August 19, 2013 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

August 19, 2013

Adventures of Huckleberry FinnSlide2

About the Author

Mark Twain’s real name was Samuel Clemens.

Clemens was born on the Missouri frontier, learned several trades, traveled widely, and transformed himself into Mark Twain.

Four years after Clemens was born, his

father moved the family to Hannibal, Missouri, along the Mississippi River. Slide3

Clemens spent his days as a young boy on the riverbanks watching the parade of boats that passed by.

Hannibal was also home to relatives, friends, and townspeople who served as the inspiration for characters in his fiction. Slide4

At the age of seventeen, Clemens left Hannibal to work as a printer’s assistant. He held printing jobs in New York, Pennsylvania, and Iowa.

At age twenty-one, he returned to the Mississippi River to train for his dream job—steamboat pilot.

He eventually became a pilot, but his job was cut short by the start of the Civil War in 1861.

After two weeks in the Confederate army, Clemens joined his brother in Carson City, NV.Slide5

In Carson City, Clemens began to write humorous sketches and tall tales for the local newspaper.

February 1863—Clemens first used the pseudonym, or pen name, that would later be known by readers throughout the world—Mark Twain.

It was a

riverboating

term for water two fathoms, or twelve feet, deep. Slide6

Clemens continued to move around during his adult years and his stories typically reflected the areas and cultures he lived in.

1865—Worked as a miner near San Franciso

and wrote a tall tale he heard in the minefields—”The Celebrated Jumping Frog of

Valaveras

County. Later traveled to Hawaii, Europe, and the Middle East and wrote a humorous book about his travels—The Innocents Abroad

. This book made him famous. Slide7

In 1870 Clemens married Olivia Langdon and they moved to Hartford, CT.

More notable books followed this move, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Thanks to his lecture tours and books, Mark Twain became a familiar name around the world. His death in 1910 was met with great sorrow. Slide8

About

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

- author’s note from

The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnSlide9

At the time

Huck Finn was published, Twain was already well known as a humorist and the author of the “boy’s book”

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Readers likely had little reason to believe that

Huck Finn would teach a serious moral lesson. However, the odd notice at the beginning of the novel is the first warning that things may not be exactly as they seem.

The warning is ironic because the novel definitely has a motive, a moral, and a plot. Twain wanted his readers to be aware of each of them. Slide10

Centers around a journey that allows Huck and Jim to meet many different kinds of people.

Characters include many personalities: liars, cheaters, and hypocrites. Twain exposes their weaknesses and senseless cruelty to others. Slide11

However, the novels also shows that people are capable of making the right decisions and defy injustice.

Moral beliefs can lead a person to reject what is wrong in society.

Personal values can overcome evil.Slide12

Even though

Huckleberry Finn is a serious book that addresses serious issues, it is also humorous.

Humorous incidents

Oddball characters

Goofy misadventuresLanguage used by charactersSlide13

Characters

Twain based his characters on people he know from his life in Hannibal and the culture along the Mississippi River. Slide14

Setting

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is set in the Mississippi River Valley, around 1840.

During the novel, Huck and Jim float down the Mississippi River.

They travel from their hometown of St. Petersburg, Missouri, north of St. Louis, hundreds of miles into the Deep South.

Some of the place they visit are real, while others are a product of Twain’s imagination.Slide15

Things to Note in Chapters 1-25

POINT OF VIEW

Definition: relationship of the narrator, or storyteller, to the events of the story.

Huckleberry Finn

is told by the character Huck, using words like I

and

we.

I

and

we

= first person point of view.

The reader sees everything through Huck’s eyes and is given his perspective on events. Slide16

POINT OF VIEW

Distinguish the narrator from the author when determining point of view! Huck is an uneducated 14-year-old boy living in a village in the 1840s. He has the knowledge, beliefs, and experiences of such a boy.

Twain was a well-traveled writer and experienced lecturer. He understood how to use narrative techniques, adopt different points of view, and speak in the role of different characters, and he used this knowledge to create a narrator who is very different from himself. Slide17

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR

Definition: A narrator who does not understand the full significance of the events he describes and comments on.Huck is not intentionally unreliable; his lack of education and experience makes him so.

Much of the humor in the beginning of

Huck Finn

comes from Huck’s incomplete understanding of the adults around him and their “sivilized” ways. Slide18

CONFLICT

Internal vs. external conflictExternal conflict—struggles between characters who have different goals or between a character and forces of nature.

Internal conflicts—psychological struggles that characters experience when they are unhappy or face difficult decisions.

EXTERNAL CONFLICTS OFTEN TRIGGER INTERNAL CONFLICTS!Slide19

Conflict in Chapters 1-15

With the people at your table, identify 4 instances of conflict and a brief explanation of the conflict (both internal and external are acceptable!) in Chapters 1-15.

When you have identified your 4 instances please write each one on a Post-It note and place them in the correct column on the white board. Slide20

LITERARY ELEMENT: CHARACTER

Understanding a character means moving beyond “He’s fourteen,” or “She’s blonde.”

Those details may be worth noticing, but they only tell us so much about a character. Slide21

Activity: Rating

Roommates

Take 5 minutes, on your own, to rank the roommate personal ads from the person you’d most like to room with (1) to the person you’d least like to room with (5).

Take 10 minutes with the people at your table and try to convince your group members to adopt your ranking. Ask your group members to explain their ranking if you disagree. Ask “Why?”Slide22

Tallying the Results

1

2

3

4

5

Chris

Alex

Sam

Dana

PatSlide23

Which profile created the most disagreement among your group?

What was revealed about each character?How was this revealed?

What did you learn about yourself and your group members about judgments and interpretations? Slide24

Character Jigsaw

Each table will take a category from the following list and discuss together the major characteristics you can identify. Characters’ Actions

Characters’ Language

Characters’ Thoughts

Characters’ Body LanguagePhysical DescriptionsHow Others Relate to CharactersSlide25

Your Homework

Read Huck Finn! We will touch on Chapters 16-31 on Wednesday and Chapters 32-43 on Friday.

Character Response sheet (due Wednesday, 8/21)

Complete

this based on what you know about Huck from Chapters 1-25 (or as far as you have read!)Character Relationships (due Friday, 8/23)

This will require you to be familiar with the characters of

Huck Finn

, some of which are introduced later in the book. If you need assistance because you are not yet far enough in the book, you are welcome to use character lists on

SparkNotes

, Wikipedia, etc. as a resource for this assignment.