essay speculation

SHORT DISCUSSION AND ESSAY
heres a copy of a conversation i had with guy about the essay, the bottom line is:

I-pranks jim and then decides not to anymore- relates to childhood/cons/lying- huck is maturing as he realizes that pranks may be harmful to others
II-rather go to hell than betray a friend- relates to heart vs. conscience
III-the end- hurts his dev.- he knuckles under to tom and doesn’t stand up for what he knows is right- he lets tom make a game with jim’s life instead of pranking him into thinking he is a prisoner

as a layout for moral development

and:
I- romanticism of tom
II- realism of huck
III- how they clash
as a layout for realism v romanticism



Guy
hey can u give me some examples of hucks moral development throughout the book?
12:31amJohnny
yeah man
so
there is the part where he plays the trick on jim and pretends like nothing had happened
and then jim makes him feel relaly bad
so hes like oh ill never do that again
then
he develops at the wilk's house
when he decides to tell mary jane
then
12:34amGuy
tell her about the duke and the dauphin and the money rite?
12:34amJohnny
in chapter 31 when he realizes that you can't pray a lie
yeah^^^
and theres the way
he comes to realize that race has nothing to do with personality
or anything at all really
he resists the culture telling him black people are inferior
because of his relationship with jim
also
the part where he rips up the letter telling miss watson where jim was
and decides he will go to hell before he betrays a friend
and the part where he lies to the people and tells them his dad is on the raft with smallpox to save jim
that should be more than enough
then, the end messes it all up because he wont stand up to tom with what he knows to be right
12:37amGuy
ok how long do u think it should be? 5 paragraphs?
12:37amJohnny
e.g. he knows they should just free jim and get on with it
but he lets tom make it a game
yeah, something like 5
Guy
but how would i write one for realism vs romanticism?
i dont have enough info
12:39amJohnny
haha i havent really thought about it
but iunno
just say that tom is romantic
and get examples from the gang at the beginning of the book
and the game at the end of the book to free jim
and say that huck is realistic using examples throughout the book
like his faking his own death
and say that the two sides clash
but huck knuckles under
even though he should have stood up for what was right
or something
idk, just bs it
im pretty sure it will be moral dev. tho
like if its realism v romanticism
12:40amGuy
ok
12:41amJohnny
try this laout
I- romanticism of tom
II- realism of huck
III- how they clash
12:42amGuy
wat kind of layout would it be for development of huck
12:42amJohnny
hmm
hang on lemme think
thers a few ways
you could make it chronological
like say he starts in ignorance
then he learn how to do what is right
then he fails at hte end
or you could give two with examples of how he has developed
and then one with the problems at hte end
12:44amGuy
ok thanks
12:44amJohnny
or you could say
I moral dev.
II spiritual dev.
III problemsat the end
and work in how he has a change of heart about prayer
i mean theres a lot of ways
i will probably just go two examples of moral dev. and then talk about the last chapters
so
I- pranks jim and then decides not to anymore- relates to childhood/cons/lying- huck is maturing as he realizes that pranks may be harmful to others
II- rather go to hell than betray a friend- relates to heart vs. conscience
III- the end- hurts his dev.- he knuckles under to tom and doesn’t stand up for what he knows is right- he lets tom make a game with jim’s life instead of pranking him into thinking he is a prisoner
12:46amGuy
ok yea that seems the easiest

SHORT ANSWER
**'s indicate most important imo

In the abovementioned meeting with autry, I also discussed the short answer questions; he revealed that they would not be primarily over the literary terms as they have in the past but rather over motifs among other things. E.g. I asked him specifically about the altruism (doing good for others) of huck and autry verfied that as a great example of the kind of question he is going to ask for, but said that particular example wasn’t on it- he expects us to define it and then give a short connection to a certain character or event in the novel. the following is the best I can manage as far as predicting words to know/know how to apply:

*motif*- recurring structures, contrasts, lit. evices- developes themes- e.g. cons, lies, childhood, superstition

*pacifism*- a person against all conflicts (e.g. war)- huck exhibits this when he feels sorry for the con-men who have wronged him as he sees them tarred and feathered

realism- accepting the facts of life and favoring practicality and literal truth- e.g. huck’s take upon reality

*pragmatism*- similar to realism- governed by practicality and not by passions- does what works- e.g. huck when he wants to do the practical thing to free jim over the romantic one

*romantic*- not sensible about practical matters; idealistic and unrealistic- e.g. tom’s approach to freeing jim, and tom’s gang of robbers in the beginning- he is delusional

*inferiority complex*- exhibited in huck- a sense of personal inferiority brought about from abuse and misguided culture that says being civilized makes you superior

*set piece*- the plot is stopped and people go out of character in order to make a satire- e.g. the bad poetry of emmiline and the argument between jim and huck about kings

*hypocrisy*- insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have- e.g. terrible crimes go unpunished, but drunken shouting is punished by execution- “sivilized” society has worse morals than “unsivilized” society but still considers itself higher and somehow better

aristocracy- the way there is a small ruling class- e.g. tom’s family- they all want to be middle class though- [kingship- same as aristocracy more or less]

conscience- the guiding “voice” that each individual develops to determine right from wrong, may be influenced by society (twain believes)- e.g. distorted consciences that rationalize slavery- huck breaks away

*situational irony* – when a certain result is expected and the opposite happens- e.g. in chapter 15 "We could sell the raft and get on a steamboat and go way up the Ohio amongst the free states, and then be out of trouble." -Huck believes life will be perfect if they are able to get down the river, but in reality slavery rules are harsher there and there is a wacked sense of justice (see sherbern for warrant)

superstition- see post hoc

*post hoc*- a Latin phrase meaning "after this, therefore because of this," is a logical fallacy confusing cause and effect with chronology. e.g. just because I wake up every morning before the sun rises doesn't mean that the sun rises because I wake up- e.g. the superstition of jim- he believes that because he does something and another thing happens after it, the first thing (e.g. touching a snake skin or having a hair chest) caused the second

MATCHING
I talked to autry today- he said the matching would cover a bunch of characters intended to cover the entire book, this is slightly hard to prepare a review for because there are so many characters, but I’ll put up what I think are the most important things about the characters I can remember

broader chars:
these chars are harder to find specific instances so, I recommend checking out the sparknote analysis of major characters: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/huckfinn/canalysis.html

just as a basic note, here is what they did:

huck- protagonist, 12-13 years old- challenges society’s morals- made up his mind that he is going to hell- lies to protect jim, goes down the river, develops morrally

jim- conned by tom at beginning of book, believes witches rode him- goes down the river to freedom with huck, acts as a surrogate (replacement) father for huck

pap- Huck's abusive, drunken, racist father who had vanished but shows up at the beginning of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and forcibly takes his son to live with him. He also tries to sue Judge Thatcher to get the six thousand dollars that Huck gave away to him. Soon After Huck escapes, Pap Finn goes off to search for him and doesn't return. At the end of the book, Jim reveals to Huck that the corpse they found in the abandoned house early in the book was actually the corpse of his father

tom- makes band of robbers- romantic- lies and cons as pranks- claims to be sid at the end of the book

narrower chars:
Levi Bell – the Lawyer in huck’s case against his father

aunt polly- Tom's aunt who shows up at the end to find out what tricks Tom has been playing on her kinfolk. She reveals the true identities of Tom and Huck to her sister- confirms that jim is already free-

Sid Sawyer- Tom’s brother whom tom impersonated at then end of the novel

widow douglas- watson’s sister, tried to teach huck about moses and biblical stuff- prayer bestows spiritual benefits- describes wonderful god

miss Watson- the widow’s sister, worked on spelling with huck and tried to civilize him, says tom wouldn’t go to heaven- frees jim in her will- says prayers give you whatever you want- describes a terrible god- tries to teach Huck how to read and write properly

judge thatcher- huck gives his money to the judge when he sees his dad is back (for safekeeping) – shares responsibility with huck and his money, wont let pap get it- wants custody of huck, but the new judge wont sep. father and son at first, then pap kidnaps huck

Judith loftus- sees through huck when he pretends to be a girl, very bright, [goes against stereotype of stupid women?] although bright, huck convinces her he is a run away apprentice- “throw legs open, throw like a girl, sew like a woman”- tells huck that she suspects Jim is hiding on Jackson's Island

colonel sherbern- annoyed with bogg’s carrying-on and blows it out of proportion- turns disturbing the peace into a death-punishable offense

boggs- A drunk man who insults Colonel Sherburn and is later killed by him. The action takes place in the same town where the Duke and the King put on their Shakespearean show- Drunken man who Colonel Sherburn shoots

Tim Collins – young man bound for Orleans who tells the King everything about the Wilks family

duke and dauphin:
Two con men who Huck meets in his adventures down the Mississippi. They join Huck and Jim on the raft to escape an angry mob that was chasing them out of a town. The younger one initially claims to be the true heir of the Duke of Bridgewater, and the older one the lost son of Louis the XVI and the rightful King of France. Thus, they are referred to by Huck as "the king" and "the duke" throughout the narration of the book. During their time in the story, they work together to stage many shenanigans, including pretending to be the brothers of a deceased man so they can steal the money left to them in the will. They are later separated from Huck and Jim and tarred and feathered

duke- 30 year old con man
dauphin (king)- 70 year old con man, outdoes the duke by claiming to be the long lost dauphin of france

grangerfords/shepherdsons:

Emmiline- daughter of the grangerford’s- dead before huck arrives- she wrote bad poetry while she was alive- tributes to the dead- huck tried to write her a poem but he couldn’t

Buck- The youngest son of Col. Grangerford who becomes good friends with Huck but is later killed in the feud following sopia and harney’s elope

Sophia grangerford and Harney shepherdson:
the two had a bit of a romeo/Juliet relationship- the families hated it, so they decided to elope, they escape successfully thanks to huck’s not turning them in; however their leaving indirectly causes buck’s death- thus huck ends up blaming himself for the death of his friend on some level

Buck Harkness- The “half-man” who starts rallying a mob to kill Colonel Sherburn after Sherburn shoots and kills Boggs- the mob disperses after sherburn talks it down

Doctor Robinson- The only man who recognizes that the King and Duke are frauds when they try to pretend to be British. He warns the town but they ignore him.

wilks:
Peter- died, left fortune to his relatives- his three daughters, and his brothers

Harvey- The British brother of Peter Wilks whom the King impersonates- the king attempts to steal the fortune of peter which rightfully belonged to harvey, William, and the girls

William- harvey’s deaf and dumb brother whom the duke impersonates- the real Harvey and William show up eventually with William in a sling

Mary Jane- redhead- goes to live with proctors so that she doesn’t expose the duke & king’s plot- the eldest daughter of Peter Wilks- 19 years old- huck says she is full of sand and the best woman he has ever met

Susan- second eldest daughter

Joanna- youngest daughter

Phelps:

Sally- Tom Sawyer's aunt. She is married to Silas Phelps- mistakes Huck for Tom Sawyer and Tom for his brother Sid- the pair convince her she is going crazy when she tries counting the number of spoons by taking one up and then putting it down when shes not looking- she never counted the same number of spoons twice- sat outside crying all night when they couldn’t find sid (tom)

Silas- sally’s husband- sent to plug up rat-holes but huck and tom had already done it- the pranks huck and tom pull make it look like he is to blame for certain mishaps (e.g. the missing spoon)- he purchases jim from the king for $40

REVIEW FOR IN CLASS ESSAY

mkay, so its not exactly done, but these are the characteristics of each poet that i found in my notes.. if anyone wants examples of a technique or needs analysis of a poem or something, leave a comment and i'll try to type it up

WW:

Themes etc:

Many reviewers believed he was vulgar, Emerson did not

-celebrates greatness of poetry

-greatness of common people

-transcendental, romantic

-poet = equalizer of age and land

-inclusiveness of poems [e.g. all people’s experiences helped pull him closer to goodness]

-poetry comes from the soul, there is no higher form of expression

-like Thoreau, stresses simplicity of life

-We need a new way to address the old- e.g. religion must morph outer shell while maintaining essential constancy

-“grow or die”

-devoted himself to celebrating glories of life through poetry

-imitation is suicide

-All is good- unity in the goodness of all things- e.g. “stuff outside of my soul is just as good as stuff inside it”

-singing=happiness

-Two ways to knowledge:

I. science, logical, proofs, mathematical

II. emotional, firsthand, sublime, soul

Techniques:

-antithesis [pairing of opposites to show totality of current experience]à illustrates inclusiveness

-anaphora [the repetition of the same word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or lines for rhetorical or poetic effect, as in Lincoln's "we cannot dedicate- we cannot consecrate-we cannot hallow this ground"] - *this is one of the most characteristic traits of Whitman’s writing, there is almost certain to be an example of it in the given poems

-apostrophe [talking at an animal or object, a type of personification] e.g. the thrush singing in "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"

[sometimes wrote elegies:

elegy:

general elegy- a general reflection upon death

specific elegy- death of a specific person

three parts of elegies:

I-evocation

II-grief

III-consolation]

ED:

wrote four types of poems:

-art [expressive style, a recognition of her isolation]

-love [soul as seat of love- greek psyche]

-death [sometimes the speaker is already dead]

-nature

-wrote more on death than anything else

-isolation over inclusiveness, nobody is there for her etc

-all people have perfect soulmate- the soul chooses, witdraws from the majority

-difficult to understand subjective choices of the soul

-unique ungoverned by fixed values

-deprivation breeds appreciation

-Like Keats, Dickinson saw writing poetry as an exalted calling (or profession) and dedicated her life to poetry. She was willing to give the name of poetry only to verse that moved the reader profoundly:

-Writing poetry may have served Dickinson as a way of releasing or escaping from pain

-Dickinson adopts a variety of personas, including a little girl, a queen, a bride, a bridegroom, a wife, a dying woman, a nun, a boy, and a bee

-To casual readers of poetry, it may seem that Dickinson uses rhyme infrequently. They are thinking of exact rhyme (for example, see, tree). She does use rhyme, but she uses forms of rhyme that were not generally accepted till late in the nineteenth century and are used by modern poets. Dickinson experimented with rhyme, and her poetry shows what subtle effects can be achieved with these rhymes. Dickinson uses identical rhyme (sane, insane) sparingly. She also uses eye rhyme (though, through), vowel rhymes (see, buy), imperfect rhymes (time, thin), and suspended rhyme (thing, along).

Techniques:

Onomatopoeia [

Synecdoche [part of the whole - a literary technique in which the whole is represented by naming one of its parts (genus named for species), or vice versa (species named for genus). Example: “You’ve got to come take a look at my new set of wheels.” The vehicle here is represented by its parts, or wheels.]

Synaesthesia [stimulation of two or more senses in a single image- when one type of sensation evokes another sense. For example when a sound is experienced in part as a color, or when a color prompts a sound]

(OVER)USE OF THE DASH “––”

Alliteration

Repetition

Personification

• Some poems are unfinished; a few even seem to be rough drafts.
• More than one version exists of a number of poems. Because she did not publish these poems, she did not have to make a final decision about which word, line, or stanza she preferred. Also, she included poems in her letters, changing them to fit her correspondent or the subject of the letter.
• In her letters, she sometimes writes poems as prose and prose as poetry, so that it is hard to distinguish them.
• Her occasionally idiosyncratic spelling, punctuation, and word choice can be distracting to readers, so that editors have to decide whether to change her text to conform to modern usage.

she drops endings from verbs and nouns. It is not always clear what her pronouns refer to; sometimes a pronoun refers to a word which does not appear in the poem. At her best, she achieves breathtaking effects by compressing language. Her disregard for the rules of grammar and sentence structure is one reason twentieth century critics found her so appealing; her use of language anticipates the way modern poets use language. The downside of her language is that the compression may be so drastic that the poem is incomprehensible; it becomes a riddle or an intellectual puzzle. Dickinson said in a letter, "All men say 'what' to me"; readers are still saying "What?" in response to some of her poems.