From the Blog of Debbie Reese:When the news broke last week that TOM SAWYER and HUCK FINN were being released as a single volume in which "nigger" was changed to "slave" and "Injun" to "Indian," all the coverage I saw focused on FINN. People argue (and argued) that FINN is an anti-slavery book, and that its message outweighs Twain's use of "nigger" and his condescending treatment of African American beliefs. Changing "nigger" to "slave," they felt, was wrong. I agree---it should not have been changed.I have yet to see a discussion of "Injun" being changed to "Indian." Over the last few days, I studied SAWYER, noting and then analyzing Twain's use of "Injun." Unlike the anti-slavery/anti-racism themes in FINN, Twain just lets the evil-Indian stuff stand as-is. There's no rebuttal of it. "Injun Joe" is a liar, thief, murderer, and he's racist and barbaric (he plans to slit the nostrils and notch the ears of the widow of a man who had him horsewhipped.) It doesn't make the book more accessible to change "Injun" to "Indian." In fact, it makes it worse. My review is here:
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2011/01/american-indian-perspective-on-changing.html
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2011/01/american-indian-perspective-on-changing.html