Huck Finn Experience

1. Have you read the novel –Huck Finn- before?  If so where and why?

Yes.  I read an abridged children’s version of the novel in elementary school just for fun and another version of it in high school as assigned reading in an English class.

3. What was your response to reading Huck Finn, and what do you remember from your reading?  Also, did you actually read the whole novel, or just parts of it?  Did you read Cliff Notes or Monarch Notes instead?

When I first read Huck Finn I really enjoyed it.  I thought the story was fun and definitely didn’t understand the deeper troubles behind the novel.  In high school, we only read parts of it and I definitely used Sparknotes to supplement the story when I didn’t understand or was bogged down by all the detail.   This time I read most all of it and found it to be so much deeper and more grotesque than what I had read before.

4. If you were assigned to read Huck Finn in a previous class, either here or in high school, how did your class as a whole react to the novel?  Why do you think your instructor assigned the novel?  How did he or she try to “teach” the novel?

My class seemed to also enjoy the book for its entertaining qualities.  We read only parts of it and went pretty fast so I don’t think we really considered much about the implications of the novel and what it was implying about racism and humanity.  I honestly don’t remember a lot about how my teacher presented the novel because parts of the class read different books and we didn’t spend a lot of class time discussing it.

5. If you were required to read Huck Finn in a previous class, what sort of assignments were you required to complete, and what exactly did you do during the classes when

Huck Finn was being discussed.

I remember having to make a large visual project and made a huge 3D map of Huck and Jim’s journey down the Mississippi, complete with a little raft made of twigs.  I don’t think we discussed the novel in class any deeper than the basic plot.

6. Huck Finn is still one of the most controversial and most banned books in America.  Why is it so controversial? 

I think Huck Finn is controversial because of its frank portrayal of a humiliating side of American history.  In elementary school, we never learned about anything controversial in recent history, like the Vietnam War, because we could have had grandparents or parents who fought in the wars and they didn’t want to step on any toes among veteran’s kids.  I think this is also the reason why Huck Finn has been controversial; it steps on the toes of many who come from the cultures that are portrayed adversely.

7. Is Huck Finn still relevant to you as college student today?  Should it continue to be taught in college classrooms?

I think it is relevant as a look into the past, providing an almost historical-fiction story.  It’s important for us to experience the level of racism that seems almost impossible to us today but was prevalent in our country’s past.

8.  The general consensus among critics is that Huck Finn is a brilliant and powerful novel, but also a flawed and problematic novel.  What do you think might be flawed and/or problematic about the novel?

One thing of issue is the language, because the n-word is used so prevalently it almost seems to desensitize you to it as you read.  Although this adds to the reality of the novel, more accurately portraying the language of the time it portrays.  It is also problematic because of its generalizations about American society in general.  19^th century Americans along the Mississippi are portrayed as wicked, selfish, greedy, racist, and shameful.  This probably isn’t what our nation wants to remember about the past.  Though this is problematic, I think having authenticity is more important than portraying our society as perfect and incorruptible.