I'm crazy from trying, and crazy from crying

On Sunday, I finished reading Baja Oklahoma and briefly began re-reading Huckleberry Finn. However, my trip into those Adventures didn't really get started: I ditched out before I'd even gotten through the Introduction. This primarily had to do with the fact that the Introduction went into a debate about the book's/Twain's use of the "N" word , and how one should read the work defensively to protect against... something. I just kept getting more and more bewildered as I continued reading, so I just stopped in hopes that some of it would sink in and start making sense.

My main impression is that the author thought that people would read the book and take it as a gospel account of the times, and/or of the type of people portrayed, specifically related to Jim. I guess I temper myself while reading fiction--maybe like the Introduction's author wants--so that I don't really believe/trust that it's an accurate portrayal of how things were. But, near-as I can tell, that is what the author was worried about... that, and that he identified with Huck rather than Jim (although wasn't Twain's goal/purpose to have the reader identify with Huck... regardless of the reader's qualities?).

The other thing I came away with, because the author briefly mentioned the term "Negro" as an alternative to the "N-word", was that elemental symbols could be used as an euphemism for both: Neon (Ne) and Nickel (Ni)... or even Nitrogen (N) for that matter...

Anyways, my confusion in the Introduction caused me to abandon reading Huck for now, and move onto something more sane: American Psycho. Course, it has the Nitrogen word in it, as well...

Worry, why do I let myself worry?
Wondering, what in the world did I do...
Oh, crazy