I never had to explain to a student why she should be interested in the book. I never needed to pray that enough students had been paying attention to provide us with a bona fide discussion. With Huck Finn , interest was virtually automatic, and the lessons of the novel rose naturally from the reading. Welcome to realism! At the time of its original publication in , propriety's guardians condemned the novel because its title character was a rebellious child.
Some modern critics scoff at the "realism" label, panning the book's "stereotypical caricatures. Huck is rebellious, as all children, especially untutored ones, tend to be; Pap is revolting, as unfettered racist drunkards tend to be; Jim is illiterate, as antebellum slaves tended to be. To depict Jim as professorial or Huck as a little sweetie-pie -- as some modern adaptations try to do -- is absurd. An appreciation of this point is crucial to teaching Huck Finn effectively: Students must be allowed to enjoy the book as rollickingly realistic fiction, and the first element in achieving this enjoyment is the instructor's own appreciation of Huck Finn as story.
When the novel is delivered simply as a vehicle for preaching the evils of racism, it is reduced to propaganda. American students never have shown, nor ever will show, a hearty interest in party-line propaganda. This, perhaps, was the concern behind Twain's famous "Notice" preceding Chapter One: "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot will be shot.
But, first and foremost, there is a darned entertaining story. A teacher who doesn't already enjoy the book as such probably shouldn't teach it. Be sure you genuinely like Huck Finn before sharing it with your students. Because it is realistic, Huck Finn is, at times, quite painful.
However, it is also quite funny. Here art mirrors life: The book's humor makes the journey bearable. Allow your students to revel in Twain's comedy.
For instance, many students find Huck's dialect hilarious. How much of the book is read aloud is a teacher's prerogative, but the teacher, to allow students the opportunity to hear the speech patterns effectively performed must read the first portion of the book aloud. Be dramatic! Read with flair! Play Huck to the hilt!
If you have an associate who can do it better, invite him into your classroom for a guest reading. You cannot over emphasize Huck's wretched grammar. Stokes said that the free use of a word so associated with hate and racial strife is inappropriate, particularly at a time when hate crimes are rising and race relations are fragile.
Teachers should only include the book in their lessons if they have a passion for it, if they want to teach it, and also if they have an understanding of how someone might find its content disturbing or insulting, he said. Chadwick also tells a story of a great uncle who was killed because he taught himself to read and write.
Active in the civil rights movement, her parents faced racially charged issues head-on, she said. Chadwick returned in August for the workshop, attended by 30 teachers from around the state. The book is also a great piece of history. Besides the fact that it does teach about racial history, it also shows how life was like in general.
It shows in great detail what the North and the South were like from the eyes of Huck Finn. We get to see what life was like through his eyes and relate it to ourselves in this day and age. Another reason the book should be taught in schools is that we see the friendship between Huck and Jim.
Throughout the book, Huck faces the dilemma of whether or not to turn Jim into the authorities. As time progresses, even though Jim is a slave, he starts to see that Jim is a person much like himself and has similar emotions. He does so when Huck hears Jim crying at night in their canoe. Jim was crying because he missed his wife and kids. It offends those of black ethnicity, parents do not like that, and some teachers find it difficult to teach it.
Although certain people believe that it should be taught because it gives us lessons of the history that we cannot hide or forget. Anyone who is not discriminated does not know how it feels. African Americans are the only ones being offended by reading Huck Finn. People find Huck Finn to be racist and teach a lot about the history to those who are not black. I believe that Huck Finn should be taught. Twain wrote it that way because that is the way he knew it, there is no way he could have known that in the future the word would be a derogatory term.
Nevertheless, it still teaches us important things that everyone should experience. Another reason that the book should be taught in schools is that we see the bond of friendship and lessons learned between the white boy, Huck, and the runaway slave, Jim. Throughout the book Huck is faced with the problem of whether or not to turn Jim in.
He starts to see that, even if Jim is a slave, he is a person and he has emotions just like Huck does. Remember: This is just a sample from a fellow student.
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