Huck Finn Week Two: Addressing Racism and Stereotyping

 Homework Due Dec. 17

1.  Independent Reading Project #2.  Be prepared to share with class.

2.  Read the article below, from "Culture Shock, Born to Trouble: The Adventures of Huck Finn," pbs.org.

3. Complete activities #1-3 below the article 

Since its publication, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been under fire as objectionable, not always for the same reasons. some objections have stemmed from the overt violence and cruelty present in the text; some have originated in the companionship of a black slave and a white teenager; some have been offended that southerners have been depicted as ignorant or backwater; but most frequently in the modern period, objections to racist words found in the text have led schools to suppress reading of the novel. 

Culture Shock.  Born to Trouble: The Adventures of Huck Finn

To many, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the world's greatest novels -- and a national icon. Twain's satirical attack on slavery, hypocrisy, and prejudice in antebellum America compels readers to look not only at slavery and racism, but also at the whole tradition of American democracy. It is the story of a white outcast boy, Huck, and his adult friend Jim, a runaway slave, who flee from Missouri together in search of freedom on a raft down the Mississippi River in the 1840s. Most critics agree that Huck's moral awakening to the injustice of slavery is among the most powerful statements against racism in American literature. As writer and Twain expert David Bradley sees it, "You can't arbitrarily say this book is trouble, we're not going to teach it, because a book like Huckleberry Finn is part of American literature. You can't get around it." In Hannibal, Missouri, Twain's hometown and the inspiration for Huck Finn, residents celebrate National Tom Sawyer Days around every Fourth of July honoring the author by reenacting some of Twain's local activities. Yet according to one Hannibal resident quoted in the film, very few of the African American residents choose to participate in the festivities because Huck Finn"degrades them." "Hannibal presents a selective version of what Mark Twain was about," says Twain scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin. "It ignores the fact that Hannibal was a slave-holding town. It ignores the role that slavery played in shaping Mark Twain's imagination and in shaping the work of Mark Twain." While many praise the book, there are others who find it offensive. No American novel has been attacked by the public as long and as continuously as Huck Finn. Born to Trouble transports viewers back to the end of the Victorian era when Twain's then new novel was banned from the Concord, Massachusetts public library after members of the Library's committee called the book "trash." Other critics of the time followed suit, denouncing Twain for threatening public morality, childhood innocence, and the purity of the English language. The author's response was typically acerbic: "Those idiots in Concord are not a court of last resort and I am not disturbed by their moral gymnastics," wrote Twain. Although writers and critics elevated the novel to the canon of classic literature in the 1930s, the controversy surrounding Huck Finn was far from over. In 1957, as the Civil Rights movement started to gain momentum, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) charged that Huck Finncontained "racial slurs" and "belittling racial designations." While they didn't advocate censorship, the book was nevertheless removed from the New York City school system. Since then, the book has been called "racist" for both the use of the word "nigger" and a portrayal of blacks that some consider stereotypical and demeaning. It has been removed from reading lists in schools from Texas to Pennsylvania. Born to Trouble chronicles one such school system's battle: Kathy Monteiro, a Tempe, Arizona mother, recently launched a crusade to have the book removed from her teenage daughter's high school curriculum. "I'm wondering as a teacher and as a mother, how you can ask kids to go home and read the word 'nigger' 200-something times in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and then expect kids to come back to school and not use the word," observes Monteiro in the film. In 1985, the nation marked the centennial of the publication of Huck Finn and the 150th anniversary of Twain's birth with celebrations around the country. Although Twain could no longer respond to his critics -- he died in 1910 -- he had no shortage of supporters. President Ronald Reagan, seen in archival footage in the film, commends the author's legacy. "In the decades to come, may our schools give to our children the skills to navigate through life as gracefully as Huck navigated the Mississippi. And may they teach our students the same hatred of bigotry and love of their fellow men that Huck showed on every page, and especially in his love for his big friend Jim," praised Reagan. Beloved or banned, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with nearly 700 foreign editions printed, is one of the best known American novels across the globe, which would undoubtedly please the author. "I have never tried to help cultivate the cultivated classes. I was not equipped for it, either by native gifts or training. And I never had any ambition in that direction, but always hunted for bigger game -- the masses," wrote Twain.

Activity #1. Respond to the following statements, rating each statement using the following guide:
         4 beside a statement with which you strongly agree
         3 if you agree somewhat
         2 if you disagree
         1 if you disagree strongly

1. some words are so offensive that they should never be used to tell a story.
   
2. The names we use for others are not important.
   
3. The saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones,
   but words will never hurt me” is true.
   
4. Members of an ethnic group can refer to themselves in
   language that would be inappropriate for others to use.
   

Activity #2. Choose one of the statements with which you agree or disagree the most, and free write about your point of view and why you believe as you do.  Try to give concrete examples about why you feel as you do.

Activity #3. Explain the meaning of stereotype, as you would define it, and then list some common stereotypes that are used to describe teens/young adults like you.  Sort the list into three categories: positive, neutral, and negative labels. What do you notice about these labels? In what situations are they used? What impact do these labels have on the students? Why do you like or dislike these labels? 

Honors Students: 
Read Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “Declaration of Sentiments” from History of Woman Suffrage (Seneca Falls Convention on Women’s Rights, 1848) and Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?” (from her speech at a woman’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio in 1852), both readily available on the web. While both works deal with the women’s movement in the United States, Truth’s status as a slave complicates the issue. 
Write a short essay (1 1/2- 2 pages) in which you discuss: 
If Truth’s argument results in her being treated as a woman, then enslaved males must be accorded status as men. How will this recognition confront existing laws? Considering that women in Huck Finn are widowed, spinsters, or unmarried—women who introduce troubled boys to religion, education, and civilization— describe the role of women during the reform movements and in the novel.  
 Also consider how fictional writing can arouse sympathies toward political and social action. Do modern novels have this effect? Name short stories, novels, or films that have brought about or contributed to social movements. To assist with this, consult the Best Timeline of American Literature and Events (1880-1889): www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/1880.htm. 

Huck Finn: Pre-Reading Project

Due December 10

In a small group, with a partner, or by yourself, research your chosen topic from the list below.  Be prepared to present your findings to the class on Dec. 10.  Your presentation should be about 10 mins in length and will be graded based on your  thoroughness, preparedness & quality of information.  Remember, you are teaching your fellow students- they are relying on you to do a good job!

While every piece of writing can be read in isolation and may well stand on its own merits, readers become more informed and competent by acquiring an understanding of the period during which the writer lives and the events that precede and influence an author.

Group #1:  The Culture of the River:  Your goal is to make sure the class understands something of the pre-Civil War slavery controversy, free and slave states, and the Mississippi River’s division of East from West and North from south, a primary conduit for people and goods.  

• Print or draw a map of the United states, preferably one of the early 1830‘s
• Label which states are slave and Free,
• Label which states border the Mississippi River
• Teach the class about the positions of states along the Mississippi regarding slavery and why these states might argue the need for slavery or for abolition
• What are bounty hunters? Freedmen?
• Discuss the “business” & economicsof slavery.

• You can find suitable maps at these web sites: www.sonofthesouth. net/slavery/slave-maps/map-free-slave-states.htm and http://www.learner.org/ biographyofamerica/prog10/maps/.

Group #2: Slavery in America: Use  the websites below, and your history texts to research these issues of American slavery: 

• the effect of enslavement on Africans and their descendants
• how slaves sustained a sense of selfhood and cultural identity in slave- master relationships
• how slavery affected white people, even non-slave-owning
• how slave laws changed over time, especially just before the Civil War
• how a free or slave state was determined.  

• You might find these websites helpful:

National Humanities Center’s Toolbox Library: Primary Resources in US History and Literature: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/index.htm

NHC’s TeacherServe, Freedom’s Story, links to 19th Century Issues:

www.nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen.htm

Timeline of African-American History:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aap/timeline.html

History Matters, archives and narratives:

http://historymatters.gmu.edu

North American Slave Narratives and Images:

http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/

The Slave Narrative:

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/slave.htm

GROUP #3: Mark Twain’s Biography

• You can read Twain’s biography at: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/twain. htm 
• Share your knowledge of Mark Twain with the class
• Since writers write about what they know, often incorporating parts of their own lives into the characters, setting, and plot of their novels, after reading this short biography, anticipate which of Twain’s life events and habits of character might also be used in his character Huck Finn. 
• William Dean Howells to call Twain “the Lincoln of our literature.”  What has Twain freed if he is “the Lincoln of our literature”?
• Ernest Hemingway to write, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.”  Why do you think Hemingway says this?

Group #4: 19th century reforms.  Research and present to the class the goals and outcomes of each reform:

• abolition
• women’s suffrage
• utopian societies
• prison and asylum reform
• educational reform
• political reform. 

• Links to works, writers, and reforms can be found on Brief Timelines of American Literature and Events: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/1840.htm

Group 5: Literary Movements of the 19th Century 

The struggle between ideals and realities helped shape American intellectual life and literature in many periods. The political, scientific, social reforms of the 19th century resulted in changes in the vision with which writers created literature and art as well. The early part of the century saw Rationalism give way to Romanticism and its offshoot, Transcendent-alism; the latter part of the century, especially during and after the Civil War, saw a rise in Realism and Regionalism, when writers examined life as it was actually lived and to record what they saw around them.

• How did each of these reform movements use, and therefore contribute to, changes in literature and the arts? 
• Use the following websites to chart the tenets of each literary movement (Rationalism, Romanticism, Realism, Regionalism). 
• During your reading of the novel, you will use these charts to distinguish elements of each movement within the work (In Huck Finn, elements of all three literary and intellectual movements can be found).

Romanticism in American Literature: “Gothic, Novel, and Romance”

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/novel.htm

Realism in American Literature

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/realism.htm

Regionalism and Local Color Fiction 1865-1895

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/lcolor.html