Posted by Guy C. on January 11, 2006 at 21:15:25 from 85.35.55.194 user Astronomer_Guy.
In Reply to: Re: The "N" word posted by Laurence Monkhouse on January 11, 2006 at 18:55:57:
On the one hand, I am confident that (as was the case when I first read these books myself, growing up in a racially-troubled city in the 1960s) any child mature enough to discover Ransome will probably be able to understand the different times/different mores in the use of the "N" word. Adults, on the other hand, are another issue. For better or worse, I know of at least one school library that has several Ransome books but not The Big Six on its shelves precisely because of that one useage. (No loss, say I, as I think it's his weakest effort.)
Nobody has noted another problem with that scene, however. How many kids growing up in this age of digital cameras have ever seen a photographic negative, and can understand the scene?