Two-Paragraph Summary and Response Twain’s “The Damned Human Race”

• In your first paragraph, summarize Twain’s “The Damned Human Race”• Use academic voice• Summarize Twain’s assertions objectively• Discern his most significant points• Do NOT interpret, evaluate, or inject your own opinion

• In the second paragraph, respond:• Use first-person “I” because I am asking for your opinion.• How do you interpret the essay?• Do you find it to be effective or ineffective? In what way?• With which points do you agree or disagree?

The Hero’s Journey & AOHFCall to Adventure• Crossing of the first threshold• The belly of the whale (a separation has been made and there is

no turning back)Initiation• Road of trials• Meeting with the Goddess• Atonement with Father • Apotheosis (divine knowledge)

Return • Refusal to Return• Rescue

Master of Two Worlds – achieving balance

Freedom to Live

Satire• Satire: An attack on or criticism of any stupidity or vice in the

form of scathing humor, or a critique of what the author sees as dangerous religious, political, moral, or social standards.

• Satire: the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.

Mark Twain,

1835 - 1910

NOTICEPERSONS attempting to find a motive in this narra- tive will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR,Per G.G., Chief of Ordnance.

EXPLANATORYIN this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary "Pike County" dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a hap- hazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech.I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding.THE AUTHOR.

“Apparently, the Concord library has condemned Huck as ‘trash and only suitable for the slums.’ This will sell us another twenty-five thousand copies for sure!”

Mark Twain to his editor on the Concord Public Library banning The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885:

How to Read Literature…

Do a cursory reading of Foster’s chapter, and relate his analysis techniques to these two chapters in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Be prepared to discuss and explain.

Chapters 12 & 13• Discuss/describe life on the raft.• From Chapter 12…Pap always said it warn’t no harm to borrow things if you was meaning to pay them back some time; but the widow said it warn’t anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it. Jim said he reckoned the widow was partly right and pap was partly right; so the best way would be for us to pick out two or three things from the list and say we wouldn’t borrow them any more—then he reckoned it wouldn’t be no harm to borrow the others. So we talked it over all one night, drifting along down the river, trying to make up our minds whether to drop the watermelons, or the cantelopes, or the mushmelons, or what. But towards daylight we got it all settled satisfactory, and concluded to drop crabapples and p’simmons. We warn’t feeling just right before that, but it was all comfortable now.

Discussions…

1. King Solomon and the “half a baby”

2. The Frenchmen“Well, den, dey ain’t no sense in a cat talkin’ like a man. Is a cow a man?—er is a cow a cat?”“No, she ain’t either of them.”“Well, den, she ain’t got no business to talk like either one er the yuther of ’em. Is a Frenchman a man?”“Yes.”“WELL, den! Dad blame it, why doan’ he TALK like a man? You answer me DAT!”

Sir Walter Scott

Characterization

Huck

American Realism +/- 1860 - 1890

Time Period: Civil War – turn of the centuryDefinition: A faithful representation of realityInspiration: A renewed interest in scientific method, a systematic study of documenting history, and an influence of rational philosophyLiterary Context: Reaction against Romanticism

Realism Characteristics(from Richard Chase, The American Novel and Its Tradition)

• Renders reality closely and in comprehensive detail -- even at the expense of a well-made plot • Character is more important than action and plot; complex

ethical choices are often the subject. • Characters appear in their real complexity of temperament

and motive; they are in explicable relation to nature, to each other, to their social class, to their own past. • Class is important• Events will usually be plausible. • Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic.• Objectivity in presentation becomes increasingly important:

overt authorial comments or intrusions diminish as the century progresses.

Where Romanticists transcend the immediate to find the ideal, and Naturalists plumb the actual or superficial to find the scientific laws that control its actions, Realists center their attention to a remarkable degree on the immediate, the here and now, the specific action, and the verifiable consequence (A Handbook to Literature 428).

From Aristotle’s “On the Soul”

Have not we already disposed of the difficulty about interaction involving a common element, when we said that mind is in a sense potentially whatever is thinkable, though actually it is nothing until it has thought? What it thinks must be in it just as characters may be said to be on a writing-tablet on which as yet nothing stands written: this is exactly what happens with mind.

“Deformed Conscience”

Twain once described his novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as a story where “a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers a defeat.”

Class Questions: What is a conscience? Then what is a “deformed conscience”? How does this relate to Nature vs. Nurture?

Individual Write (in journals): How do you think conscience is formed? What factors have worked to form your conscience? Explore.

THEME: Deformed conscience

• "Conscience says to me 'What had poor Miss Watson done to you, that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor old woman do to you, that you could treat her so mean?...' I got to feeling so mean and so miserable I most wished I was dead.“

• “Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, it made me all trembly and feverish, too, to hear him because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free – and who was to blame for it? Why me. I couldn’t get it out of my conscience, no how nor no way.”

• “What's the use learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?"

Follow the drinking gourd (from Pathways

to Freedom: Maryland and the Underground Railroad).

• …people thought the group of stars looked like a dipper — with a cup that had a very long handle. Slaves knew this group of stars as the Drinking Gourd. They sometimes used hollowed-out gourds to dip and drink water. The gourds looked just like long-handled cups. Two stars on the cup’s edge always point to the North Star. By finding the “drinking gourd” in the sky, people traveling at night could always find the North Star.

Polaris became a symbol of freedom to slaves as well as a guide star. As soon as theywere old enough to understand, slave children were taught to locate Polaris by using the stars ofthe Big Dipper. Slaves passed the travel instructions from plantation to plantation often by song.

Slaves brought from the tribal cultures of Africa the custom of creating songs to transmit factualinformation. In America slaves turned songs into codes that secretly transmitted informationthey wished to keep from their white masters.“Follow the Drinking Gourd” is a coded song that gives the route for an escape fromAlabama and Mississippi. Of all the routes out of the Deep South, this is the only one for whichthe details survive. The route instructions were given to slaves by an old man named Peg LegJoe. Working as an itinerant carpenter, he spent winters in the South, moving from plantation toplantation, teaching slaves this escape route. Unfortunately, we know nothing more about PegLeg Joe. The song and its translation are as follows:When the sun comes back and the first quail calls,Follow the Drinking Gourd.For the old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom,If you follow the Drinking Gourd.“When the sun comes back” means winter and spring when the altitude of the Sun ishigher each day at noon. Quail are a migratory bird that winters in the South. The “DrinkingGourd” is the Big Dipper. The “old man” is Peg Leg Joe. The verse tells the slaves to leave inthe winter and walk towards the Big Dipper.

Dialogue between Aunt Sally & Huck

"It warn't the grounding -- that didn't keep us back but a little. We blowed out a cylinder-head." "Good gracious! anybody hurt?" "No'm. Killed a nigger." "Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt.

RegionalismLocal color or regional literature is fiction and poetry that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features particular to a specific region

• Setting: emphasis is frequently on nature and the limitations it imposes; frequently remote and inaccessible; integral to the story and may sometimes become a character in itself.

• Characters: tend to be concerned with the character of the district or region rather than with the individual: characters may become character types, sometimes quaint or stereotypical. Characters are marked by their adherence to the old ways, by dialect, and by particular personality traits central to the region. Narrator: typically an educated observer from the world beyond who learns something from the characters while preserving a sometimes sympathetic, sometimes ironic distance from them. The narrator serves as mediator between the rural folk of the tale and the urban audience to whom the tale is directed.

• Plots. It has been said that "nothing happens" in local color stories by women authors, and often very little does happen. Stories may include lots of storytelling and revolve around the community and its rituals.

• Themes: Many local color stories share an antipathy to change and a certain degree of nostalgia for an always-past golden age. A celebration of community and acceptance in the face of adversity characterizes women's local color fiction. Thematic tension or conflict between urban ways and old-fashioned rural values is often symbolized by the intrusion of an outsider or interloper who seeks something from the community.

In groups of 3-4 (no more); Chapters I - X• What do we learn about Huck from what he reveals of others

characters’ assessments of him?• Make two columns, listing things Huck likes and dislikes as he

reveals them in these chapters. • What things does he have trouble understanding?• What are Huck’s feelings about his adoption by the Widow

Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson? • Huck’s upbringing is at issue with the book? What has he been

taught that forms his core self?

Donald Pizer's Realism and Naturalism in Nineteenth-Century American Fiction, Revised Edition (1984):

[T]he naturalistic novel usually contains two tensions or contradictions, and . . . the two in conjunction comprise both an interpretation of experience and a particular aesthetic recreation of experience. In other words, the two constitute the theme and form of the naturalistic novel. The first tension is that between the subject matter of the naturalistic novel and the concept of man which emerges from this subject matter. The naturalist populates his novel primarily from the lower middle class or the lower class. . . . His fictional world is that of the commonplace and unheroic in which life would seem to be chiefly the dull round of daily existence, as we ourselves usually conceive of our lives. But the naturalist discovers in this world those qualities of man usually associated with the heroic or adventurous, such as acts of violence and passion which involve sexual adventure or bodily strength and which culminate in desperate moments and violent death. A naturalistic novel is thus an extension of realism only in the sense that both modes often deal with the local and contemporary. The naturalist, however, discovers in this material the extraordinary and excessive in human nature. The second tension involves the theme of the naturalistic novel. The naturalist often describes his characters as though they are conditioned and controlled by environment, heredity, instinct, or chance. But he also suggests a compensating humanistic value in his characters or their fates which affirms the significance of the individual and of his life. The tension here is that between the naturalist's desire to represent in fiction the new, discomfiting truths which he has found in the ideas and life of his late nineteenth-century world, and also his desire to find some meaning in experience which reasserts the validity of the human enterprise. (10-11)

You & Huck Finn: Nature vs. Nurture• What do you think guides your “moral compass”? Consider

genetics, upbringing, religion, friendship groups, society, etc. To what do you ascribe the responsibility of your moral codes, and in what proportions?

• Think of a time your moral code was being challenged. What made this time challenging? Were there different forces working against each other?

• Think of a time you’ve disappointed yourself with your behavior. What do you think made you behave in this way?

• Think of a time you’ve been proud of your actions. To what do you attribute your courage?

Nature vs. Nurture - Huck• What do you think guides Huck’s “moral compass”? Consider his

genetics, upbringing, religion, friendship groups, society, etc. Assign proportions of Huck’s influences.

• Before his experience with The Wilks girls, we haven’t heard Huck’s acknowledge his torn conscience. Why does Huck make these moral evaluations now?

• Describe Huck’s approach with tricky situations in the past? What do you think guided him?

Rules for a Silent Conversation• It’s silent.• The “conversation” is written. If you want to disagree, agree,

question, comment, or otherwise engage, DO SO in-writing.• The prompts are “starters”; you may respond to the prompt or

to anyone else’s writing. Treat it like an actual conversation.• Rotate, circulate. You will want to return to see if one of your

comments has received feedback you’d like to respond to.• As with almost all activities, your ability to take it seriously and

be sincere makes-or-breaks its success.

Theme: Deformed conscience/Nature vs. Nurture

Twain once described his novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as a story where “a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers a defeat”

1) In small groups, define what “deformed conscience” means.

2) In your journals…At this point in the reading, what would you say forms -- or deforms -- Huck’s conscience? What about his heart? List the factors that you think form your conscience. Consider the factors that you think form your heart.How do these factors explain (or not explain) Huck’s decision not to tell on Jim? How have these factors influenced your decision making?

Chapter 19…what’s happening

Chapter 19

Chapters 19 & 20

Chapter 20

In pairs…Ms. Stafford’s Level One, Two, and Three Questions (Chapters 18 -20)

Level One: Where did Huck and Jim depart from (at the end of Chapter 18)?Level Two: Describe Huck and Jim’s existence right after they left The Grangerfords? What’s a “typical day” look like? What might you compare this to?Level Two: Do Huck and Jim seem to “be on” to the “King” and “Duke”? What evidence do we have of this?Level Three: What might Huck and Jim’s treatment of the King and Duke imply? If we know Twain uses a satire, what might he be trying to show us through this relationship?

Chapter 21

Boggs

Sherbern & Boggs

Level Questions for Chapter 21

Level One: What play are The King and The Duke going to perform?

Level Two: When the King and Duke are charging for people to see their production, what are the prices for admission? Why do you think Twain might include this?

Level Three: The King and The Duke have – quite literally – brought their drama to the raft. Twain describes the townspeople’s love of watching dogfighting and other brutal animal treatment. And at the end of Chapter 21, he discusses the intense crowd at Boggs’ death. What might Twain be saying about the state of the public at this time?

Chapter XXII – Sherburn’s speechThen he says, slow and scornful:"The idea of YOU lynching anybody! It's amusing. The idea of you thinking you had pluck enough to lynch a MAN! Because you're brave enough to tar and feather poor friendless cast-out women that come along here, did that make you think you had grit enough to lay your hands on a MAN? Why, a MAN'S safe in the hands of ten thousand of your kind -- as long as it's daytime and you're not behind him."Do I know you? I know you clear through was born and raised in the South, and I've lived in the North; so I know the average all around. The average man's a coward. In the North he lets anybody walk over him that wants to, and goes home and prays for a humble spirit to bear it. In the South one man all by himself, has stopped a stage full of men in the daytime, and robbed the lot. Your newspapers call you a brave people so much that you think you are braver than any other people -- whereas you're just AS brave, and no braver. Why don't your juries hang murderers? Because they're afraid the man's friends will shoot them in the back, in the dark -- and it's just what they WOULD do."So they always acquit; and then a MAN goes in the night, with a hundred masked cowards at his back and lynches the rascal. Your mistake is, that you didn't bring a man with you; that's one mistake, and the other is that you didn't come in the dark and fetch your masks. You brought PART of a man -- Buck Harkness, there -- and if you hadn't had him to start you, you'd a taken it out in blowing."You didn't want to come. The average man don't like trouble and danger. YOU don't like trouble and danger. But if only HALF a man -- like Buck Harkness, there -- shouts 'Lynch him! lynch him!' you're afraid to back down -- afraid you'll be found out to be what you are -- COWARDS -- and so you raise a yell, and hang yourselves on to that half-a-man's coat-tail, and come raging up here, swearing what big things you're going to do. The pitifulest thing out is a mob; that's what an army is -- a mob; they don't fight with courage that's born in them, but with courage that's borrowed from their mass, and from their officers. But a mob without any MAN at the head of it is BENEATH pitifulness. Now the thing for YOU to do is to droop your tails and go home and crawl in a hole. If any real lynching's going to be done it will be done in the dark, Southern fashion; and when they come they'll bring their masks, and fetch a MAN along. Now LEAVE -- and take your half-a-man with you" -- tossing his gun up across his left arm and cocking it when he says this.

• “’All right, I wash my hands of the matter. But I warn you all that a time’s coming when you’re going to feel sick whenever you think of this day’” – and away he went (the doctor to the Wilks family, Chapter XXV)

Quotes to consider:

(Huck’s internal dialogue as he is about to tell Mary Jane the truth about the Duke and King, Chapter XXVIII)

• “I says to myself, I reckon a body that ups and tells the truth when he is in a tight place, is taking considerable many risks, though I ain’t had no experience, and can’t say for certain; but it looks so to me, anyway; and yet here’s a cause where I’m blest if it don’t look to me like the truth is better, and actually safer, than a lie….I’ll up and tell the truth this time, thought it does seem like setting down on a kag of powder and touching it off just to see where you’ll go”

Chapter XXXI (Huck tears up the letter, pg. 241)

Dialogue between Aunt Sally and Huck (whom she thinks is Tom) (Chapter XXXII)

[Huck] "It warn't the grounding -- that didn't keep us back but a little. We blowed out a cylinder-head.“

[Aunt Sally]"Good gracious! anybody hurt?“

[Huck]"No'm. Killed a nigger.“

[Aunt Sally] "Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt.

Quotes/places to consider• Chapter XXXIII, p. 254: Huck’s shock at Tom being a “nigger stealer”

• Chapter XXXIIII, p. 260: Huck seeing The King & The Duke tarred and feathered and says, “It is a dreadful thing to see. Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.”

• Chapter XXXIV, p. 261: When Tom and Huck realize where Jim is being hid. “So it was – I noticed it. Well it does beat all that I never thought about a dog not eating watermelon. It shows how a body can see and don’t see, at the same time.”

• http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hero%27s%20journey&sm=3

Tom Sawyer to Huck Finn, regarding the freeing of JimTom says:

“It’s as simple as tit-tat-toe, three-in-a-row, and as easy as playing hooky. I should hope we can find a way that’s a little more complicated than that, Huck Finn.”

Themes, Symbols

• Coming of Age: Huck’s search for Identity• Social Responsibility: Conformity & Civilization• Freedom and Enslavement• Nature vs. Nurture• Emotional vs. Rational• Appearance vs. reality [hypocrisy & phoniness]• Satire – greed, racism, bravado, Southern chivalry, gullibility, lack of

altruism, romanticism, etc.• The River• Use of dialect

• Present-a-Theme/Present-a-Symbol, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Due date: Monday, December 15th

• In groups of three, you will present a theme from the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to your classmates.• HOW you choose to present your theme is up to you. You want to make sure that you include the targets

mentioned below. I have included SUGGESTIONS, but these are suggestions only. In my experience, I have found you to be far more creative than I, and I think we all enjoy it more when each of you has added your own voice to a project.

• For this assignment, you will turn nothing in to me.• Your presentation will be three minutes & will include all group members. Your 12 summative points will

be graded on the following criteria:• Explicitly stated theme or symbol; even if you choose a topic from my suggestions, you must convey it as a

theme.• Theme and symbol as it is shown in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both broadly & specifically.• A possible – and reasonable -- explanation of Twain’s relationship and/or intention with this theme or

symbol. • To enhance, you could think about these questions: • How can you get your classmates to embrace the theme and see it in AOHF? Is there an opportunity for

creativity?• How the theme or symbol could fit into your world? This could be a socio-political inclusion, or it could

relate to your teen-high school- Mercer Island-2014-things-that-somehow-define-you-specifically existence. • Is there another work or episode in history to which this theme relates?

Possible starting points for themes, symbols, techniques: you’ll make the theme or statement (p.3)

1. Religion and Superstition – Dylan, Braden, Eric

2. The River – Ned & Conner3. Religion & Superstition -- Shaune4. The weather – Sam, Kenton, Lucas5. Use of dialect – Samantha, Lily,

Christina6. Friendship = Kate, Abby, Faye7. Freedom and Enslavement – Evan,

Tomek, Sidney & Bri8. Nature vs. Nurture – Lily, Christina,

Samantha9. Emotional vs. Rational – Shae,

Lylienne10. Appearance vs. reality –Zak,

Tommaso11. Hypocrisy/Phoniness and “Southern

Hospitality” – Josiah, Boom, Brandon

• Coming of Age: Huck’s search for Identity

• Social Responsibility: Conformity & Civilization

• Satire of anything/everything – greed, racism, bravado, religion, Southern chivalry, gullibility, lack of altruism, Romanticism, etc.

Possible starting points for themes, symbols, techniques: you’ll make the theme or statement (p. 4)

1. Lying – Griffin, Grace & Cece2. The Weather – Michael,

Nicole & Harrison3. Appearance vs. Reality =

Scott, Jake, Sam4. Use of dialect – Cole, Jules,

Simon5. The River – Alarie, YJ, Angela

& Hedda6. Emotional vs. Rational

and/or Weakness in Man’s Will = Kate, Taylor & Sophia

7. Morality and Ethics = Niki, Sophie, Stefano & Sean

• Coming of Age: Huck’s search for Identity

• Social Responsibility: Conformity & Civilization

• Freedom and Enslavement• Nature vs. Nurture• Hypocrisy/Phoniness and

“Southern Hospitality”• Religion and Superstition• Satire of anything/everything

– greed, racism, bravado, religion, Southern chivalry, gullibility, lack of altruism, Romanticism, etc.

Possible staring points for themes, symbols, techniques: you’ll make the theme or statement (p. 5)

1. Coming of Age: Huck’s search for Identity – Logan, Austin & Joe

2. Freedom and Enslavement – Tristan, Devon, Ole & Steve

3. Nature vs. Nurture – Robin, Nico, Felicia & Marieke

4. Emotional vs. Rational – Katrina, Cassie & Mia

5. Hypocrisy/Phoniness and “Southern Hospitality” – Josh, Jarod & Brian

6. Satire of human conflict – Max, Adam & Quentin

7. The River : Conformity & Civilization (Social Responsibility) – Samantha, Sam & Dean

8. Courtenay, Felicia, Esther, Savvy, Megan?? – unsure

• Religion and Superstition

• The weather• Use of dialect• Education and

Moral Beliefs --• Appearance vs.

reality

Independent journal work (go to my blog) 12.15.2014New York Times Opinion Pages Debate:“Does one word change Huckleberry Finn?”

• On the left hand side, there are eleven opinions (under “Debaters” ) on Gribben’s 2011 republication of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Please take notes on the author’s main point or points.

• Please use whatever note-taking skill works best for you (ex: direct, bullet points, mind-maps, outlines, etc.) Do remember to write the author’s name and use quotations if you’re writing down a direct quote.

Ms. Mattocks has asked me to remind you….For your presentations, include:

•Historical inspiration•Your project•How you conserved MI•Creativity

Period three: Present-a-theme-or-symbol• Alex Bell &Whitley = Symbol: The Mississippi River • Jonathan, Leah, Casey = Theme: The “Civil-ness” of conformity

and civilization• Lauren, Jamie, Rachel = Symbol: The Raft• Greyson, Angela, Lizzie & Anne = Theme: Family • Steege, Jennifer, Mark = Theme: Nature vs. Nurture• Jesika, Alex Chung = Theme: Religion and Superstition• Maddie, Austin, Katie Harris = Theme: Appearance vs. Reality • Amy, Ian, Sabrina = Theme: Education and Intelligence• Ebo, Kwame, Steven = Theme: Reaction to Romanticism

Period four, present-a-theme-or-symbol• Andrew, Isaac, Alex Chen - Symbol: The Mississippi River • Melanie, Nick Theme: The “Civil-ness” of conformity and

civilization• Delaney, Daniel, Noah – Symbol: The Raft• Hank, Megan, Sylvia – Theme: Family • Jack, Paul, Tanika -- Theme: Nature vs. Nurture• Jolie, Michael, Preston -- Theme: Religion and Superstition• Kimi, Molly, Gustav – Theme: Appearance vs. Reality • Stephanie, Brittany – Theme: Education and Intelligence• Steven, Elvis & Reaghan – Theme: Coming of Age – Huck’s

development• Alex Eriksson, Olivia, and Marissa – Theme: Reaction to

Romanticism

Period Five – present a theme or symbol• Wilson & Nam – Symbol: The Mississippi River • Ian & Lexi – Symbol: The Raft• Vivan & Jack – Theme: The Family• Scott, Sarah, Karl, Lola – Theme: The “Civil-ness” of

conformity and civilization• Julia & Max – Theme: Nature vs. Nurture• Matteo, Ray, Bailey -- Theme: Religion and Superstition• Arthur, Henry, – Theme: Appearance vs. Reality• Megan & James -- Theme: Education and Intelligence

--------------Unclaimed Themes; Trade if you’d like--------------------• Theme: Reaction to Romanticism• Theme: Coming of Age/Huck’s Development

Huck Finn• Alex Bell &Whitley = Symbol: The Mississippi River • Jonathan, Leah, Casey = Theme: The “Civil-ness” of conformity

and civilization• Lauren, Jamie, Rachel = Symbol: The Raft• Greyson, Angela, Lizzie & Anne, Mark = Theme: Family • Steege (absent) = Theme: Nature vs. Nurture• Jesika, Alex Chung = Theme: Religion and Superstition• Maddie, Austin, Katie Harris = Theme: Appearance vs. Reality • Amy, Ian, Sabrina, Sam (absent) = Theme: Education and

Intelligence• Ebo, Kwame, Steven, Jennifer = Theme: Reaction to Romanticism

Huck Finn Questions, groups of 3-4: Through Chapter VII

• What sort of person does Huck reveal his father to be? Discuss Huck’s relationship with his father?

• How does the refusal of the court to grant custody of Huck to the Widow Douglas and Judge Thatcher reflect on society?

• Discuss Huck’s father’s “reform” – what do you think Twain was doing here?

• What do you make of Huck’s father’s tirade about the government: • “Thinks, I, what is the country a-coming to? It was ‘lection day, and I

was just about to go and vote myself if I warn’t too drunk to get there; but when they told me there was a state in this country where they’d let a nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I’ll never vote ag’in”

When the sun comes back,and the first Quail calls,Follow the drinking gourd,For the old man is waitingfor to carry you to freedomIf you follow the drinking gourd.Chorus:when the ground is a shaking and you are a rattlingFollow the drinking gourd,For the old man is waitingfor to carry you to freedomIf you follow the drinking gourd.The riverbank will make a very good road,The dead trees show you the way.Left foot, peg foot traveling on,Following the drinking gourd.The river ends between two hills,Follow the drinking gourd,There's another river on the other side,Follow the drinking gourd.When the great big river meets the little river,Follow the drinking gourd.For the old man is waitingfor to carry you to freedomIf you follow the drinking gourd.

Mahalia Jackson (Summertime & Sometimes I feel like a motherless child”)• "I sing God's music because it makes me feel free," Jackson

once said about her choice of gospel, adding, "It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues."[6]

Huckleberry Finn Quotations• “I did wish Tom Sawyer was there; I knowed he would take an

interest in this kind of business, and throw in the fancy touches”

• “People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum – but that don’t make no difference. I ain’t a-going to tell.”

• “I’s rich now, come to look at it. I owns myself, en I’s wuth eight hun’d dollars”

Discussion Questions/Points – Ch. X - XV

• Revisit the parallels/places that Huck and Jim are escaping.• After his visit to town, when Huck returns to the

island, what does he say to Jim when he wakes him? Why is this significant?• “Paps always said it warn’t no harm to borrow things,

if you was meaning to pay them back, sometime; but the widow said it war’nt anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it”• How does Huck work through these conflicting opinions?

• What do you think of Huck’s storytelling commitment to tell the truth? Does he?

class-to-class competition

• Get into your timeline groups, identify your group number• Take out your “0” part of the assignment (literary device, grammar rule,

concept, etc.)• Order as follows:

3rd period, group 13rd period, group 8 ; fourth period group 1

3rd period, group 73rd period, group 2; fourth period, group 2

4th period, group 33rd period, group 3, fourth period, group 6

4th period, group 83rd period, group 5; fourth period, group 4

3rd period, group 23rd period, group 1; fourth period, group 8

3rd period, group 53rd period, group 6; 4th period, group 7

4th period, group 23rd period, group 4; 4th period, group 3

4th period, group 63rd period, group 7; fourth period, group 5

Questions (through Chapter 23) – in groups of three

• General comprehension: What questions do you have?• What do you make of the relationship between the Grangerfords &

Sheperdsons? Consider their feud as a satire of Civil War mentality.• Talk about life on land. What sort of people do Huck and Jim meet? • Think about transcendent quotes. Discuss the relevancy of this

quote: “I ain’t a-going to tell all that happened – it would make me sick again if I was to do that. I wished I hadn’t ever come ashore that night to see such things. I ain’t never going to get shut of them-lots of times I dream about them.”

• What do you think about Sherburn’s speech to the crowd?

Apply the three-step quote integration technique.

• “Why, blame it all, we’ve got to do it. Don’t I tell you it’s in the books? Do you want to go doing different from what’s in the books, and get things all muddled up?” ~ Tom Sawyer

• “I liked the old ways best, but I was getting so I liked the new ones, too, a little bit.” ~ Huck Finn

• “It was enough to make you ashamed of the human race.” ~ Huck Finn

• “Well, then, says I, what’s the use you learning to do right, when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?” ~ Huck Finn

Compare and Contrast• Common prompt (even if not always obvious)• Usually focusing on two items that are similar (compare) and or

different (contrast)• Compare and Contrast prompts get assigned because they… • Allow you to make connections between texts and ideas• Engage you in critical thinking/ask you to go beyond mere description

• Compare and Contrast promotes…• A deeper understanding• The highlighting of different elements• The activation of prior knowledge and/or synthesis of knowledge

Recognizing Compare & Contrast Assignments• Some assignments use words like compare, contrast,

similarities, and differences—these make it easy for you to see that they are asking you to compare and/or contrast.

• Compare and contrast Huck’s life on the land with his life on the river.• Compare WWI to WWII, identifying similarities

in the causes, development, and outcomes of the wars.• Contrast Poe and Hawthorne; what are the

major differences in their Romantic writing?

Other ways you might be asked to Compare and Contrast

• It’s not always easy to see that you are being asked to compare and contrast

• In some cases, comparison/contrast is only part of the essay—you begin by comparing and/or contrasting two or more things and then use what you’ve learned to construct an argument or evaluation.

• (Helpful Hint: Sometimes, comparing and contrasting can save you from writer’s block!)

Note that with less blatant language, the prompts below ask you to compare and contrast as one part of a larger assignment:

• Choose a particular idea or theme, such as romantic love, death, or nature, and consider how it is treated in two Romantic poems.• How do the different authors we have studied so far

define and describe oppression?

Sure they’ve asked you to Compare and Contrast …but what do they really want?

• As you generate points of comparison, consider the purpose and content of the assignment and the focus of the class. • What do you think the professor wants you to learn by doing this

comparison/contrast? • How does it fit with what you have been studying so far and with

the other assignments in the course? • Are there any clues about what to focus on in the assignment

itself?

Use focus for more practice Reminders: What do they want you to learn? How does it fit with the course? Are there textual clues?

• Hawthorne and Twain wrote only 50 years apart. Consider their forms of expression. What does each suggest about their time period? Which do you prefer?• In the texts we’ve studied, soldiers who served in

different wars offer differing accounts of their experiences and feelings both during and after the fighting. What commonalities are there in these accounts? What factors do you think are responsible for their differences?

What to focus on…

Ask yourself these questions:• What’s relevant to the assignment?• What’s relevant to the course?• What’s interesting and informative?• What matters to the argument you are going to make?• What’s basic or central (and needs to be mentioned even if

obvious)?• Overall, what’s more important—the similarities or the

differences?

Compare and Contrast Graphic Organizers

The Venn Diagram:Simply draw two overlapping circles. In the area where they overlap, list the common traits; in the independent areas, identify and describe exclusive traits.

Compare and Contrast Graphic Organizers cont.

Pepper’s Amante Papa John’sLocationPriceDeliveryIngredientsServiceSeating/eating inCoupons

A Chart: To make a chart, figure out what criteria you want to focus on in comparing the items. Along the left side of the page, list each of the criteria. Across the top, list the names of the items.

Pepper’s Amante Papa John’sLocationPriceDeliveryIngredientsServiceSeating/eating inCoupons

Some types of Comparing and Contrasting• Two historical periods or events

• When did they occur—do you know the date(s) and duration? What happened or changed during each? Why are they significant? What kinds of work did people do? What kinds of relationships did they have? What did they value? What kinds of governments were there? Who were important people involved? What caused events in these periods, and what consequences did they have later on?

• Two ideas or theories• What are they about? Did they originate at some particular time? Who created them? Who uses or

defends them? What is the central focus, claim, or goal of each? What conclusions do they offer? How are they applied to situations/people/things/etc.? Which seems more plausible to you, and why? How broad is their scope? What kind of evidence is usually offered for them?

• Two pieces of writing or art• What are their titles? What do they describe or depict? What is their tone or mood? What is their

form? Who created them? When were they created? Why do you think they were created as they were? What themes do they address? Do you think one is of higher quality or greater merit than the other(s)—and if so, why? For writing: what plot, characterization, setting, theme, tone, and type of narration are used?

• Two people• Where are they from? How old are they? What is the gender, race, class, etc. of each? What, if

anything, are they known for? Do they have any relationship to each other? What are they like? What did/do they do? What do they believe? Why are they interesting? What stands out most about each of them?

Structure and Word Use/Transitional Words

• Structure might be subject-by-subject or point-by-point

• like, similar to, also, unlike, similarly, in the same way, likewise, again, compared to, in contrast, in like manner, contrasted with, on the contrary, however, although, yet, even though, still, but, nevertheless, conversely, at the same time, regardless, despite, while, on the one hand … on the other hand.

Homework

Decide (if you haven’t already):

1) At least two points to compare and contrast in AOHF

2) The theme that this juxtaposition highlights.

* Note to self: Remember to give them option of topics about the book, and not just within the book.

Thesis Statements are important and almost always indicative of the strengths (or weaknesses) in an essay

• Don’t be Vague• REPLACE • “This paper will compare and contrast two pizza places,” or • “Pepper’s and Amante are similar in some ways and different in others,” or “• Pepper’s and Amante are similar in many ways, but they have one major difference”)

• For example, you might say, “Pepper’s and Amante have similar prices and ingredients, but their atmospheres and willingness to deliver set them apart.”

• Be careful, though—although this thesis is fairly specific and does propose a simple argument (that atmosphere and delivery make the two pizza places different), your instructor will often be looking for a bit more analysis.

• In this case, the obvious question is “So what? Why should anyone care that Pepper’s and Amante are different in this way?” One might also wonder why the writer chose those two particular pizza places to compare—why not Papa John’s, Dominos, or Pizza Hut? Again, thinking about the context of the class may help you answer such questions and make a stronger argument.

• Possible Revision: Pepper’s and Amante both offer a greater variety of ingredients than other Chapel Hill/Carrboro pizza places (and than any of the national chains), but the funky, lively atmosphere at Pepper’s makes it a better place to give visiting friends and family a taste of local culture.

Talking themes…in any order

• Where/when/how your theme is found in the book (or if you don’t think it’s in the book)?

• Talk about what you imagine Mark Twain’s spin on this theme to be.

• Talk about if you like this theme – why or why not?

• Talk about how your theme relates to you/the bigger picture/the world-at-large

Dialogue between Aunt Sally and Huck

"It warn't the grounding -- that didn't keep us back but a little. We blowed out a cylinder-head." "Good gracious! anybody hurt?" "No'm. Killed a nigger." "Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt.

(Chapter 29)

Respond to one(as Huck or for Huck – using first or third person)

Recount an incident or time when Huck experienced failure. How �did it affect him, and what lessons did Huck learn?

Reflect on a time when Huck challenged a belief or idea. What prompted him to act? Do you think he would he make the same decision again? Describe a place or environment where Huck is perfectly content. �What does he experience there, and why is it meaningful to him? Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that �marked Huck’s transition from childhood to adulthood within his culture, community, or family.

Themes from AOHF The conflict between the emotional and the rational

Appearance vs. reality – hypocrisy and “phoniness” Superstition – as a method of explaining and understanding Tolerance vs. prejudice

Dehumanization – dehumanizing human beings to oppress them The significance of human traits – you might think gullibility, ignorance and naiveté, etc. Coming of age – the hero’s journey The role of the outsider

Heads down, Fist-to-five voting on vocabulary sentences• 5 = best use of the words I could imagine – defining,

interesting, maybe even intimidating• 4 = impressive, strong word usage, definitions implied• 3 = yep, pretty good, but pretty average• 2 = barely got the job done, but did, so we should give them

credit• 1 = I am embarrassed for that group; that was awful

Huck Finn Questions for 2.4.13

Introducing the paper• Introduce the topic with some indication of its inherent

interest or importance, and a clear definition of the boundaries of the subject area

• Indicate the structure and/or methodology of the essay, often with the major sections of the essay or its structural principle clearly stated

• State the thesis of the essay, preferably in a single, arguable statement with a clear main clause

Conceptualizing your conclusion

• Introduction as an invitation; Conclusion as a parting gift

• Introduction as a bridge into the word of the paper; Conclusion as a bridge to take your paper into a new world

• Conclusion as a “last word” in an argument

• Conclusion as real world reason to read your essay.

Your conclusion should…• Answer “So What?”• Come full-circle. Return to the theme from the introduction

with parallel concepts and/or images.• Synthesize, don’t simply summarize. • Propose a course of action, a solution to an issue, or questions

for further study. *• Point to broader implications.

Conclusive Pitfalls!

1. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!• Overused phrases (“in conclusion,” “in summary,” or “in closing”) • Ending with a rephrased thesis that hasn’t grown.2. Sherlock Holmes.

• Stating the thesis for the first time in the conclusion (Sherlock Holmes).

3. Grab bag.• Introducing a new idea or subtopic in your conclusion. • Includes evidence – quotations, statistics, etc. that should be in the

body of the paper.4. Uninformed political speech.• Making sentimental, emotional appeals that are out of character

with the rest of an analytical paper.

Silent to start, silent to stop• Form into groups of four using the following guidelines:• You may NOT be in a group with anyone from your theme-presentation

group. • Please do your best to have two people from period three and two people

from period four (not mandatory)

• The papers/conversations should circulate. • You do not need to stay on the topic at the top of the sheet. Use your

conversational skills -- you’re not writing a paper, you’re participating in a classroom conversation.

Yes, it’s gradedYou’re being evaluated on your:

• Participation• Ability to respond in a thoughtful and relevant manner• Ability to be specific • Evidence of thoughtful reading and attention to your classmates’

presentations and comments

Remember: you do NOT need to stay on the topic at the top of the paper; you DO want to respond appropriately to your classmates.

• I believe Huck Finn is so controversial and famous because of how open-ended it is…No one knows the true meaning of the book, which makes society nervous.

• This [the end of the book] symbolizes how during Reconstruction slaves were free and equally by law, yet no progress could be made.

If I were going to teach this book, I would focus on:

• Conscience versus society (relevance)• Satire• History• Just an aside, I don’t think anyone could ever look into a book

too far• Controversy• Tolerance vs. Prejudice• I’d focus on Jim. It’s easy to focus on his superstition that we

miss what a great guy he is and how society brings him down.• Morality of characters/characterization/character development• Parallels with Twain’s life• The idea of an implanted moral compass• Letters, essays, etc. by Twain to get the full picture of Huck Finn…

Huckleberry Finn should be mandatory for juniors – worth any potential controversy• We all know African Americans are equal individuals, and History books and other

literature can also accurately depict the palpable tensions between whites and blacks. Huckleberry Finn is good, but not that good.

• I do think it’s kind of a dead book…I think juniors are reaching a point in their lives when they need to see and experience current issues, and I don’t think HF is super relatable anymore.

• Yes, it has just enough confusing dialogue, analytical potential, and controversy surrounding it to make it a challenging but manageable book for junior.

• Yes, it’s good to expose high school students to controversial books as long as the discussion is optional!

• Of course it’s mandatory. Hemmingway said its where all great literature came from, and he called it great. I want to read great literature that started it all, and I want to read anything Hemmingway likes.

• It should be…not only does it have a weighty message to it, but also it is important to be able to look past the initial offensiveness/racism…

• It has to be taught because it’s controversial. That’s part of the lesson now! It was also my favorite part of the book.

• Yes. It should be mandatory but not actually because of race relations. Its really important that it was always controversial, at first for use of natural dialects and blasphemy. It shows us that what makes the book shocking or not shocking is the stage our country is in now. I liked the history of the controversy the most.

"A successful book is not made of what is in it, but of what is left out of it.” - Mark Twain

• This quote is definitely true for epic fantasy novels ([Lord of the Rings]), but in terms of a book like Huck Finn, it is more important what the author actually says.

• …Twain’s quote is not true in a literal sense, but a figurative one. I would consider allusions or implications as material put in the book…”The Crucible” didn’t directly talk about the Red Scare but it teaches you about the premise, making it the reader’s job to apply the lesson…I disregard what I said about the quote [at first] and admit that Mark Twain is 100% accurate.

• …[the quote] turns out not to be true. Yes, what’s left out is important, but not as important as what is in the book.

• Leaving a gap for the reader to infer from is what makes the book memorably to the reader…showing not telling. Infer the answer, don’t be spoon fed it.

• A book that does not tell you what it wants you to derive from it, but instead lets you interpret it yourself, leads to deeper “looking into yourself for the answer” meaning

• But nobody cares about what was left out of it.• The attachment people feel toward Jim while reading the novel is more impactful

than a direct speech on the plight of The African slave• …sometimes leaving things out causes people to jump to the wrong conclusion

Huckleberry Finn is an admirable character; he personifies the good in all of us.

• I think the one goodness that Huck personifies is the ability to become good. • …[Huck] personifies innocence because his goodness drives from his young age. Huck is not

making an intentional effort to be good, but he hasn’t realized the importance of money and slavery in southern society, so he is not corrupt.

• …[if he personifies the good] he also personifies the bad in us.• Perhaps Huck’s “good” qualities show us how messed up southern society is…the more we

see how “bad” Huck has become the more we realize how innocent he really is• Yes, he is because he doesn’t confirm to society’s beliefs and sticks to what he believes.• …and he never fully transforms himself beside seeing Jim from a different perspective.• …they still successfully rescue Jim. Huck also openly criticizes Tom’s plans.• I think it is admirable how Huck reconstructs his morality.• I don’t think Huck was necessarily meant to personify the good in all humans…although he

did display a small bit of that quality.• Huck lies, cheats, steals, but all for necessity or the greater benefit of someone, or himself.• By the end of the novel, I think it’s unclear whether or not Huck has truly changed and

abandoned his former flaws.• No – he’s phony, and the exact representation of hypocritical southern stereotypes - a

complete full circle character…ending up in the same mindset he left with (racist and easily-influenced)

Chapter 16• Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so

close to freedom. Well, it made me all trembly and feverish, too, to hear him because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free – and who was to blame for it? Why me. I couldn’t get ti out of my conscience, no how nor no way.

Discuss the fog incident and Jim’s interpretation of it. The lot of towheads was troubles we was going to get into with quarrelsome people and all kinds, of mean folks, but if we minded our business and didn’t talk back and aggravate them, we would pull through and get out of the fog and into the big clear river, which was the free states, and wouldn’t have no more trouble”

Quotation Integration (in pairs)

• What had poor Miss Watson done to you, that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single world? What did that poor old woman do to you, that you could treat her so mean? Why, she tried to learn you your book, she tried to learn you your manners, she tried to be good to you every way she knowed how. That’s what she done.

Discuss the significance of the following quotes:

1. Well, then, says I, what’s the use you learning to do right, when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?

2. The lot of towheads was troubles we was going to get into with quarrelsome people and all kinds, of mean folks, but if we minded our business and didn’t talk back and aggravate them, we would pull through and get out of the fog and into the big clear river, which was the free states, and wouldn’t have no more trouble.