What should you do since we didn't have class?

First, debrief about the day... talk to your parents, read the news, do what you need to do to feel normal again... then:

Follow your reading schedule and write the mini-essay due Wed.
I know you missed today's conversations, but you can still write the min-essay.  Wed is a minimum day, but we;ll work hard to get you guys caught up, so don't worry :)

Please pass the word along to your friends who might not think to check the blog.   See you Wed.
-Ms Ohana

What others have said about Twain

".the first truly American writer, and all of us since are his heirs."
-- William Faulkner

"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called "Huckleberry Finn." all American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since."
-- Ernest Hemingway

"The mark of how good '"Huckleberry Finn" has to be is that one can compare it to a number of our best modern American novels and it stands up page for page, awkward here, sensational there - absolutely the equal of one of those rare incredible first novels that come along once or twice in a decade."
-- Norman Mailer

"I believe that Mark Twain had a clearer vision of life, that he came nearer to its elementals and was less deceived by its false appearances, than any other American who has ever presumed to manufacture generalizations, not excepting Emerson. I believe that he was the true father of our national literature, the first genuinely American artist of the royal blood."
-- H.L. Mencken

Do you agree with these people?  Why or why not?

What did Twain sat about Thanksgiving?

Here's what Mark Twain wrote about Thanksgiving:

• "The observance of Thanksgiving Day--as a function--has become general of late years. The Thankfulness is not so general. This is natural. Two-thirds of the nation have always had hard luck and a hard time during the year, and this has a calming effect upon their enthusiasm."
  - Following the Equator
  
• "Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for--annually, not oftener--if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man's side, consequently on the Lord's side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual annual compliments."
  - Mark Twain's Autobiography
  
• "THANKSGIVING DAY. Let us all give humble, hearty, and sincere thanks now, but the turkeys. In the island of Fiji they do not use turkeys; they use plumbers. It does not become you and me to sneer at Fiji."
  -The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
  
• "No one ever seems to think of the Deity's side of it; apparently no one concerns himself to inquire how much or how little He has had to be thankful for during the same period; apparently no one has had good feeling enough to wish He might have a Thanksgiving day too. There is nothing right about this."
  - A Thanksgiving Sentiment

Things for true Twain fans

Would you like a Mark Twain screen saver? 
To watch Ken Burns movie about Mark Twain (in 24 parts, but still good)? 
Play a Mark Twain trivia game?
Visit the Huck Finn web page?

Thinksgiving Reading

You have been given quite a few pages to read over Thanksgiving.  What questions come up as you're reading?  How is Huck changing?  Does anything strike you as strange in the story?  Post questions and comments about the reading in response to this post.  I encourage you to comment on your classmate's comments.

Twain's Other Works

Read another text by Twain ( He wrote TONS of material--I suggest an essay or short story).  Comment on it:
Ideas:
Was it funny?  If so why?
How did it relate to Huck Finn?
What did it reveal about Twain? 
What was the theme or message of the piece?
How does the way he wrote it relate to his message?

Other Things by Twain

Mark Twain in the News

Even though he's been dead for decades, there are still regular mentions of Twain in the news.  Whether it's the publication of his autobiography, a new book about his affair, a bit about Tina Fey winning the Mark Twain Prize for humor, or an allusion to one of his short stories in a local newspaper, he's everywhere!  Find a contemporary news text which refers to Twain and post the link in the comment section for all of us to see.  Along with your post, give a brief (1-2 sentence) explanation.

Reading Schedule

Huck Finn Reading/ Writing Schedule

	Date due	Chapters Read	Mini-Essay Topic
1	11/18	1-3
2	11/22	4-7	Voice and style of the storyteller
3	11/29	8-18	Please note this is DOUBLE the reading, so you are NOT required to write anything.
4	12/1	19-22	Jim and Huck’s relationship
5	12/3	23-28	The Significance of a Minor Character (anyone other than Jim or Huck)
6	12/9	29-33	Directions (N,S,E,W)
7	12/13	33-38	Ethics
8	12/15	39- end	Theme

Instead of writing a final essay on this book, you will write many mini-essays, one for each night that you are reading Huck Finn.  Each mini-essay should be 1-2 pages typed and double spaced.  It should express an opinion on the given topic, as related to the reading, and support that opinion with evidence and analytical commentary from the text. 

Ideally, this frequent writing will give you a chance to explore lots of different ideas and also polish your writing skills.  Sometimes the topic will build off of the previous day’s discussion, inviting you to apply the ideas to a new section of reading, and sometimes it will help to prepare you for the topic of the following class meeting.  The extra special benefit of this is that there will be NO reading or writing assigned over Winter break, since we will have already done all of our reading and writing for Huck Finn.

Because this is a lot of writing, I will not be reading all of your pieces.  I will read approximately 1/3 of the pieces turned in at a time, but not disclose which 1/3 I am reading until everyone has had a piece read.  This means that 1/3 of your pieces will be read by me, but as you don’t know which, it is in your best interest to consistently do your best work.  If your piece is chosen to be read, and if you did not do the piece, you will receive a zero.  Though I will not read all of your pieces, other students will occasionally read your work. 

Read the attached letter to the editor that Twain wrote.  What does it tell you about him?  What kind of obituary do you think he's looking for?  Either comment or attempt to write an obituary that would make him proud!

Letter to the Editor

Twain's Ideas about humor

Read this essay by Twain about humor and then decide if you think Huck Finn fits his definition?  What contemporary texts (books, magazines, TV shows) fit it?

How to Tell a Story

THE HUMOROUS STORY AN AMERICAN
DEVELOPMENT.--IT'S DIFFERENCE
FROM COMIC AND WITTY STORIES. I do not claim that I can tell a story as it ought to be told. I only claim to know how a story ought to be told, for I have been almost daily in the company of the most expert storytellers for many years.
There are several kinds of stories, but only one difficult kind--the humorous. I will talk mainly about that one. The humorous story is American, the comic story is English, the witty story is French. The humorous story depends for its effect upon the manner of the telling; the comic story and the witty story upon the matter.
The humorous story may be spun out to great length, and may wander around as much as it pleases, and arrive nowhere in particular; but the comic and witty stories must be brief and end with a point. The humorous story bubbles gently along, the others burst.
The humorous story is strictly a work of art,--high and delicate art,--and only an artist can tell it; but no art is necessary in telling the comic and the witty story; anybody can do it. The art of telling a humorous story--understand, I mean by word of mouth, not print--was created in America, and has remained at home.
The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it; but the teller of the comic story tells you beforehand that it is one of the funniest things he has ever heard, then tells it with eager delight, and is the first person to laugh when he gets through. And sometimes, if he has had good success, he is so glad and happy that he will repeat the "nub" of it and glance around from face to face, collecting applause, and then repeat it again. It is a pathetic thing to see.
Very often, of course, the rambling and disjointed humorous story finishes with a nub, point, snapper, or whatever you like to call it. Then the listener must be alert, for in many cases the teller will divert attention from that nub by dropping it in a carefully casual and indifferent way, with the pretense that he does not know it is a nub.
Artemus Ward used that trick a good deal; then when the belated audience presently caught the joke he would look up with innocent surprise, as if wondering what they had found to laugh at. Dan Setchell used it before him, Nye and Riley and others use it to-day.
But the teller of the comic story does not slur the nub; he shouts at you--every time. And when he prints it, in England, France, Germany and Italy, he italicises it, puts some whooping exclamation-points after it, and sometimes explains it in a parenthesis. All of which is very depressing, and makes one want to renounce joking and lead a better life.
Let me set down an instance of the comic method, using an anecdote which has been popular all over the world for twelve or fifteen hundred years. The teller tells it in this way:
THE WOUNDED SOLDIER In the course of a certain battle a soldier whose leg had been shot off appealed to another soldier who was hurrying by to carry him to the rear, informing him at the same time of the loss which he had sustained; whereupon the generous son of Mars, shouldering the unfortunate, proceeded to carry out his desire. The bullets and cannon-balls were flying in all directions, and presently one of the latter took the wounded man's head off--without, however, his deliverer being aware of it. In no long time he was hailed by an officer, who said:
"Where are you going with that carcass?"
"To the rear, sir--he's lost his leg!"
"His leg, forsooth?" responded the astonished officer; "you mean his head, you booby."
Whereupon the soldier dispossessed himself of his burden, and stood looking down upon it in great perplexity. At length he said:
"It is true, sir, just as you have said." Then after a pause he added, "But he TOLD me IT WAS HIS LEG!!!!!"

---

Here the narrator bursts into explosion after explosion of thunderous horse-laughter, repeating that nub from time to time through his gaspings and shriekings and suffocatings.
It takes only a minute and a half to tell that in its comic-story form; and isn't worth the telling, after all. Put into the humorous-story form it takes ten minutes, and is about the funniest thing I have ever listened to--as James Whitcomb Riley tells it.
He tells it in the character of a dull-witted old farmer who has just heard it for the first time, thinks it unspeakably funny, and is trying to repeat it to a neighbor. But he can't remember it; so he gets it all mixed up and wanders helplessly round and round, putting in tedious details that don't belong in the tale and only retard it; taking them out conscientiously and putting in others that are just as useless; making minor mistakes now and then and stopping to correct them and explain how he came to make them; remembering things which he forgot to put in in their proper place and going back to put them in there; stopping his narrative a good while in order to try to recall the name of the soldier that was hurt, and finally remembering that the soldier's name was not mentioned, and remarking placidly that the name is of no real importance, after all,--and so on, and so on, and so on.
The teller is innocent and happy and pleased with himself, and has to stop every little while to hold himself in and keep from laughing outright; and does hold in, but his body quakes in a jelly-like way with interior chuckles; and at the end of the ten minutes the audience have laughed until they are exhausted, and the tears are running down their faces.
The simplicity and innocence and sincerity and unconsciousness of the old farmer are perfectly simulated, and the result is a performance which is thoroughly charming and delicious. This is art--and fine and beautiful, and only a master can compass it; but a machine could tell the other story.
To string incongruities and absurdities together in a wandering and sometimes purposeless way, and seem innocently unaware that they are absurdities, is the basis of the American art, if my position is correct. Another feature is the slurring of the point. A third is the dropping of a studied remark apparently without knowing it, as if one were thinking aloud. The fourth and last is the pause.
Artemus Ward dealt in numbers three and four a good deal. He would begin to tell with great animation something which he seemed to think was wonderful; then lose confidence, and after an apparently absent-minded pause add an incongruous remark in a soliloquizing way; and that was the remark intended to explode the mine--and it did.
For instance, he would say eagerly, excitedly, "I once knew a man in New Zealand who hadn't a tooth in his head"--here his animation would die out; a silent, reflective pause would follow, then he would say dreamily, and as if to himself, "and yet that man could beat a drum better than any man I ever saw."
The pause is an exceedingly important feature in any kind of story, and a frequently recurring feature, too. It is a dainty thing, and delicate, and also uncertain and treacherous; for it must be exactly the right length--no more and no less--or it fails of its purpose and makes trouble. If the pause is too short the impressive point is passed, and the audience have had time to divine that a surprise is intended--and then you can't surprise them, of course.
On the platform I used to tell a negro ghost story that had a pause in front of the snapper on the end, and that pause was the most important thing in the whole story. If I got it the right length precisely, I could spring the finishing ejaculation with effect enough to make some impressionable girl deliver a startled little yelp and jump out of her seat--and that was what I was after. This story was called "The Golden Arm," and was told in this fashion. You can practise with it yourself--and mind you look out for the pause and get it right.
THE GOLDEN ARM Once 'pon a time dey wuz a monsus mean man, en he live 'way out in de prairie all 'lone by hisself, 'cep'n he had a wife. En bimeby she died, en he tuck en toted her way out dah in de prairie en buried her. Well, she had a golden arm--all solid gold, fum de shoulder down. He wuz pow'ful mean--pow'ful; en dat night he couldn't sleep, caze he want dat golden arm so bad.
When it come midnight he couldn't stan' it no mo'; so he git up, he did, en tuck his lantern en shoved out thoo de storm en dug her up en got de golden arm; en he bent his head down 'gin de win', en plowed en plowed en plowed thoo de snow. Den all on a sudden he stop (make a considerable pause here, and look startled, and take a listening attitude) en say: "My lan', what's dat!"
En he listen--en listen--en de win' say (set your teeth together and imitate the wailing and wheezing singsong of the wind), "Bzzz-z-zzz"--en den, way back yonder what de grave is, he hear a voice!--he hear a voice all mix' up in de win'--can't hardly tell 'em 'part--"Bzzz-zzz--W-h-o--g-o-t--m-y--g-o-l-d-e-n--arm?--zzz--zzz--W-h-o g-o-t m-y g-o-l-d-e-n arm?" (You must begin to shiver violently now.)
En he begin to shiver en shake, en say, "Oh, my! Oh, my lan'!" en de win' blow de lantern out, en de snow en sleet blow in his face en mos' choke him, en he start a-plowin' knee-deep toward home mos' dead, he so sk'yerd--en pooty soon he hear de voice agin, en (pause) it 'us comin' after him! "Bzzz--zzz--zzz--W-h-o--g-o-t--m-y g-o-l-d-e-n--arm?"
When he git to de pasture he hear it agin--closter now, en a-comin'!--a-comin' back dah in de dark en de storm--(repeat the wind and the voice). When he git to de house he rush up-stairs en jump in de bed en kiver up, head and years, en lay dah shiverin' en shakin'--en den way out dah he hear it again!--en a-comin'! En bimeby he hear (pause--awed, listening attitude)--pat--pat--pat--hit's a-comin' up-stairs! Den he hear de latch, en he know it's in de room!
Den pooty soon he know it's a-stannin' by de bed! (Pause.) Den--he know it's a--bendin' down over him--en he cain't skasely git his breath! Den--den--he seem to feel someth'n c-o-l-d, right down 'most agin his head! (Pause.)
Den de voice say, right at his year--"W-h-o--g-o-t--m-y--g-o-l-d-e-n arm?" (You must wail it out very plaintively and accusingly; then you stare steadily and impressively into the face of the farthest-gone auditor,--a girl, preferably,--and let that awe-inspiring pause begin to build itself in the deep hush. When it has reached exactly the right length, jump suddenly at that girl and yell, "You've got it!"
If you've got the pause right, she'll fetch a dear little yelp and spring right out of her shoes. But you must get the pause right; and you will find it the most troublesome and aggravating and uncertain thing you ever undertook.)
--October 1895

Disliking Books- One critics views on Huck Finn

This is one of my all time favorite critical essays.  I strongly encourage you to check it out!  Graff talks about why he hated reading as a kid, how he learned to love it, the importance of talking/ arguing about what we read, and of course, Huck Finn.  Read and discuss:
1) In what ways do you agree or disagree?
2) How has your own journey as a reader been similar to or different from Graff's experience?

Disliking Books At An Early Age

First Mini-Essay

Stuck for ideas?  You might discuss:
An illustration
Sentence or paragraph length
sentence structure or length
chapter organization
dilect
topics of speach
imagery
literary devices (metaphor, symbolism, etc)
what aspects of a story are included/ excluded
diction/ word choice

got other ideas?  then share them...

Huck Finn- What did people think of it when it first came out?

Follow this link to read reviews of the book when it first came out.  HF Reviews
If you see anything interesting, feel free to comment.  You may also get ideas for your min-papers.

Writing Help for College Essay (and other things)

A friend of mine, who is a writing teacher, has started doing college essay coaching.  If interested, please check out her blog: Chloe Miller: Writing Coach  You can also reach her at chloemiller@gmail.com.  Mention that you saw her blog post, and she'll give you a free 20 minute consultation (online or via phone because she isn't local).  We will be doing a unit on this in the spring, when you are closer to applying, but I know that some of you are super conscientious and are already thinking about it, so here you are :)

Another English Resource

Alise is friend of mine, who volunteered in my class, so many of you met last year, has started a blog devoted to helping students be successful in English.  Feel free to use it.  Post questions, etc.  Alise is very excited and eager to help you!  My guess is that if you asked, she would be more than happy to help edit drafts of papers etc.
English Nerds

Optional Source for Crucible Essay

I thought that some of you might want to use the Weschler/ McCarthy script for your Crucible essay, but of course it isn't available on line.. so I scanned it into the computer... but of course blogger doesn't let me attach pdf files... so I had to use another site in order to post them.. which means that if you want to access them, you'll need to click on the links provided in the 3 unlabeled posts containing the links W and M p1, p2, and p3.

If anyone finds other sources that might be helpful,or if you'd like to swap ideas about possible things to relate to the crucible, please feel free to post them. I look forward to your ideas.

I also found this and thought you might be interested:
patriot act

On another note, if you get stuck writing your paper, please go back to the journal we did in class on Monday.  You should be able to pull a thesis out of the work you did on an event that's similar to the Crucible.  It's best if a theme/ message from The Crucible can also be applied to the event (then you won't have the "so what?" factor).   You should be able to pull your topic sentences out of the specific commonalities you found (consider aspects of setting, character, and plot).  Apply everything you've learned about essays so far... and since it's an at home essay, please make sure that it's in MLA format. You can review it using the links in the sidebar.  If you have any questions, please post them.  I will be camping for the weekend, so won't be able to answer questions until I return, but I encourage you to help each other in working through questions and confusions.

M and W p3

M and W p2

M and W p1