Assignment: “The Leader of the People” by John Steinbeck p. 609-619 Date:Mon, Mar 31, 2008
English 11x
Assignment: “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, p. 586-602 Date:Fri, Mar 28, 2008
English 11s
Assignment: Robert Frost poems p. 558-574 Date:Thu, Mar 27, 2008
English 11a
Assignment: “His Father’s Earth” by Thomas Wolfe p. 550-556 Date:Wed, Mar 26, 2008
English 11x
Assignment: “A Wagner Matinee” by Willa Cather, p. 539-546 Date:Tue, Mar 25, 2008
English 11x
Assignment: Spring Break Date:Mon, Mar 24, 2008
English 11No School
Assignment: Spring Break Date:Fri, Mar 21, 2008
no school
Assignment: Spring Break Date:Thu, Mar 20, 2008
English 11No School
Assignment: Eng11: Huck Finn: Final Exam Date:Wed, Mar 19, 2008
Final Exam:
1. What is the most important sentence in the book. Why do you think so?
2. Use your moral trajectory worksheet (staple it to the exam). Explain what experiences and reflections have an impact on Huck’s vision of himself and society. What is his telos at the end of the story?
In your explanation of the turning points in Huck’s inner voyage, be sure to discuss (1) relationships (2) pain and/or pleasure (3) thoughtful reflection (4) courage to face the truth about himself, others, or reality
Assignment: Eng11: Huck Finn final discussion Date:Tue, Mar 18, 2008
English 11Discuss: chapters 37-40
Discuss entire book
Work on morally pivotal worksheets for final tomorrow
Assignment: Eng11 Huck Finn TEST over Chapters 26-40 Date:Mon, Mar 17, 2008
English 11Huckleberry Finn reading and test schedule
Homework: finish book: Chapters 41-43
Assignment: Eng11 Huck Finn reading day Date:Fri, Mar 14, 2008
English 11Huckleberry Finn reading and test schedule
Reading day
TEST Monday over chapters 26-40
Assignment: Eng11 Huck Finn chapters 37-40 Date:Thu, Mar 13, 2008
English 11Huckleberry Finn reading and test schedule
It is Huck who gives the book style. The River gives the book its form. But for the River, the book might be only a sequence of adventures with a happy ending. A river, a very big and powerful river, is the only natural force that can wholly determine the course of human peregrination. . . . Thus the River makes the book a great book. . . . Mark Twain is a native, and the River God is his God.
-- T. S. Eliot
Homework: chapters 37-40
Assignment: Eng11 Huck Finn chapters 33-36 Date:Wed, Mar 12, 2008
English 11Huckleberry Finn reading and test schedule
Homework: chapters 33-36
Assignment: Eng11 Huck Finn chapters 30-32 Date:Tue, Mar 11, 2008
English 11Discuss: Why does Huck take action to help the Wilks, when he has watched so many other scams and done nothing to help the victims?
Homework: read chapters 30-32
Assignment: Eng11 Huck Fin TEST over Chapters 17-25 Date:Mon, Mar 10, 2008
English 11Huckleberry Finn reading and test schedule
We are aware that Huck cannot live comfortably in any of the worlds he inhabits. He searches for a father he cannot find, having killed, at least symbolically, the legal one. He cannot find a home, at Widow Douglas’s, in Pap’s cabin, on Jackson’s Island, at the Grangerfords, on the raft, or at the Phelps plantation, either because none of his worlds is insulated from outside interference or because he loses them to circumstance or expediency. The entire structure of the novel is one of frustrated attempt to escape from restrictions only to find the refuge susceptible to invasion and destruction. Judith Loftus’s husband is “after us”; the slave-hunters and the Duke and Dauphin violate the pastoral immunity of the raft; Tom Sawyer appears at the Phelpses to orchestrate an attempt at freedom.
Hamlin Hill (1985)
Assignment: (Midterm) Eng11 Huck Finn Chapters 26-29 Date:Fri, Mar 07, 2008
English 11Huckleberry Finn reading and test schedule
Hand out “Mapping a moral trajectory” worksheet. Mapping worksheet
Background information on this worksheet: Stories and Aspirations Handout
Huck is torn between his conscience (his training by society) and his heart, or his “moral sense” of right and wrong that seems to be innate. For more understanding of what many people mean by moral sense, read this book excerpt by C. S. Lewis (a Christian writer): Moral Sense Handout
Here’s a set of quotations by others who discuss their own understanding of the “moral sense”: Moral Sense Quotes
Assignment: Eng11 Huck Finn 145-170 Date:Thu, Mar 06, 2008
English 11Huckleberry Finn reading and test schedule
Discuss the Grangerford and Shepherdson feud: Feud handout
Here’s a set of quotations in which others discuss the moral sense: Moral Sense Quotes
Assignment: Eng11 Huck Finn 117-145 Date:Tue, Mar 04, 2008
English 11Huckleberry Finn reading and test schedule
The Grangerfords and Shepherdsons: Handout
Assignment: Eng 11 Huck Finn TEST over pages 1-95 Date:Mon, Mar 03, 2008
Homework 95-116
Huckleberry Finn reading and test schedule
Morally pivotal point: What is the irony of Huck’s struggle with his conscience, and his ultimate decision to do whichever comes handiest at the time? Is Huck being amoral, or is he listening to a deeper morality? Are his decisions based on what society tells him is right and wrong, or what he feels, and his relationships? Is his decision motivated by selfishness (does he simply want to avoid feeling bad/guilty) or by something more?
What is the irony of Huck’s struggle with his conscience, and his ultimate decision to do whichever comes handiest at the time? Is Huck being amoral, or is he listening to a deeper morality? Are his decisions based on what society tells him is right and wrong, or what he feels, and his relationships? Is his decision motivated by selfishness (does he simply want to avoid feeling bad/guilty) or by something more?
Minstrel shows: The character of Jim is influenced by Mark Twain’s love of minstrel shows, which were popular in his lifetime. Minstrel shows featured white men in blackface and outrageous costumes. The men played music, danced, and acted burlesque skits, but the central feature of the shows was the exaggerated imitation of black speech and mannerisms, which produced a stereotype of blacks as docile, happy, and ignorant. The shows also depicted slavery as a natural and benign institution and slaves as contented with their lot. These stereotypes of blacks helped to reinforce attitudes amongst whites that blacks were fundamentally different and inferior. The minstrel show died out as vaudeville, burlesques, and radio became the most popular forms of entertainment.
Discussion: The “Soloman” passage Handout