Controversy Overview

USliterature

Ms Farnham(10 th grade)

Ms Land(9 th grade)

Humanities
BuiltWithNOF
Controversy Overview
 Ms Guignard website  Huckleberry Finn  Controversy Overview 

 How was Huck Finn reviewed over the years (1885-2001)

Few books in American literature have been both as influential and as thoroughly debated as Mark Twain’s novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

This project is designed to help you understand the way a book can be seen differently over the years, depending on the political and historical context, and that the controversy is not over.

During this first week, you will work in groups of 3-4 and you will do a research on the way Huck Finn was acclaimed or criticized, each group studying a section of the history of controversy.

The periods are:

       

  1. 1884-85 (early reviews)
  2. 1886 - 1945 (consecration)

      3. During this period the book and the author became “masterpiece” and “genius” acclaimed by several Biographer (look for Bigelow Paine and Howell) and Nobel Prize (Hemingway and TS Eliot). You will also find some bad review at www.boondocksnet.com/twainwww/hf_debate.html , other good resources are the Tribute to Mark Twain written in 1910 when Samuel Clemens died.

    • T.S. Eliot Introduction to Adventures of HF,1950 Reprinted in Norton Critical Edition of Adventures of HF
    • Lionel Trilling Introduction to Adventures of HF, 1948 Reprinted in Norton Critical Edition of Adventures of HF
    • Ernest Hemingway, 1935 in The Green Hill of Africa
  3. 1957 - 1990 (Civil Rights Movement criticism)

      4. During this 3rd period the controversy started anew (after the desegregation in the Southern Public School). Colored students and their parents are angry against the way Mark Twain describes the black people in the XIX century. You will find some news extract at docksnet.com/twainwww/hf_debate.htm and also on the extra paper I will distribute to you. See also John Wallace, The Adventures of HF Adapted, 1984

  4. Contemporary Controversy

      5. For the current status of the controversy, rely on the video which explain the Tempe (AZ) case and the comments by Doctor Chadwick-Joshua. Look for the discussion by Prof. Fisher-Fishkin from my Huck page and like the other groups explore in www.boondocksnet.com/twainwww/hf_debate.html

You’ll have three nights to do your research and prepare a poster to present the result of your team work to the rest of the class (5 minutes presentation).

First night: browse through my web site on Huck Finn, where you’ll find a preselection of the most important sites on the subject. I strongly recommend you the very comprehensive directory made by Jim Zwick, which can be a very useful starting point for your research. Select and bookmark the information that deal with your period. Print what you need and bring it to class to be able to dispatch the workload among the group.

Second night: Select and highlight what is relevant for your period and write a little summary. For each review, say when it was written, who (what social or political  group, which writers, ....) wrote the review and what  their opinion was on HF. Find some insightful quotes (which help us understand the point of view of the writer) and  explain what impact the review had at that time. Don’t forget to tell us about the historical context too.

Third night: put all your information together and think about the layout on your poster. You can complement it with pictures or drawings. Write a clear and big title. On Day 4, you’ll present the fruit of your week work to your classmates. Each student will take notes of the other groups’ presentation so as to be able to write a condensed timeline of the history of controversy, one page (using arrows and lines).

Assessment:
You will be evaluated on the following:
Creativity of presentation : poster (5 points)
Depth of information (5 points)
Submission of complete and correct bibliography (5 points). Check again Integrity Chapter on Humanities Web site                                                                                                            Your personal timeline (5 points)
20 points total

 

1884-1885

 During the time when the book was first published, it met controversy

because Huckleberry Finn was not a good role model for children because he

swore, didn’t speak well, and renounced religion. The book was disliked a

lot by the critics, and even banned from the Concord Library. Even with this

and the fact that educated people could not relate Huck, the book sold very

well and was liked by the readers.

 

1886-1945

 During this time, people started to realize what a literary masterpiece the

book was. Helped along by rave reviews from Ernest Hemingway and T.S. Eliot

and other influential authors, the public recognized that Twain had

revolutionized American literature by writing through a young, ignorant

narrator and writing like his narrator and other characters would talk.

 

1957-1990

 In the civil rights movement, people began to realize how blatantly Twain

addressed the issue of ace in Huck Finn. Because the book was so realistic,

it had derogatory language and issues that were used during the period. The

people often did not look further into the book, and many did not see that

Twain was satirizing the feelings, not expressing them.

 

Present

 Now, it is mostly taught in schools, but with care taken to examine and

explain the issues of racism in the book and in the world today. There is

still some controversy, though, because many people think a different book,

which was not so offensive, could be used in place of Huck Finn, perhaps

even one that brings up the same issues of race.

 

Written by Becky

Here you will find the result of the project, on the left one of the best timeline made by a sophomore and downunder facsimilé of the posters made by 4 groups

Website created and maintained by Martine Guignard, copyright are owned by Head Royce School as a “work on hire”