THE TROUBLE WITH HUCK FINN



THE TROUBLE WITH HUCK FINN

What’s the story?

■ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the story of ______________________:

■ A white boy named Huck Finn who is running away from his _____________________

■ A black slave named Jim who runs away from his owner after hearing that she plans to sell him down south

Then what?

■ They join together and travel along the ________________________ on a raft, seeking their freedom

■ Along the way, they develop a _____________________ and sense of loyalty toward each other

So, what’s the deal? It sounds like …

■ The feel-good novel of the year;

■ Or, an Oprah Book Club pick;

■ Right?

WRONG!

■ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most ________________________ American novels ever written.

■ Since it was published in 1885, it has been __________________ by numerous _______________ and _____________________ for various reasons.

Huck’s in good company …

■ According to the People for the American Way, the most frequently challenged books in the 1990s were the following:

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

My Brother Sam Is Dead by Christopher and James Lincoln Collier

Native Son by Richard Wright

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Why was Huck Finn banned?

■ The Concord Public Library in Massachusetts banned it as "the veriest trash, suitable only for the slums." A newspaper account described the library's objections to the novel:

■ It deals with a series of adventures of a very low grade of ___________________; it is couched in the language of a rough dialect, and all through its pages there is a systemic use of bad grammar and an employment of rough, coarse, inelegant expressions. It is also very irreverent. . . . The whole book is of a class that is more profitable for the slums than it is for respectable people. -St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 17, 1885

■ The ________________ Public Library followed suit in 1905, removing it from the children's room because Huck was a liar who "not only itched, but scratched," was dirty, used terrible grammar, and "said '__________' when he should have said '________________________.'"

■ By 1907 libraries in Denver, Omaha, and Worcester (Massachusetts) had removed the book because Huck and Tom were "bad" role models. During the 1930s many libraries purchased expurgated or "junior" versions of the novel, which omitted sections and simplified the language.

Is the book racist?

▪ In 1957, the NAACP charged that Huck Finn contained "racial slurs" and "belittling racial designations." Since then, the book has been called "racist" for both the pervasive use of the word "nigger" and a portrayal of blacks that some people consider __________________ and __________________________.

Then why are we reading it?

■ Champions of the novel reply that it is a _________________, a scathing attack on the hypocrisy and prejudice of a society that pretends to honor virtue while condoning slavery.

■ In fact, the NAACP national headquarters' current position paper states: “You don't ban Mark Twain -- you explain Mark Twain! To study an idea is not necessarily to endorse the idea. Mark Twain's satirical novel, Huckleberry Finn, accurately portrays a time in history -- the 19th century -- and one of its evils, slavery.”

But that was then, this is now!

■ Reading and discussing the book will also help us to analyze and discuss how we use certain words today, what they really mean, who can use them and who can’t, and why they still spark ____________________ even today.

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