Eng11 Huck Finn 15-36
English 11
Assignment Date: Tue, Feb 26, 2008
Huckleberry Finn reading and test schedule
“In the world of Huck as an adolescent, even if it is 150 years ago, there are common elements in the alienation, in the hoping to connect, in finding friendship, in trying to find out what’s right and wrong.” Nancy Methelis
Discuss Huck’s skepticism of religion, of the romantic “authorities,” of superstition. How do we find out what is true about the world?
Discuss Twain’s use of dialect, keeping in mind the notice he posts at the beginning of the book:
In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary “Pike County” dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech.
I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding.
Mark Twain makes heavy use of dialect in Huckleberry Finn. How successful do you feel he is? What are some advantages for an author in deciding to render speech in dialect, as Twain does? What are some possible disadvantages?