copyright 1999, Sirpa Grierson

Teaching Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn http://marktwain.about.com/arts/marktwain/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/ cultureshock/teachers/huck/essay.html Fishkin emphasizes the point that in order to teach the novel Huckleberry Finn, which can be difficult, one must understand that Mark Twain's consciousness extends above any character in the novel Teach with Movies http://www.teachwithmovies.org/guides/huckleberry-finn.html Learning Guide to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for use with the movie in the classroom. Representing Jim http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/jiminpix.html An essay with illustrations portraying the different ways Jim has been illustrated throughout the years. Mark Twain and the Language of Gesture Escholtz, Paul A. "Mark Twain and the Language of Gesture." Mark Twain Journal. 16.1 (1971-1972): 5-8.  An article discussing the purpose and effectiveness of Twain's use of language and dialect in his works. Huck Finn: 100 Years of Durn Fool Problems Stanek, Lou Willet. "Huck Finn: 100 Years of Durn Fool Problems." SLI School Library Journal. February 1985: (19-22) Racism and Huckleberry Finn: Censorship, Dialogue, and Change Carey-Webb, Allen. "Racism and Huckleberry Finn: Censorship, Dialogue, and Change." English Journal. 82:7. November 1993. 22-34. Carey-Webb goes through the different controversies about race stemming from the novel. He shows how African-Americans can be deeply offended by the novel and "teachers and students who undertake to read Huck Finn must be committed to respecting and learning from minority views."  Mark Twain and Fires of Controversy: Teaching Racially-Sensitive Literature Chadwick-Joshua, Jocelyn. "Mark Twain and Fires of Controversy: Teaching Racially-Sensitive Literature: Or, 'Say that ~' Word and Out You Go!'." Satire or Evasion? Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn. Ed. James S. Leonard, Thomas Tenney, and Thadious M. Davis. Durham: Duke UP. 1992. 228-236. Chadwick-Joshua discusses the problem of the word "nigger" in the novel and what it connotes. She then constructs a model for teaching the novel in a racially sensitive way. Some of her ideas include: "knowing your audience" and do not allow any student to see your personal prejudices and biases. Teaching Huck Finn in a Multiethnic Classroom Lew, Ann. "Teaching Huck Finn in a Multiethnic Classroom." English Journal. 82:7. November 1993. 16-21. Ms. Lew discusses the necessity of watching the relationship between the racial slurs and how Jim is characterized in order to make a decision about racism in the novel. According to Lew, Jim is a central character to help multiethnic students understand and appreciate the novel. She shows that Jim is a good role model for students. Till Freedom Cried Out: Memories of Texas Slave Life Barker, Lindsay T, ed. Till Freedom Cried Out: Memories of Texas Slave Life. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1997. Back to Top Reading Activities (compiled by Stephanie Hopkins) |Pre-Reading | During Reading | Post-Reading | Pre-Reading Activities 1) http://www.twainquotes.com/quotesatoz.html This website is full of quotations by Mark Twain and then a little commentary about each one of them. Reading these quotations will help engage students in the life of Mark Twain. 2) http://malakoff.com/jumpfrog.htm This website offers a copy of “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras Country” by Mark Twain. Students will get the opportunity to read a short story by Twain getting them acquainted with his writing style and satirical humor. 3) Lewis, Andrew G. “Biography of Mark Twain.” http://www.net4tv.com/net4tv/bookworm/twain/bio.htm Here Lewis gives a fairly brief biography of Samuel Clemens. He shares some interesting insights into the life of Clemens, which may spark in the interest of students. 4) Houghton Mifflin Company. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” http://www.classzone.com/novelguides/litcons/huckfinn/guide.cfm This website offers a lesson plan where students learn about the role of society’s laws versus higher moral laws. Students get the opportunity to role play and understand what it may have been like to live in the days this story took place. 5) Hundley, Melanie. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/BuilderV03/Attachments/24458.doc This website offers a worksheet relating to the banning of Twain’s book. It offers a link to a PBS special where students can listen to an interview with a professor talking about why the book should not be banned in public schools. Then this worksheet stimulates thinking and brings up points that would be good for class or group discussions. 6) http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/s/satire.asp & http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=satire The first website offers about thirty cartoons that are satirical in nature. The second website offers great definitions of satire. Both websites together would combine for a great lesson about satire, so students will understand satire when they read it in Twain’s novel and short stories. 7) Jones, Derek. “Slave Trade.” http://www.angelfire.com/de/slavetrade/index.html This interactive website allows students to see the trail most of the slaves took coming to America. It helps them understand the differences between each continents involvement in the enslavement. 8) U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. “The Emancipation Proclamation.” http://www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/transcript.html This website offers a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. This would be something beneficial for the students to understand before reading the novel. It would give them some background information regarding the history of the time period. 9) “Biographies for Kids-Famous Leaders for Young Readers.” http://gardenofpraise.com/leaders.htm This website allows students to find stories of leaders that have influenced the world for good. This activity will get the students thinking about heroes and what it means to be a hero. Then as they read the novel they will struggle with finding a hero for Huck just as Huck struggles to find on himself. 10) Fort, Bruce. “American Slave Narratives- An Online Anthology.” http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/wpa/wpahome.html This professor at the University of Virginia has complied over ten narratives of different slaves. Students can be put in groups and asked to research these different men and women and learn more about the history of slavery. Again, they will get background information before they read the novel. 11) “Jazz Talk.” http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/activities/jazztalk/music.html This website has links to some famous and some not so famous songs written by slaves during the time of their enslavement. Students would have the opportunity to listen to the songs and read the lyrics as they are sung. This activity could help them understand what it was like to be a slave from the slave’s point of view. Back to Top During Reading Activities: 1) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Tony Randall, Eddie Hodges, Archie Moore, Patty McCormack, Neville Brand, Mickey Shaughnessy, Judy Canova, Andy Devine, Sherry Jackson, Buster Keaton. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 1960. http://movieweb.com/dvd/dvd.php?012569575127 This is a hilarious rendition of Twain’s novel. It can be used to show students clips of the movie and ensure they understand key parts of the novel. 2) Kemble, Edward. “Illustrating Huck Finn.” http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/hfillfrs.html This website allows students to look at one artist’s interpretations of the different characters in Huck Finn. After students have read part of the novel and have their own image of what the characters look like, it would be interesting to see what they think of different artist’s interpretations of the characters. 3) “Character List.” http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/huckfinn/characters.html This website allows students to see a summation of each character in the novel along with in-depth analyses of the main characters. Students can use this resource to help then understand the personalities of each character, and it will help them identify the role of each character in the novel. 4) “Suggested Essay Topics.” http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/huckfinn/study.html This website offers possible essay questions a teacher could ask the students as they read different parts of the novel. 5) Cook, Jan & Carey. “Vocabulary Classic Texts-Vocabulary.” http://www.vocabulary.com/VUcthuckF.html This website has pulled out 67 words from the novel and suggested them as vocabulary terms. These words may be obscure to students and an activity using them might help with clarification as they read. 6) “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Suggested Essay Topics.” http://www.owleyes.org/huck.htm This website breaks the novel down into chapter sections and pulls out good essay questions. From these essay questions, teachers can use them to start discussions and pull out important parts of chapters. 7) Concord Library Ban. “Huck and the Concord Library.” http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/hfconcrd.html “Evening Traveller Reviews Huck.” Boston Evening Traveller. 5 March 1885. http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/bosttrav.html “Anthenaeum Reviews Huck.” Anthenaeum. 27 December 1884. http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/hucathen.html “Courant Reviews Huck.” The Hartford Courant. 20 February 1885. http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/harcour2.html These websites have great links to reviews written about the book at the time it was published. The links address both sides of the banning issue. As students read through the novel it would be beneficial to them to understand both sides of the argument. 8) “Promoting Huckleberry Finn.” http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/hucadshp.html This website gives information regarding how the book was promoted after it was published. It talks about the lecture tour Mark Twain went on to promote the book. It also shows illustrations of different posters and flyers put up to show-off the book. It even offers information regarding publishing parts of Huck Finn in a magazine. I think students would love to hear this kind of information. It would be great to introduce them to this after they have read parts of the novel, so they can relate to the different things Twain says and does. 9) “Representing Jim, 1885-1985.” http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/jiminpix.html , http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/teachers/huck/illustrations.html These two websites give different artists’ renditions of Jim. After students have read far enough in the book to have a mental picture of Jim, I believe they would be interested to see what other artists thought he might look like. 10) Dunbar, Paul Laurence. “We Wear the Mask.” http://www.poets.org/poems/Poemprnt.cfm?45442B7C000C04050974 This poem relates to the slaves and their experiences in America. As students read of the lives they lead it will be important to see it through as many venues as possible. After reading this, they may have a different perception of Jim. Back to Top Post-Reading Activities 1) Maseda, Marissa & Stephen Shepherd. “Huck Finn gets sent down the river.” http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/huckcen/PointCounter.html This website offers two arguments about banning and censoring Huck Finn in the classroom. Students will be able to see both sides of the issue and then be able to come to their own conclusions about whether or not the book should be banned in classrooms. 2) “Racism.” http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/huckcen/ComptonRacism.html Salwen, Peter. “Is Huck Finn a Racist Book?” http://www.salwen.com/mtrace.html “Racism in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.” http://studyworld.com/basementpapers/papers/stack29_3.html These three websites all offer interesting facts about whether or not Huck Finn is a racist novel. Each address both sides and talk about how it is a is not a racist novel. After reading the novel, students can read these articles and then make their own decision. 3) Beckett, Jamie “San Jose Parents Group Wants Book Optional.” Chronicle South Bay Bureau. 17 October 1995. http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/huckcen/vshuck1.html Ibid. “South Bay School Board Tackles ‘Huck’ Debate.” 27 October 1995. These two websites show how one community fought the school board trying to make Huck Finn an optional read rather than a required read. I think it is important for students to realize that this is an important issue even today. 4) “Themes, Motifs, and Symbols.” http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/huckfinn/themes.html This website talks about the possible themes of the novel. It also addresses the different motifs present in the novel. Lastly, it talks about symbolism in the novel. Students can use these ideas to build upon their current knowledge of the story and then find ways to relate it to their world. 5) Britton, Wesley. “The Trial of Huckleberry Finn.” http://www.yorku.ca/twainweb/filelist/trialhf.html Here, Britton has put together an actual trial of the novel and of Mark Twain. Britton has written the script and it would be great if students were assigned roles and then “performed” for each other the trial of the novel. A black critic tells Twain his opinion of the novel and what he finds to be incorrect in the novel. Students could really enjoy this and they could also learn and great deal. 6) Walker, Diane. “The Trial of Mark Twain.” http://www.uhigh.ilstu.edu/labschool/ep/vol3/twain.html Walker has put together an activity that students do after completing the reading of the novel. This activity puts Mark Twain himself in the hot seat and gives students a chance to ask questions of him. Students are put on the prosecution or defense team. Students could also be assigned the roles of witness, judge, court clerk, and one student will be Mark Twain himself. Students do research and plan their arguments and then spend time actually trying Mark Twain for promoting racism in the novel. 7) “Quotations from Huckleberry Finn” http://www.etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/hfquots/html This website has a series of different quotations from the novel that were used in newspaper articles and reviews that appeared after the book was published. Students will be interested to see how different people interpreted these different passages. Perhaps a pair of students could be assigned one quotation and could study it and report back to the class. 8) “Touring With Cable and Huck.” http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/hftourhp.html This website shows different aspects of Twain’s tour as he tried to promote the book. He talks about how he toured with a man named George Washington Cable and how that affected the selling of his novel. It even gives some great quotations from Twain. 9) “Selling Huck Finn.” http://extext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/hucprohp.html Here viewers can see how different aspects of the novel were changed in order to help sell the novel better. Students can see different additions to the novel and other places where things were taken out. It is the same with the different illustrations in the novel. I think students would find this very interesting and intriguing. They could be asked to discuss why they think certain things were taken out or added. 10) “Important Quotations Explained.” http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/huckfinn/quotes.html This website allows students to look at important passages from the novel and then look at explanations for why those passages are important. Students can look through them prior to being told the explanations and try to decide for themselves what quotations are important and why they are important.

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