Section Week 3 n Twains Huck Finn n

Section Week 3 n. Twain’s Huck Finn n. Literacy and books n. Race re: mobility n. Property n. Performing gender n. Twain’s “The War Prayer” re: religion and war n. Twain’s “To the Person Sitting in Darkness” re: empire n. Both tied to Howells and Martí

Huck Finn: Literacy and Books n n See Twain’s headnote arguing there is no motive, moral, or plot to his story (101). “That book [Tom Sawyer] was made by Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly” (101). Pap accuses Huck of thinking he’s better than his father because he can read (113). When the boys decide to be robbers, they take all their (misinterpreted) information from books (10609). When Huck decides it’s all lies, he says, “It had all the marks of a Sunday school” (110).

Continuing the discussion about religion: n Jim: “I knowed ole missus en de widder wuz goin’ to start to the camp-meetn’ right arter breakfas’ en be gone all day, en dey knows I goes off wid de cattle ’bout daylight, so dey wouldn’ ’spec to see me roun’ de place, en so dey wouldn’ miss me tell arter dark in de evenin’. De yuther servants wouldn’ miss me, kase dey’d shin out en take holiday, soon as de ole folks ’uz out’n de way” (127 -28). What’s going on in this passage?

Huck Finn: Race and Mobility n Both Huck and Jim are runaways, in a sense, but: n n Judith Loftus to Huck: “You see, you’re a run-away ’prentice—that’s all. It ain’t anything. There ain’t any harm in it. You’ve been treated bad, and you made up your mind to cut. Bless you, child, I wouldn’t tell on you” (137). Compare to Jim’s situation if he’s caught; he’s both a runaway slave and is wanted for the supposed murder of Huck. “When we was ready to shove off, we was a quarter of a mile below the island, and it was pretty broad day; so I made Jim lay down in the canoe and cover up with a quilt, because if he set up, people could tell he was a nigger a good ways off” (132).

Mobility Continued: Hierarchies n n n “Jim was most ruined, for a servant, because he got so stuck up on account of having seen the devil and been rode by witches” (105). Almost blames Jim in this moment for thinking too much of himself. But then we find he’s perhaps going to be sold down south and feels he has to run away to avoid the infamously cruel market of New Orleans (127). Pap to Huck: “You think you’re better’n your father, now, don’t you, because he can’t [read]? I’ll take it out of you” (113). Pap on a mixed-race free man in Ohio: “there ain’t a man in that town that’s got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain and a silver-headed cane. . . [T]hey said he was a p’fessor in a college. . . And that ain’t the wust. They said he could vote, when he was at home. . And to see the cool way of that nigger—why, he wouldn’t a give me the road if I hadn’t shoved him out o’ the way” (117). Pap thinks whiteness should continue to be cultural currency that allows for class mobility, respect, political freedom, etc. Of course, Huck describes his father as grotesquely white (112).

Huck Finn: Property n Treating others as property: Huck and Jim are linked, though with obvious differences re: race (and age)— Huck’s father decides he owns him and his money; he can lock him up and hide him away (chapters 5 and 6). n Jim: “Yes—en I’s rich now, come to look at it. I owns myself, en I’s wuth eight hund’d dollars. I wisht I had de money, I wouldn’ want no mo’” (130). n

Huck Finn: Performing Gender n The constrictions of women’s wear when Huck crossdresses: n n n “he [Jim] said I must quit pulling up my gown to get at my britches pocket” (134). It was of huge symbolic and practical importance when women were finally allowed to wear pants (which had pockets—suggesting women have things of their own to store on their own persons). “I took off the sun-bonnet, for I didn’t want no blinders on, then” (138). Judith Loftus instructs Huck on how he can more effectively perform femaleness to “pass” as a girl (138). (NOTE: Consider the relationship between “passing” and mobility, particularly Jim’s inability to “pass. ”)

“The War Prayer”—Plot n n n Like Whitman, he has scenes of drums and flags as people happily cheer on soldiers (104 -05). (But there’s a reversal of this happy scene when Twain’s critique begins. ) Twain says “the war was on” but doesn’t specifically name it —his argument has continual applications (104). Dissenters of war are shunned if they don’t share these “martial dreams” (105). n n n “land flag” unite and are defended in church (105). n n Recall Editha’s pressure on George in Howell’s “Editha. ” Martí reverses this—“He who excuses their wrongs and crimes because of an effeminate fear of appearing lukewarm in its defense does not deserve the title of defender of freedom” (287). Compare to George in “Editha, ” who wanted to be a minister but became a lawyer; he knows this isn’t a “holy war” but is only what he calls “pocket Providence. ” Tensions re: the role of the church/org. religion. Then what happens? And what’s the response?

“To the Person Sitting in Darkness”: Context n n n Critiques Britain’s Joseph Chamberlain (1836 -1914)—Member of Parliament, President of the Board of Trade; Secretary of State for the colonies n Opposed Irish self-governance; supported British empire in India; came to be known as “Joseph Africanus” for his interests in colonizing Africa; tried to control trade with China Herbert Kitchener, 1 st Earl (1850 -1916)—secured British control of Sudan; was Chief of Staff in Second Boer War; British Agent to Egypt Boer Wars in South Africa n 1880 -1881: Boers (Dutch colonists) rebel against British, declare independence n 1899 -1902: Britain converts republics of the Boers (Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic) to British colonies; guerrilla warfare, interning civilians, burning towns Boxer Uprising: China, 1898 -1901—uprising over European influence re: opium trade, invasions, false treaties, and missionary practices; Chinese defeated by Allied forces (European, US, and Japanese). Philippine-American War (1899 -1902)—Filipino revolutionaries fight for independence after US annexes the Philippines after the Spanish-American War (1898). High civilian casualties (hundreds of thousands), dissolving the Catholic Church, establishing English as the primary language. Philippines granted autonomy in phases (1916, 1934, and eventually independence in 1946). n Spanish-American War in Twain: references to Commodore George Dewey helping Emilio Aguinaldo—“their Washington”—take back control of the Philippine forces to repel the Spanish (4, 5). Aguinaldo became President after the war and was then imprisoned by the US during the Philippine-American War because of his resistance to US control; forced to swear oath of allegiance to US, though other revolutionaries

“To the Person Sitting in Darkness” n Exporting Civilization n n “The Blessings of Civilization are all right, and a good commercial property” (1). “Privately and confidentially, it [our ‘brand’] is merely an outside cover, gay and pretty and attractive, displaying the special patterns of our Civilization which we reserve for Home Consumption, while inside the bale is the Actual Thing that the Customer Sitting in Darkness buys with his blood and tears and land liberty. That Actual Thing is, indeed, Civilization, but it is only for Export” (1). The Person says, watching: “It is yet another Civilized Power, with its banner of the Prince of Peace in one hand its loot-basket and its butcher-knife in the other. Is there no salvation for us but to adopt Civilization and lift ourselves down to its level? ” (3). What metaphor does Twain use to critique US empire? It’s appropriate to link “the Person Sitting in Darkness” to ignorance. Why? How does this relate to “The War Prayer”?

“The People that Sit in Darkness are getting to be too scarce—too scarce and too shy. And such darkness as is now left is really of but an indifferent quality, and not dark enough for the game. The most of those People that Sit in Darkness have been furnished with more light than was good for them or profitable for us. We have been injudicious” (1). What do we make of this? n Consider the title as a reference to Matthew 4: 16 re: bringing God’s light to heathens or so-called savages (“The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up”) and as a response to Rudyard Kipling’s 1899 poem “The White Man’s Burden. ” Note that in John 14: 6 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, ” which people often quote as, “I am the way, the truth, and the light. ”

Continuities re: War n In “Drum-Taps, ” Whitman connects enemies fighting in war (unifies Confederate and Union soldiers) and also links to the past—US Revolution (esp. in “The Centenarian”). n The rhetoric around war usually argues that “we” will win swiftly, in a matter of days. But nature is cyclical, death is cyclical, and in some ways war is cyclical. (See timeline of US military actions. ) In “Editha, ” Editha’s father and also George argue the war won’t take long—the enemy will quickly back down in fear when faced with US forces (they’re mistaken). n Perhaps less like Whitman and more like Melville, Twain is critical of glorifying war and laments bloodshed. By this time, the oceans were increasingly critical for expanding US empire (newer tech. ), and our actions during the Spanish-American War in Cuba and the Philippines remind us of this. See the Panama Canal (built 1904 -1914 with US backing) for one illustrative example at the end of Twain’s life. Again, we’re also still living with the Civil War’s legacy (seen in both Howells pieces; recall maritime references in Whitman and Melville re: the Civil War). See this interesting opinion piece in the NY Times about why it’s still important to remember the Civil War (in light of the 150 th anniversary of the battle at Fort Sumter, which was reenacted April 12, 2011): http: //opinionator. blogs. nytimes. com/2011/04/11/a-conflictsacoustic-shadows/

Fear re: the War at Home n Howells, Hazard: n n n n “armies of poor people” (170) “just as soon as they began to interfere with the roads’ right to manage their own affairs in their own way, they must be put down with an iron hand” (369). Fulkerson: “Well, it’s nuts for the Colonel nowadays. He says if he was boss of this town he would seize the roads on behalf of the people” (371). Who are “the people”? Fulkerson: “I tell you it’s imposing to have a private war, as you say, fought in this way, in the heart of New York” (372). Miss Vance: “Oh, I don’t blame Mr. Lindau; I don’t blame the policeman; he was as much a mere instrument as his club was” (391). Howells, “Editha”—the war comes home in an unexpected way when George unceremoniously dies; Mrs. Gearson imagines civilians in the Philippines and how the US invasion has affected their everyday home lives. Martí-n n Government maintains division of two classes (likened to European model)—privileged and discontented—and punishes the so-called criminals “to strike terror” and “[hold] them up as an example” (289). On the workers, whom he describes with realistic detail in their suffering: “Were they not protected by law? ” (305). “The police are drunk on the wine of the executioner, like all the common people when clothed with authority” (305). “The witnesses are the police themselves” (313).

The War at Home Cont. n Police as a Repressive State Apparatus (see Louis Althusser)—RSAs (police, government, army, courts) use violence and repression in service to the ruling class. n An RSA may be employed especially under the “state of exception” (see Giorgio Agamben)—a time when the state declares an exception to the usual rule of law because of what’s happening (civil war, riots, or really any threat to the ruling class). Often called a “military state” or “police state” in the US (also “state of emergency”). The rule of law can be suspended so the government/ army/police can bring about swift “justice” and maintain control (establish curfews, limit movements/gatherings/ speech/press, hastily execute people, use torture, imprison people without a trial, etc. ).

Contemporary Continuities Religious rhetoric and conflict/death: n Post-Hurricane Katrina, post-earthquake in Haiti, post-earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster in Japan n Westboro Baptist Church re: US soldier deaths and homophobia n Burning and/or otherwise desecrating the Qur’an Post-9/11 rhetoric that’s inflected with arguments about race, religion, and goods (e. g. , export “civilization” and import oil). Recent examples re: the spoils of war— n Donald Trump on the Iraq War (4/4/2011 on Fox and Friends): “Iran is going to takeover Iraq, and if that’s going to happen, we should just stay there and take the oil. They want the oil, and why should we wait? We de-neutered Iraq. Iran is going to walk in, take it over, take over the second largest oil fields in the world. That’s going to happen. That would mean that all of those soldiers that have died and been wounded and everything else would have died in vain —and I don’t want that to happen. I want their parents and their families to be proud. . You know, in the old days, you win a war, to the victor belong the spoils. ” n Donald Trump on US involvement in Libya (4/7/2011 on Today Show): “I'm only interested in Libya if we keep the oil. If we don't keep the oil, I'm not interested. ” (4/4/2011 on Fox and Friends): “By the way, Libya supplies the oil for China. We get no oil from Libya. What are we doing? ” See “Pirates and Emperors” (Schoolhouse Rock parody) for a very critical view of US empire and its rhetoric (made by Eric Henry [artist] 2004, upholding Noam Chomsky’s polarizing 1986 book by the same name, referring to St. Augustine’s thesis in City of God): http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=UQBWGo 7 pef 8&feature=related

Guilt and Shame n “The War Prayer” n n Reframing the prayer to lift the veil on the parishioners’ hidden rhetoric “To the Person Sitting in Darkness” n n n Pointing out what’s really happening—again, lifting the veil and exposing the “game. ” Appeal to logic and pathos to expose problematic paradigms n Critique the logic of the other side: “Mr. Chamberlain has arranged England’s opinion of the South African matter, and done it most cleverly and successfully. He presented the facts—some of the facts—and showed those confiding people what the facts meant. He did it statistically, which is a good way. He used the formula: ‘Twice 2 are 14, and 2 from 9 leaves 35. ’ Figures are effective; figures will convince the elect” (4). Use a soldier’s own letter to do this—using their own words against them (not only is this powerful, but it also helps one avoid being labeled unfairly biased if you can use the words in their original context). n “WE NEVER LEFT ONE ALIVE. IF ONE WAS WOUNDED, WE WOULD RUN OUR BAYONETS THROUGH HIM” (6).

n n n Guilt and Shame Cont. Howells, Hazard n Trying to get people to notice the strike; Fulkerson is so caught up in the excitement of it and how the paper can profit off of sensationalizing it. Perhaps there’s a better discourse to be had. n Privileged characters increasingly have difficulty detaching themselves from these issues. n Interesting tension: Miss Vance feels guilty for perhaps urging Conrad to talk to the strikers (as a woman, she feels she can’t approach them and urge them to avoid violence [382]; he’s killed by the police while more-or-less minding his own business); she becomes a nun, seems at peace (here’s religion again). Howells, “Editha” n Mrs. Gearson (George’s mother) chastises Editha—which works for a while until she decides Mrs. Gearson wasn’t in her right mind (similar to “The War Prayer”—the author seems to have a clear message about lifting the veil re: what people are really asking for when they argue for war; yet there’s an audience in these texts that doesn’t get the message. Potential fear that the audience outside the text won’t get it, either? ). Martí—shames the government and the “justice” system, invokes the memory of the anarchists from a stance that is sympathetic to their cause. He invokes their speeches and their powerful messages (versus, perhaps, the sensationalism of the popular press—see p. 315). On the promise of anarchy (re: Engel): “The world would spin happily. . . ‘when the workers developed some shame!’”