English III CP Discussion Questions for Huckleberry Finn



Name:_______________________________________________________Date:_________________________________

English III Socratic Seminar Questions for Huckleberry Finn

To earn full credit, students must contribute to the Socratic seminar in a meaningful way. Follow the rubric guidelines attached to see how I will grade your contributions to the discussion.

Part I

1. Critics have challenged Huckleberry Finn for its unfavorable presentation of blacks, favorable presentation of blacks, ungrammatical speech, use of controversial language, and celebration of bad behavior. Which elements of the book (if any) do you think stirred the most controversy upon its initial publication (1885)? Which elements do you think stir the most controversy in modern times (within the last 30 years or so)? Refer to the Washington Post article provided.

2. In Chapter Fifteen, Huck tricks Jim and almost immediately regrets it. Why? How does Huck’s understanding of Jim change as a result of this incident? How does Huck’s understanding of himself change?

3. Discuss the difference between piety and morality. Several of the characters are depicted as pious church-goers, but do they lead moral lives? Why or why not? Huck can’t make sense of conventional religion, but he often acts out of moral conviction. How?

4. Much of the humor and satire of Huckleberry Finn derives from Twain’s decision to let an unreliable narrator tell the story. Discuss how Twain’s unreliable narrator (Huck) unwittingly contributes to humor and/or satire in the novel.

Part II

5. How does Jim become a surrogate father to Huck? Contrast the behavior, character, and personality of Huck’s real father to Jim. What specific actions along the Mississippi journey show Jim as father-figure to Huck?

6. How does the river function as a symbol in Huckleberry Finn? What does the river represent to Huck and Jim? If the river has symbolic significance, how does the shore/society contrast to the river? What elements of society do the King and Duke bring to the river?

7. Mandatory Written Response: How does Twain use Huckleberry Finn to satirize the pre-Civil War society of Twain’s own boyhood? Apply our class notes to this response. Which satirical scene in the novel do you find most provocative and why? Furthermore, search online for an example of modern satire to analyze and share with the class. (It should be school-appropriate.)

8. Many works of literature follow a quest archetype, deriving inspiration from early works such as Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey. The quest archetype includes five components: 1) a quester, 2) a place to go, 3) a stated reason to go there, 4) challenges and trials, and 5) the real reason to go. Apply these five components of the quest archetype to Huckleberry Finn.

Seminar Date:_________________________________________________________________________________

Name:___________________________Date:________________

Socratic Seminar:  Participant Rubric

|  | |

|A Level Participant |--Participant offers enough solid analysis, without prompting, to move the conversation forward. |

|100 |Participant offers insightful and specific comments (at least three) to further the discussion. |

| |Participant, through his or her comments, demonstrates a deep knowledge of the text and the question. |

|94 |Participant has come to the seminar prepared. Participant, through his or her comments, shows that s/he|

| |is actively listening to other participants. S/he offers clarification and/or follow-up that extends the|

| |conversation. Participant’s remarks often refer back to specific parts of the text. |

| |--All written responses are in correct MLA format. Each response is in the form of a paragraph. |

| |Responses are insightful and contain specific and accurate textual references. There are virtually no |

| |grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors. The writing is interesting and varied with complex |

| |sentences and mature construction. |

|  | |

|B Level Participant |--Participant offers solid analysis without prompting. Through his or her comments, participant |

|89 |demonstrates a good knowledge of the text and the question. Participant has come to the seminar |

| |prepared. Participant shows that s/he is actively listening to others.  S/he offers clarification |

|83 |and/or follow-up. |

| |-- Written responses are mostly in correct MLA format. Each response is in paragraph form. Responses |

| |are mostly insightful and contain specific and accurate textual references. There may be some minor |

| |grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors. The writing is mostly interesting with complex sentences |

| |and mature construction. |

|  |--Participant offers some analysis, but needs prompting from the seminar leader. Through his or her |

|C Level Participant |comments, participant demonstrates a general knowledge of the text and question.  Participant is less |

|79 |prepared.  Participant is actively listening to others, but does not offer clarification and/or |

| |follow-up to others’ comments.  Participant relies more upon his or her opinion, and less on the text to|

|73 |drive his or her comments |

| |-- Written responses are somewhat in correct MLA format. Each response is in paragraph form, but the |

| |paragraphs could use some more depth and insight. References to the text are general and/or somewhat |

| |accurate. There are grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors that detract from the content. The |

| |writing style could be more interesting and mature. |

|  |-- Participant offers little commentary.  Participant comes to the seminar ill-prepared with little |

|D or F Level Participant |understanding of the text and question.  Participant does not listen to others, offers no commentary to |

|65, 50, or 0 |further the discussion      |

| |--Written responses are not in correct MLA format or only partially complete. Responses are not in |

| |correct paragraph form and there is very little depth and insight in most responses. There are few, if |

| |any, references to the text. There are grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors that seriously |

| |detract from the content. The writing style is uninteresting and perhaps overly simplistic. |

School district weighs ban of ‘Mockingbird,’ ‘Huckleberry Finn’ after complaint By Moriah Balingit

A Virginia school district has pulled copies of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from classrooms and libraries while it weighs whether it should permanently ban the American classics because of the books’ use of racial slurs.

In response to a formal complaint from a parent, Accomack County Public Schools Superintendent Chris Holland said the district has appointed a committee to recommend whether the books should remain in the curriculum and stay in school libraries. District policy calls for the formation of the committee — which can include a principal, teachers and parents — when a parent formally files a complaint.

[The top 10 books most challenged in schools and libraries]

The parent, Marie Rothstein-Williams, made an emotional plea at a school board meeting Nov. 15, saying the works had disturbed her teenage son, a biracial student at Nandua High School on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

“I’m not disputing this is great literature,” Rothstein-Williams said. “But there is so much racial slurs in there and offensive wording that you can’t get past that, and right now we are a nation divided as it is.”

School libraries and curriculum are frequent culture war battlegrounds, and it is not uncommon for parents to raise objections to books that many consider classics but that also contain offensive language or mature themes.

Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is the book most often targeted for removal from school classrooms and libraries among the titles the American Library Association tracks. “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the Harper Lee classic set in 1936 Alabama, is also high on the list of works that people seek to remove from schools. Both books use the n-word liberally.

A Montgomery County, Md., student in 2006 appealed to the school board to toss a lesson about the n-word that was meant to prepare students for reading “Mockingbird.” A Fairfax County, Va., mother launched a campaign in 2013 to remove Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” from classrooms because its portrayal of an escaped slave included bestiality, a gang rape and an infant’s murder. Parents also have objected to some modern children’s literature — including the popular Harry Potter series — because they worry that it promotes occultism.

[Fairfax County parent wants ‘Beloved’ banned from school system]

James LaRue, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said he understands the challenge of teaching books laced with language that is deeply upsetting to some. But he said schools should approach such works carefully instead of throwing them out. He said teachers can avoid having students read the works aloud, for example, and talk to them about the historical context in which they were written.

Removing the books from classrooms and libraries is censorship, he said.

“America is still deeply uncomfortable with its racial history,” LaRue said. He said that hiding the books — which many consider seminal works of American literature — amounts to “forgetting history.”

In her remarks to the Accomack school board, Rothstein-Williams said she understands that the works are considered classics, but she worries that they teach students it is okay to use racially charged words.

Rothstein-Williams did not respond to a request for comment.

“What are we teaching our children? We’re validating that these words are acceptable,” Rothstein-Williams told the school board. “They are not acceptable.”

She urged the school board to consider the appropriateness of the books given the polarization of issues about race. The tiny Accomack County School District, on the northern end of Virginia’s Eastern Shore along the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, educates about 5,000 students, 37 percent of whom are black.

“Truly we are divided,” Rothstein-Williams said. “We will lose our children if we continue to say that this is okay, that we validate these words when we should not.”

Washington Post, Dec 3, 2016

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