Huck Finn Literature Circle # 3

Chapters 21-29

Summarizer (5-7 minutes)

Share your assessment of the major events of chapter 21-29. Make sure you clearly outline each chapter

Group members may add to the summary, but be RESPECTFUL

This is a good time to clarify any confusion you may have had while reading these chapters

Discussion director should make sure everyone stays on task.

Illustrator (5 minutes)

Share your illustration with your group and explain why you chose what you did. Make sure you are detailed.

Other group members should ask questions and make connections to what the summarizer said

Discussion Director (7-10 minutes)

Begin asking and discussing your questions. Make sure you facilitate the discussion so it lasts the full time period. Make sure you invite everyone to participate in the discussion; don’t monopolize the conversation. Get it going and then allow others to comment.

Illuminator (7-10 minutes)

Share your passages and insights. Make sure you tell your group the page number.

This is a good time to discuss the passages, add to the discussion as the illuminator shares (discussion director, you should be exceptionally perceptive in adding your thoughts here)

Word Watcher (5-7 minutes)

Share the words and their significance with particular attention paid to historical/biographical significance—

If you do not have a word watcher, you should work together as a group to find important words in the passage to record.

Connector (7-10 minutes) Share your connections to the text and encourage your

group to add their own thoughts to your connections. Complete the different steps 1 and 3 for a feminist

reading paying particular attention to Mary Jane, Susannah, and Joanna Wilkes, Emeline and Sophie Grangerford, and Mrs. Loftus. Then as a group draw a conclusion about how Mark Twain views the female role Step 1: Consider the roles and situations of female characters

(or lack thereof). Make lists of different aspects of the female character's place in the overall story. Include anecdotal scenarios

Step 3: Review the role of female characters in relation to their male counterparts. Literary criticism has its famous set of contrasts, for example, man vs. nature, nature vs. society, that set up points of inquiry. In this case, your fundamental contrast would be woman vs. man.

Next Lit Circle (11/15) chapters 30-38 Discussion director will be

the illuminator Illuminator will be the

illustrator Illustrator will be the

connector Connector will be the

summarizer Summarizer will be the

discussion director

Discussion director will be the illuminator

Illuminator will be the illustrator

Illustrator will be the connector

Connector will be the summarizer

Summarizer will be the Word Watcher

Word Watcher will be the discussion director

Huck Finn

chapters 21-29

Females in Huck Finn

Widow Douglas Miss Watson Mrs. Loftus Emeline Grangerford Sophie Grangerford MaryJane Wilkes Susannah Wilkes Joannah Wilkes

Huck’s Morality

Demonstrated and tested through Mary Jane. Huck decides that he can’t let the King and

the Duke take all the inheritance money from Mary Jane, Johanna the harelip and Susanna.

He hides the money in a __________ Coffin

FALLS BACK ON THE STEREOTYPE! Huck blames the __________. (Huck’s morality keeps shifting) Slaves

Mary Jane

Mary Jane is a SYMBOL of Good (Who was the symbol of evil and corruption?) PAP

What are some examples? Worries over the slaves who will never see their

families again Huck tells Mary Jane to leave because she can’t lie Huck is shocked because she prays for him Huck gives a speech about how perfect she is!

(crush?) Mary Jane represents all the morality and goodness

that Huck is trying to find within himself

SaTiRe

Mocking society

What’s the point?

Grangerfords and Shepherdsons: Twain’s Satire Turns Dark Targets the cult of Southern aristocracy and the

traditions of dueling and feuding. Thoughts on death—pg 107

It’s okay to kill if you’re in a feud! What is Twain’s tone toward the Grangerfords and

Shepherdsons? Negative—disdainful: seen through Huck’s observation:

pg. 109 church sermons Huck calls Col. Grangerford a gentlemen—what is

ironic about this? He goes around shooting at others all day long

Huck and Buck

What do you notice about the names? Huck becomes very attached to Buck—sees

something of himself in Buck Compare Buck and Tom:

proper behavior “It’s done because its done” no other reason. Warning against the dangers of blind following

Huck sees no honor or tradition in Huck sees no honor or tradition in it; he just sees dead young men. it; he just sees dead young men. First death—Buck diesFirst death—Buck dies

Without Jim…

Huck feels lost Huck is confused Huck discovers the cruelties of life

The Duke & The Dauphin (King) Conmen and Satire

Professional conmen- What do they do to make money?Trick peopleDuke: selling fake products that don’t work

(toothpaste that take tartar and enamel off your teeth)

King: running a temperance revival and charging money each night while drinking on the sly

Huck does not believe their story. So why does he let them stay?

He wants to avoid conflict

The king himself

The king is basically and idiot. BUT he is smarter than the churchgoers! What is Twain saying about religious fanatics?

Overkill and gullible

What is he saying about the average man? Easily manipulated

“Royal Nonesuch” The sign “Ladies and Children Not Permitted suggests what?

Scandal Who comes to the shows?

All the townsmen Why does it attract a large crowd?

An element of danger and “badness” What is Twain saying about human beings through this

Satire? We are easily manipulated to want what we shouldn’t

The men who have been conned decide to let the other men in the town be conned before the run the King and the Duke out! What does this say about society’s morality? We don’t want to be alone in our stupidity It’s okay to get revenge It’s okay to con if you have been conned

Sherburn and Boggs: Southern Bravery? Second death: Boggs Colonel Sherburn: speech is a violent criticism of the

myth of Southern Bravery—compare to Grangerford episode (criticism of Southern Honor)

Sherburn compares these people to the KKK when he says “You didn’t bring a man with you?”—mob mentality

Twain is making the point that it is better to act on your own and not through mob mentality.

Dr. Robinson::The fall of KING and DUKE Dr. Robinson tries telling everything they’re

stupid for believing the King/Duke. When that fails, Dr. Robinson changes his

approach: He doesn’t accuse them, but SUGGESTS

they may be frauds so the townspeople come to their own conclusion: allows them to keep their pride

Changed Language

Read passages—what do we notice is different? Passage 1: No vernacularPassage 2: Vernacular– why?

Twain’s Purpose

Twain shows that the average man is fairly incapable of accepting that someone else may be smarter or wiser than himself. Only someone on his level should be revered or heard.