The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Corn Pone Reflection

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Corn Pone Reflection • Keep Twain’s Corn Pone Opinion in the back of your mind as you read… • Where is Huck getting his political & social views from? Are these Corn Pone opinions or his own beliefs?

Nuts & Bolts • 43 chapters total: read 2 per school night; read 4 over the weekends • Use an audiobook version • Reading schedule posted weekly: plan ahead • Present chapters of the text to practice public speaking and review main ideas • Reading pop-quizzes • Major assessment: first semester paper

Huck Finn Presentations

Chapter Presentations • You will work in groups of three to create a very brief chapter presentation on the chapters we read the previous night: in your own words! • Every student will be reading all the chapters, but you are just going to be the experts for your chapters • Will happen first 5 minutes of class each day • MAY NOT BE COPIED FROM SPARKNOTES

Requirements for Presentation • Plot Summary: Write a concise summary of the chapter. Include the most important details from the chapter, including characters involved, plot summary, setting, major elements • Quote: Choose the best quote—either from a character or from the author • Illustration • Presentation • 30 pts total

Day Of • You and your partner will present your chapters in front of the class • Keep your presentation to under 5 minutes • Type a document to put under document camera • MAY NOT BE COPIED FROM SPARKNOTES

Huckleberry Finn & Censorship: First published in 1884. Controversial from the start. 1885, Concord Public Library banned it. Twain on March 18, 1885: "The Committee of the Public Library of Concord, Mass. , have given us a rattling tip-top puff which will go into every paper in the country. They have expelled Huck from their library as 'trash and suitable only for the slums. ' That will sell 25, 000 copies for us sure. " • 1902, Brooklyn Public Library banned The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with the statement that "Huck not only itched but he scratched, " and that he said "sweat" when he should have said "perspiration. " • •

Today: • One of the most challenged books in the U. S. • Debate has centered around the language: objected to on social grounds. Use of the racial epithet “nigger. ” • Yielding to public pressure, some textbook publishers have substituted "slave" or "servant" for the term that Mark Twain uses in the book. • Alabama publisher in March of 2011 changed the term to “slave” • In an attempt to avoid controversy, CBS produced a made-for-TV adaptation of the book in 1955 that lacked a single mention of slavery and did not have an African-American portray the character of Jim. • 1998: parents in Tempe, Ariz. , sued the local high school over the book's inclusion on a required reading list. The case went as far as a federal appeals court; the parents lost.

Characterization & Realism HUCK FINN: CHAPTER 1 -5

What does it mean to be CIVILIZED?

Themes to Track • Society & hypocrisy • Religion & superstition • Growing up • Freedom (particularly as it connects with race, but also other areas of social divisions i. e. class and gender…)

Chapter 1 • Plot: Huck and Tom getting the money they find in the cave, Widow Douglas takes guardianship of Huck and tries to civilize him, they are trying to give him a religious education (praying, thanking/listening to God) • Quote: “…allowed she would sivilize me, but it was rough living in the house all the time” (1)

Chapter 2 • Plot: Huck and Tom play a trick on Jim is a celebrity amongst the slaves. The “Tom Sawyer Gang” forms. They are going to be a gang that robs and murders people (keep women prisoners) • Quote: “Jim was most ruined for a servant, because he got stuck up on account of having seen the devil and been rode by witches” (6)

Characterization • Create a characterization chart: Physical Description Huckleberry Finn Widow Douglas Miss Watson Tom Sawyer Jim Pap Personality (BELIEFS/VALUES) Are they civilized?

Analysis Differentiate between the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson.

Discussion Questions (1 -8) • What two views of religions (Providence) does Huck get? • How are Tom and Huck different? • Why does Huck go to the trouble of pretending to have been killed? • Huck wishes that Tom Sawyer were there to give the plan “fancy touches. ” Why is it a better plan without Tom’s “fancy touches”? • Huck = Realism • Tom = Romanticism

Realism • Realism: aimed at being true to common life • Opposite of Romanticism, which exaggerates to make points about the world • • • A new choice of subjects: characters are often flawed • Attempt to represent every day life faithfully rejection of the impractical and visionary 1855 -1900 • (During the time of the Civil War) devoted to accurate representation and an exploration of American lives in various contexts. realism has been called a "strategy for imagining and managing the threats of social change"

Discussion Questions (1 -8) • The titles of the chapters are in third person, while the text itself is in the first person voice of Huck Finn. What does this literary device suggest about the argument that Huck and Twain are one and the same? • Setting is important in establishing a novel and a narrator’s voice. Consider how elements of place are revealed in the opening chapters. How do these elements help develop the voice and characters of Huck, Tom, Jim, and others? • Ch 8: How does Twain describe nature here? What is his tone?

Discussion Questions (10 -11) • Why does Jim feel so strongly about not talking to the dead man? • What bad luck happens to Jim & Huck? Why is it Huck’s fault? • Where does Huck go at the end of ch 10 and why? • What does the woman in town tell Huck about what has happened to Pap? • What unsettling information does Huck hear from Judith Loftus about the island? • What can we make of Huck’s actions in this chapter? (i. e. dressing up as a girl and telling lies to Judith? )

Pap & his rant

Stump Speeches • Stump speeches are the speeches political candidates give at rallies when they are campaigning for positions. • They might change a couple of things about the speech from place to place, but generally they are the same. They highlight the values and beliefs of the candidate. Write a (brief) stump speech for your character. If they were running for President, what would they emphasize? (*Remember, you and your candidate do not need to share the same beliefs. Try to take on their voice as best you can!) Embed evidence wherever possible to strengthen your argument.

Ch 34 -35

Foil • A foil is another character in a story who contrasts with the main character, usually to highlight one of their attributes. • EXAMPLE: Dumbledore vs. Voldemort

Tom & Huck: Twain’s use of Foil • Using evidence from chapters 34 -36, contrast Tom and Huck’s opinions on morality. (1 quote minimum for EACH) EACH • How does this contribute to the characterization of these two? • What is the change in Huck’s character with the re-entry of Tom Sawyer in to the story? • How does the return of Tom to the story in these last chapters result in a shift of tone?

Looking Ahead… • Tuesday: • Discuss the end of the novel • Wednesday: • Huck Objective Test • Thursday/Friday: • Huck Finn Documentary “Born to Trouble” • Monday 11/7: • Socratic Seminar! Woop! • Tuesday 11/8: • Introduce Huck Paper

Huck Finn Objective Test • ~50 questions • Multiple Choice/character matching • How to study? • Review your chapter quizzes • Review the plot • River Map assignment • Powerpoint on Fowler’s website (compilation of all of the presentations you have done/sent me) • Make sure you understand characterization • Motivation, intentions, beliefs, etc. • Character chart

Follow-Up Questions • How can we explain Jim’s willingness to go along with all of this foolishness? • How does Twain’s characterization of Nat differ from that of Jim? • Why do you think this is? • What do you think Twain’s purpose is in introducing Nat to the story at this point?

Final Chapters Reflection • Is this really two books in one? Why or why not? • What is the role that nature plays in the novel? • What change have you seen in Huck? In Jim? In Tom? • Does the novel have a real resolution? • What do you think Mark Twain’s overall opinion of man is? How do you know?

Moral Ambiguity • How has the entire episode of attempting to free Jim contributed to the idea of moral ambiguity? • Do you think that it is more or less powerful to have this moral ambiguity in Twain’s novel?

Why Huck? • What is it that allows Huck to move through these levels of morality? • If Twain had chosen a different character than Huck to convey his message, would it have been as effective? Why or why not? • What IS Twain’s message thus far?

Additions to River Map • The selling of Jim & the Phelps family • The freeing of Jim • Tom’s revelations • Conclusion… Additions to Character Chart • The Duke • The King

Empathy & Huck em·pa·thy noun ˈempəTHē/ the ability to understand share the feelings of another. • Is Huck truly empathetic? • Is this what allows him to sometimes make moral decisions that fly in the face of social norms?

Picaresque • An episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero • Example: Don Quixote • Romantic novel, sets out with his sidekick to revive chivalry and undo wrongs • Spanish literature