Here's my introductory paragraph. Comment it on anything that seems wrong if you want. Don't if you don't. Mostly I'm just stalling because I have to find quotes to back my opinion up (I can understand that my teacher is required to give us a paper that covers parenthetical citation and quotes and such, but couldn't she pick a better topic to give to us that isn't just us giving our opinion [thus sort of negating the use of quotes since an opinion is an opinion no matter who gives it]), and I don't want to. So....
(erm... Ignore any formatting problems since this is a copy and paste from Word)
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Throughout the country, parents are crying out against the supposed racism present throughout Mark Twain’s famous novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (henceforth referred to as Huck Finn for convenience), and demanding the book be removed from the current school curriculum. These concerned citizens declare that the historically accurate depiction of African Americans and slavery damage the minds of our youth; the novel allegedly teaches students to discriminate against black people and revert back to the times of slavery and segregation. This is, however, an absurd idea spurred by the current American fixation that everything must be done in a way that could, in no way, insult or look down upon any social group, except for those deemed damaging by the omnipotent soccer moms of America. The protest against Huck Finn is made even more absurd by the fact that Mark Twain uses satire and irony to speak against the image of white superiority and slavery.
Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
Is the essay about themes in Huck Finn, is it about Huck Finn being used in schools, or is it about stupid people?
Those are three distinct topics, and as I assume you are writing one essay, you probably want to stick to one of them. For my money, to pull your opening together, you need to generation one question that your essay is going to try to explore.
[ February 06, 2005, 10:25 PM: Message edited by: Irami Osei-Frimpong ]
Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
A few suggestions.
Throughout the country,(no need for coma) parents are crying out against the supposed racism present throughout Mark Twain’s famous novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (henceforth referred to as Huck Finn for convenience),(I think better as a second sentence.) and demanding the book be removed from the current school curriculum. These concerned citizens declare that the historically accurate depiction(is it an accurate discription of the people, or the way they were thought of?) of African Americans and slavery damage the minds of our youth;(No need for semi-colon. new sentence is better) the novel allegedly teaches students to discriminate against black people and revert back to the times of slavery and segregation. This is, however, an absurd idea spurred by the current American fixation that everything must be done in a way that could, in no way, insult or *look down upon*(maybe demean instead?) any social group,* except for those deemed damaging by the omnipotent soccer moms of America.*(kind of uneeded for the point) The protest against Huck Finn is made even more absurd by the fact that Mark Twain uses satire and irony to speak against the image of white superiority and slavery.
Posted by Ginol_Enam (Member # 7070) on :
Thanks! I got rid of the thing about soccer moms. I got my personal feelings get in the way a little of the paper...
Here's the second paragraph. I made the same above mistake and pretty much wrote the whole thing about the lady I'm quoting and how stupid she is. I realized it wasn't working, though, and rewrote it to how it is now:
Marissa Maseda writes an article in which a “lone African American student [is] sitting in a classroom filled with mostly white students, reading [Huck Finn].” She then asks what those white students could be “thinking and feeling about [the African American Student]” after reading about how “his race was treated by the ancestors of those in the room with him.” Decriers against Huck Finn constantly use the defense that the discrimination of the white characters against the black characters in the novel causes mental segregation between classmates. This notion is nonsensical. The strife between white people and black people in history is not only common knowledge, but taught in American classrooms everyday. US History textbooks around the nation chronicle the treatment of African Americans by Caucasians throughout the country’s history. The relatively recent turnaround of events delegates only the last few chapters to record the events of a comparatively racism free nation. If that African American student goes through so much turmoil during only a few weeks of reading Huck Finn, it is hard to consider the torture of nearly a full year of being told the horrible treatment blacks had to suffer through during much of American history. If this is so, then why hasn’t American History been banned from schools or the section about slavery been edited out? It is partially, perhaps, because slavery and discrimination do not cause widespread strife through the races. Mostly, though, it is because the treatment of blacks should not simply be forgotten; little black children should not be rushed out of a room anytime their ancestor’s tribulations are brought into attention. If anything, that period of time should be used to celebrate how far America has come in terms of equality. Slavery should be treated much as one would treat tripping and falling: embarrassing while it occurs, but something to look back at and laugh at the absurdity afterwards.
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Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
You don't need to state what you'll be referring to it as, just start referring to it in shortened form. Its common practice to do when the shortened form is obvious.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
quote:Slavery should be treated much as one would treat tripping and falling: embarrassing while it occurs, but something to look back at and laugh at the absurdity afterwards.
This is insulting, very much so, to me.
BTW, I am white.
Kwea
Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
quote:If that African American student goes through so much turmoil during only a few weeks of reading Huck Finn, it is hard to consider the torture of nearly a full year of being told the horrible treatment blacks had to suffer through during much of American history. If this is so, then why hasn’t American History been banned from schools or the section about slavery been edited out?
I think you would do well to think more on the exact quality of turmoil you describe here. You are introducing a thorny problem here, it's just that you don't address it. What exactly is the torture you are talking about?
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
All I can suggest is that you not take the angle I did when I wrote a required essay on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in school. The assignment was to explain why the author wrote the book.
I wrote that he needed money. His business was loising it, his daughter had died, and he needed something commercial, fast. Took about a paragraph. When the teacher complained, saying she was looking for the author's message, I pointed out the preamble in the book that says outright something like, "Anyone attempting to find a moral in this book will be shot" and said I didn't want to go againt the author's express wishes.
I had to pick another book.
Posted by Ginol_Enam (Member # 7070) on :
quote:This is insulting, very much so, to me.
BTW, I am white.
Kwea
Really? I was trying to convey that slavery is an embarassing point of time in history, but rather than try to hide it ever happened, we should be glad that it was ended and such. Not laugh at it as "Ha ha! Slavery is funny!" but as "Boy are ancestors were stupid!"
I guess I could just say it...
quote:I think you would do well to think more on the exact quality of turmoil you describe here. You are introducing a thorny problem here, it's just that you don't address it. What exactly is the torture you are talking about?
I was referring back to the quotes at the beginning of the paragraph. The quotes present a situation where a black student in a moslty white class has to confront what the white students must be thinking of him, which implies discomfort and turmoil, I thought. The section you quoted alludes back to that, saying that if the exposure to the past in just Huck Finn was damaging, what would a history class do?
If the first part isn't clear enough, I could maybe add a bit more from the original article.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
The only issue I have is that you seem very biased in your opinion. You seem to completely reject the oposing view. That's not the best way to aproach this subject. It may be a good idea to find a few more articles to support your view, or some more that give a better view of the oposing view. If I remember correctly, Toni Morrison (Who wrote "Beloved," a highly respected black author) actually recommends that people read Huck Finn. If you can find what she said about it (Which I can't at the moment) it might help you prove your point. It's a good idea to support your views by having critics argue with one another, rather than arguing with a critic on your own. An example of this would be like saying, "So and so says huck finn is a terrible book and should be banned, however, this other person, who happens to be a respected African American author says it is merely misunderstood, and if viewed in the proper way...etc. etc. etc."
But then, that's how my teachers make me do things for Senior level college classes. High School is probably less demanding, but I'd bet you'll get a much better grade on the paper by doing the critic argument thing
[ February 06, 2005, 11:51 PM: Message edited by: Boris ]
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
quote: I wrote that he needed money. His business was loising it, his daughter had died, and he needed something commercial, fast. Took about a paragraph. When the teacher complained, saying she was looking for the author's message, I pointed out the preamble in the book that says outright something like, "Anyone attempting to find a moral in this book will be shot" and said I didn't want to go againt the author's express wishes.
Yeah, my teachers hated me for pretty much the same reasons Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
I'm following your argument just fine until I get to your conclusion that we should laugh and shrug off any mention of slavery. I sort of get what you're saying, sort of, but it comes across as pretty offensive. What you seem to be forgetting is that, for a lot of people, hearing about the history of slavery in this country really does hit close to home. Some people watch Roots and are able to shrug it off and simply think, "well, at least we're not doing that anymore!", but many others watch it and can easily put themselves into those situations, and feel the agony of it. It's not so easy for everyone to just laugh at and move on. I know that, personally, I get very upset whenever the Holocaust is brought up, as it's hard for me not to imagine my loved ones being herded into a gas chamber had they been so unlucky as to have been born a few decades earlier, so I tend to avoid discussions about it.
I agree that people who advocate banning Huck Finn because it might hurt someone's feelings are wrong, but I don't necessarily think they're stupid. You would win a lot more people over to your side if you were a little more open-minded about different ways of looking at this.
[/soapbox]
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
You lost me at the theme-- it's hyperbole.
There is no great movement that I've noticed calling for Huck Finn's ban.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
I had the same reaction as ScottR.
Yes, Huck Finn is on the list of books that people have attempted to ban, but to imply that there's a wave of parental outcry sweeping the country is unsupported. Do you have anything to back up that claim?
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
I agree with Scott R.
Maybe the essay could focus on how this book has become rallying point for some and talk about what their attitude is, why they hold it, and why this book is or is not a good exemplar of what they are concerned with.
Or, if it has to be a report ABOUT the book, then I'd suggest just examining Twain's treatment of his characters and how he writes that they treat each other. Is he consistent in his treatment of Jim? or is Jim sometimes being very clever and other times being the unwitting victim? Is Tom in any way "enlightened" or is he just genuinely fond of Jim but still treating him like a family resource?
If shifts in attitude are taking place, why? If they aren't, why not?
Oh well...I suppose you could've ended up with a more difficult assignment, like Uncle Tom's Cabin...
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
quote: (henceforth referred to as Huck Finn for convenience)
I'm not sure you really need this. It kind of strays off topic. This is all I could see that was annoying/wrong/needing to be fixed but I'm in a hurry so there could be more.
Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
Try this:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ("Huck Finn")...
![[Smile]](smile.gif)