Dialect and Racism : The Duality of Words in Huckleberry Finn

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Other Title
  • 方言と差別語 : Huckleberry　Finnにおける言葉の二面性
  • ホウゲン ト サベツゴ Huckleberry Finn ニ オケル コトバ ノ 2メンセイ

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Early　crkical　responses　to　Adventures　of　Huckleberry　Finn　are　widely　diverse　from　high praise　to　harsh　condemnation．　The　most　serious　impact　on　the　work　is　made　by　the　Concord Library　banning，　which　withdraws　the　book　from　the　institution　on　the　ground　that　it　is vulgar　and　immoral．　This　banning，　together　with　other　scandals　such　as　the　obscene engraving　and　the　Estes　＆　Lauriat　lawsuit，　imposes　a　negative　image　on　the　book，　even though　they　increase　its　sale　by　drawing　much　attention． 　　　　At　first　it　is　mainly　the　vernacular　languages　in　Huck　that　incur　condemnation　from genteel　society．　But　in　the　course　of　the　next　half　century　when　the　book　begins　to　be regarded　as　a　national　classic，　the　dialects　are　celebrated　as　a　way　of　expressing　unique American　culture． 　　　　The　present　debates　over　racism　in　Huck　is　as　heated　as　those　over　vulgarism　at　the time　of　its　publication．　The　dialects，　first　condemned　as　vulgar，　are　now　accused　that　they contain　racial　slurs．　lt　is　pointed　out　that　those　dialects　which　are　used　to　depict　black characters　exaggerate　the　ignorance　of　black　people　and　make　up　a　derisive　racial　stereotype． The　more　black　people　panicipate　in　reading　the　book　the　more　visible　is　prejudice　so　far overloocked　in　the　dialects．　The　vemacular　speech　is　said　to　be　the　integral　part　of　Huck　as　a classic，　but　it　can　also　be　a　disintegrative　factor　in　the　book．

Journal

  • 言語文化論究

    言語文化論究 13 15-24, 2001-02-28

    Faculty of Languages and Cultures, Kyushu University

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