Huck Finn. First, the word is used in a historical context that students need to understand. Like or not, that's how people talked back then. I have an autobiographical account of  their life growing up by William Faulkner's brother in which he freely uses the word, and that book was written in the mid-1900's. Huck Finn is great in part because of Twain's use of American vernacular. Students need to hear the full scale of that vernacular to feel the richness of the story and the realness of the characters.

Second, Twain's novel doesn't support slavery and in fact satirized the attitudes of those who supported it. Students need to understand works in context. They shouldn't be taught to focus on one word to the exclusion of what the author is doing with that word. Let me add here that I agree with some of Jane Smiley's contention that Huck Finn is not a great anti-slavery piece. Twain's infantilization of Jim at the end undoes everything he has done to develop Jim as a fully human character, a man with a wife and children who  longs for his freedom and theirs. For Twain to then regress Jim to the point at which he risks his life for a silly game is a serious structural flaw, however, and can be used to teach students about character development and motivation. Twain had serious structural problems in other novels as well. Overall, students should and can understand that, whatever Twain's weaknesses as a writer, he obviously meant to vilify slavery and those who supported it.

Having said all of the above, however, let me also say that if teachers don't feel comfortable teaching Huck Finn or if they believe their students aren't mature enough to discuss it without creating serious problems, then they should choose another novel. Huck Finn is one novel that many people love enough to read on their own, perhaps with the prodding of summer reading lists.

Let the N-word remain and then let readers choose to read it or not.