DAY 4 - CYCLE 13 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we started with a review of some plot facts, and then went into interpretive work, with a close look at the conversation Jim and Huck have after being separated in the fog. All three sections did great work on the topics and you can find notes detailing these discussions here.

Minstrel shows came up in today's discussion. You can read more about them here. Minstrel shows lasted well into the twentieth century and faded out as movies and eventually TV took over as a primary means of entertainment. Although they were no longer common by the fifties, here you can see a clip of a 1950 performance that has all the elements of a minstrel show. How can this help us understand Twain's novel? If what this clip demonstrates passed as entirely acceptable just 15 years before major Civil Rights legislation passed Congress, imagine what must have been considered "acceptable" to Twain's audience just fifteen years after the Civil War (when Twain began writing the novel). The oddities of Jim and Huck's ability to be honest with one another (and honest with themselves about one another) make a great deal more sense.



If you are struggling with understanding the text, check out the apps on iTunes for Huck Finn. Cheap and useful, they can help you get through those troublesome passages by reading the vernacular aloud, allowing your ears to surely catch what your eyes are having trouble with.

REMEMBER:
Vocab Quiz on Friday with five sentence diagrams

HOMEWORK:
Read 106-107 (stop with the paragraph that ends "...a good plan when you wanted one.)" & 123-141 (resume on 123 with the paragraph that begins, "I didn't wait to kiss good-by...")

DAY 3 - CYCLE 13 - SEMESTER 2

We began with an eight question quote quiz covering pages 1-85. Two classes used today as a reading day. One discussed the text. Notes are on the wikispace.

In the reading for today, Huck and Jim are forming a budding relationship. In their reactions to the discovery of a murder victim in a house washed away in flood waters, we see Huck and Jim are very practical, and desensitized to violence, but still wary around it. Jim is loath to talk about the body, and at first, Huck is happy to leave it alone (though afterwards, he's fascinated). We see Jim demonstrate care for Huck and vice versa--here is a healthier relationship, and one steeped in similar belief structures. But we also see that the two are on unequal footing. There is an incongruity in Judith Loftus' reactions to the two runaways: she sympathizes with white boy whom she thinks is a runaway apprentice, but wants to hunt down the black runaway slave. Is she motivated solely by money? We don't know. We do know that Jim has it harder than Huck, a fact underscored by his desire to explore the wreck of the Walter Scott while Jim, with so much at risk, fears to do so, and rightfully so.

In tonight's reading, we'll see how some of that society's pervasive racism affects these two. While there will be many questions to tomorrow's discussion, the ones you should be prepared to answer are these:
1. Why does Jim call Huck "boss" on page 103?
2. Does Jim think he dreamed the separation?

For the next class, be up to page 105 and ready to answer the questions above.

DAY 2 - CYCLE 13 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we finished reading through the words for unit 8 vocabulary. Please continue to bring your book to class as we will do the exercises for Unit 8 in preparation for the quiz on Friday, May 15th.

Afterwards, I passed out the exam review sheet (also available immediately to your left and on the "course handouts" page of the wikispace). In addition to identifying the content you need to know, it also identifies the skills you will be tested on. If you cannot do what is listed on page two of the review sheet, then you are not ready for the exam.

Those groups not decimated by AP Euro responsibilities held discussions (and I just have to say this--I know the AP is a really big deal and it's super important, but getting prepared for that doesn't relieve you of responsibilities elsewhere). Those who took notes, you'll find them on the wikispace. Those who did not, you'll find the questions that we would have discussed on there. You might want to download them anyway, simply because the pictures on the back of the questions show the sorts of rafts that both Huck and Jim make reference to and which you need to understand in order to really get what they're saying. Because some groups discussed and some did not, here is the overall lesson plan for the day. Make of it what you will.

• Discuss Huck's reaction to both captivity and freedom.
• Identify what Huck accepts as normal and what he seems to be unaware of (e.g. the existence he lives with pap would bring social services in like a S.W.A.T. team today, but he seems unmoved by that relaity, as well as by the reality that once he has faked his own death, he has cut himself off from all of the people in his life, presumably never to connect with them again, a loss he does not mourn).
• Note: Huck escapes being civilized and being uncivilized. He's in an interesting limbo with nothing to draw on to create a new universe but his own limited experience and his observations.
  
• Identify evidence revealing Huck's acceptance of the world as a violent, unfair place.
• TAKEN COLLECTIVELY, these elements reveal certain characteristics: pragmatic self-reliance, a tendency not to question, stubbornness, independence, skepticism, naivte, self-sufficiency, lack of reflection but powerfully observant ("it smelt late").
• We also learn a lot more about Jim, too from what he reveals. Which of these qualities do Huck and Jim share? By reading between the lines (i.e. not taking Huck's version as the definitive whole and making sure we notice what he does not), we learn much more about Jim, too.
• Ultimately, Huck and Jim have MUCH in common, though Huck does not yet recognize this. Likewise, he fails to recognize the critical differences between their situations, but we will see and perhaps appreciate these in the next reading; keep your eyes peeled for what Huck doesn't see.

HOMEWORK

Read through page 85. Expect a quote quiz.

DAY 1 - CYCLE 13 - SEMESTER 2

We covered the next 5 words in Unit 8 Vocabulary. Remember, quiz will be on FRIDAY, MAY 15th. It will include five sentence diagrams.

“All ‘civilizations’ are legitimate matter for (private, but not public) jeering & laughter, because they are so conspicuously made up of about three tenths of reality & sincerity, & seven tenths wind & humbug.” ~Mark Twain (source)

We began our discussion of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn today, where Twain presents to us hints of the 30% reality & sincerity he celebrates in this novel, and the 70% he jeers. We focused most of our efforts today on figuring out Jim. If Jim doesn't know the boys are there when they sneak by the widow's kitchen in the dead of night, he is dim-witted and not very self-aware. If he does know the boys are there, he is rather crafty and sly. Huck believes that Jim believes that he was "rode by witches," and perhaps he does. But if he does not, saying he was persecuted by witches and demons carries a different meaning entirely. Also, by looking at how Jim interacts with Huck over the fur ball, we can get a better sense of who Jim is. Does Jim exploit Huck or show kindness toward him? Is it a combination of both? Does Huck realize he might be getting exploited for money? Why does Jim tell Huck the nifty potato trick, anyway? And why is Huck loath to admit he didn't know it?

Clearly, this is a not-so-simple relationship and many external factors influence its conduct and their views of one another. What is obvious, however, is that Huck and Jim both turn to superstition to explain the world around them, and in that respect, there is a mutual understanding, one in which Pap is likely to share. Their worldview is different from the widow Douglas and Miss Watson's, and Judge Thatcher's, and is also different from Tom's. Tom, whose personal circumstance most closely resembles that of the widow, Miss Watson, and the judge, is clear about where he learns his truths: "'Don't I tell you it's in the books? Do you want to go to doing different from what's in the books, and get things all muddled up?'" (11). Huck has many inflences in his life, all of whom draw on different sources for their authority. To whom is Huck most responsive? Receptive? Why? Figuring that out will help us sort the thirty percent from the seventy percent as we move forward.

Notes from today's discussion will be on the wikispace first thing Friday morning.

HOMEWORK
Please, be prepared to disuss pages 29-58 in detail. Discussion questions will include:

1. Why does Huck want to spite pap, even if it means pap will beat him?
2. Why does pap kidnap Huck?
3. Think carefully about what he tells us: he is kidnapped by his physically abusive, impoverished father and held captive in the woods across the river where he is beaten daily, and yet he tells us he gets "used to being where I was, and liked it" (30). What exactly does he like?
4. What are the reasons that finally drive Huck to seek escape?
5. Why do yo suppose Twain includes pap's tirade about the "govment"? What do we learn about the responsibilities of government and citizen from it?
6. Why isn't Huck more deeply affected by pap's imprisonment of him and his efforts to murder him?
7. Huck talks about being able to get logs that broke off of log rafts. Click here to see a picture of the larger sort of raft that was common on the Mississippi.
8. Would you characterize Huck as violent?
9. Why does Huck wish Tom were there?
10. Huck is a very keen observor of his surroundings. Provide ample proof of this statement. Do his observations (e.g. "...it looked late, and smelt late" (42) add to the story?
11. See the explanatory notes on pages 394 & 395 to help understand why the ferry fired cannons and why the bread had mercury in it.
12. When the ferry containing all of the people he's been connected to--good or bad--comes along, Huck is noticeably silent about the effect of his apparent murder on them, and the fact that to maintain the ploy, Huck can never talk to them again. Why is he seemingly indifferent to this?
13. Why is he terrified by the discovery of the campfire?
14. Page 50: fantods. (Simon, I'd bet oodles of money you either love or hate this word.)
    
15. What hints do we have early on in the coversation Huck has with Jim that Jim does not trust him?
16. Why does Huck agree to keep Jim's secret?
17. Are Jim and Huck's escapes comparable in any way? If so, how?
18. Would you say Huck and Jim are smart? Qualify this a bit and explain what you mean.
    
19. The explanatory notes about Jim's unusual investments are helpful.
    
20. How is the final quote of the chapter a loaded one?
    

DAY 5 - CYCLE 12 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we began by double-checking the T-Shirt order form. Greg, I know you want green. What size? S, M, L, XL?

We then listened to a lecture about Twain, and I had you practice your notes. Here are mine. Compare.

What are the things that made Huck unrespectable at the time, and throughout the various cultural climates the novel has passed through since?
Initially banned on basis of:
.....CHARACTER: He was considered a horrible role model for others.
.....GRAMMAR: It used the vernacular of the uneducated rather than the more highly esteemed language of the educated classes
.....FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE: Far from being a trusted authority, Huck was a disreputable child allowed to tell his story without any interference from “one who knew better.”
..........It was these first three elements that made Adventures of Huckleberry Finn so innovative. A common child telling a story in his own words was really revolutionary. This fresh, creative approach was seen as a threat by literary traditionalists and moral purists.
.....REPRESENTATION OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS: Now, its use of now-offensive terms has been problematic since about WWII. Less insightful readers challenge the novel’s representation of African-Americans, assuming the way the characters present themselves/are presented by Huck is how they actually are. Be careful in your assumptions as you read.

How did this novel differ from conventional literature of the 1880s?
FAR LESS FORMAL:
.....IN PHRASING: compare the text of the novel to the trumped up, stiffened prose of Emmaline Grangerford (a Southern aristocratic character in the novel who uses “hark,” “Lo,” “Whilst,” “Behold,” and the like, which speaking people simply did not do then any more than they do now.)
.....IN SUBJECT MATTER: Huck does not need an occasion to speak (i.e. a death, a significant event, a tidy story to tell, etc.)
.....IT’S SOURCE OF TONAL AUTHORITY: the novel relies on idiom (the way people actually speak and the things they speak about) as an authority, not traditional cultural authorities (i.e. European style novels and traditional Western myths/tropes/conceits).
..........By breaking with this formality and deliberately and satirically calling into question our reliance on traditional sources of cultural authority, Twain both creates and unleashes a distinctly American voice, more richly steeped in the oral, story-telling tradition than the European, literary tradition.
..........Huck’s language is derived from PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, not LITERARY TRADITION. For instance, to describe the color white by comparison, he uses words like “fish belly” and “tree toad,” things he knew and saw. Emmaline, drawing from books rather than experience, would use words like “alabaster” and “ivory,” even though she had probably never actually laid eyes on either.

How does the novel change Americans’ sense of themselves?
.....By giving an uneducated boy the chief say, he allows the traditionally marginalized (but nevertheless, the majority of folks) a loud voice.
.....Since Huck is unaware of traditional authorities (books, the Judeo-Christian tradition, etc.), Huck has to take a basic, practical, pragmatic approach to everything, rather than base his actions on long-held ideas about right and wrong that have been handed down to him. This approach in the novel reveals the self-importance, weak rationalizations, and other silliness in traditional thinking.


That’s how satire works. Watch the following clip in which Sacha Baren Cohen (as Ali G.) inteviews venerable elder statesman of the Republican Party, Pat Buchanan.



Here, "Ali G" is woefully inappropriate for the occasion, from the way he is dressed to the clear lack of knowledge he reveals, and quite poorly spoken. Would you want your kid genuinely emulating him? Yeesh... These are the same criticisms leveled at Huck when he appeared on the scene. Ali G. isn't doing anything new, yet we watch "Ali G." Why? What is it about the cringe-worthy moments about "BLTs" that has us hooked? What is revealed about Buchanan in this process? About what Buchanan thinks of himself? (Buchanan is actually one of the more gracious guests. Crusty old Andy Rooney tossed him out! Ralph Nader's turn on the seat is also quite cringe-worthy.)

In this novel, Huck is Ali G., but he doesn't know it. Twain knows it, but Huck doesn't, and Twain doesn't tell us. He lets us figure it out for ourselves. And everything that Huck talks about is Pat Buchanan.

However, Twain's agenda is a serious one. He is getting at some of the foundations of our cultural beliefs in this novel, in a remarkable way. We take his criticism like her were offering us dessert. Why? He's funny. Note the NOTICE and EXPLANATORY NOTE at the beginning of the novel. From the very get go, he tells us that traditional thinking won't apply here, and that he's very deliberately, and very carefully rendering the words so likely to give us pause.

As noted above, this book is steeped in the ORAL tradition. He writes in the vernacular. When you don't understand when reading silently, read aloud. Your ear will catch what your eyes won't. (e.g. "shet de do" (201) = "shut the door")

You'll find the full reading schedule for your class here.

HOMEWORK:
Read through page 28 (up to chapter 6). We will begin the day with the question, "Does Jim know the boys are there?"

Remember, you will be reading Of Mice and Men on your own this month and will need to have it completed by Tuesday, May 26th.

DAY 4 - CYCLE 12 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we covered the last lesson on sentence diagramming. Huzzah! Coordinating conjunctions are tricky but with practice, you'll get the hang of them. We also signed up for T-Shirts (Greg H., see me about this so we can get you signed up).

Then we discussed the end of the novel, by which many of you seemed initially disappointed, but I suspect you were willing to change your tune a bit as we discussed some of Orwell's larger lessons.

Chief among the concerns we addressed:

• In what way did Winston die?
• When did he truly sacrifice his humanity? How so?
• Why did facing his worst fear do what months of torture could not?

You can find your notes on the wikispace.

FOR NEXT CLASS
Select your T-Shirt Sentence. Your T-Shirt sentence must be well-suited for the following scenario: on the day you wear your sentence-diagrammed T-Shirts, you develop flu-like symptoms and must go to the nurse. On the way to the nurse's, you run into a lower school student, parent, and visiting family who, perhaps insensitively, ask to read your T-Shirt sentence diagram. Do not make that moment more awkward by choosing the wrong sentence. You know what this means. Thank you!

DAY 3 - CYCLE 12 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we talked about the reading between pages 198-232. We took a look at how Winston's worldview differs from O'Brien's and questioned which Orwell wants us to think is more likely. We also questioned whether Winston's beliefs about the inherently good, equality-seeking, freedom-loving nature of people is manufactured or hardwired into him by O'Brien.

Wow. Deep stuff.

Take a look at the class notes. All three sections did a great job today, but were different in nature, so it is worth it to see all three sections' worth of notes.

For Next Time:
1. Bring your sentence diagramming workbook for the last lesson.
2. Finish the novel.