Directions

//The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// began stirring controversy from the time it was first published in 1885, roughly twenty years after the abolition of slavery here in the United States. Ernest Hemingway called it "one book" from which "all modern American literature" came. It is today one of the most widely read and taught books in American literature. At the same time, it was widely viewed as "unrefined" and "dangerous" by Mark Twain's contemporary reviewers and is often seen as a "racist book" by moden day commentators. It is a book that has been banned, burned, //**and**// praised as often as not.

Putting all of this aside, though, it is a book that was written well over one hundred years ago, by a now dead, white, male author. It is a very important question to ask, then, in today's multicultural, gender balanced (maybe):


 * Each student in this class will create a webpage that explores both the historical and contemporary importance of Mark Twain's most famous novel.**

At its most basic level, your assignment will be to answer the following questions:


 * How is** //**Huck Finn**// **a critique of institutions, traditions, practices, and social characteristics of Twain's time period?**
 * How does** //**Huck Finn**// **work as a critique of our modern society and its institutions, traditions, and practices?**

Select one event from the novel that functions as a commentary on a part of society, its traditions, practices, or institutions (eg. marriage, law, education, etc.) Summarize the event and write an analysis of the event, focusing on Twain's commentary on that aspect of society. Research a historic event (post Civil War to the publication of the novel) that fits the topic introduced in the episode you've selected from the novel. Summarize the event and explain how Twain's novel acts as a critique of that event. Research a contemporary event similar (in terms of underlying ideas and issues or in terms of what happened) to the historic event that you have chosen. Again, summarize the event and explain how Twain's novel still acts as a critique of this event even though his novel was written so long ago. Write an essay that proposes a satirical solution to the problem suggested by your current event.

Episode from the novel selected (12/18) Historic and contemporary events (12/20) Web page, first three sections, complete and edited (1/8) Satyrical Essay 1st draft (1/10) Completed Web page with all parts of the project (1/12)

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