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Essays

Sophomores
Study for your exam on Tuesday, and start gathering material for your essay on Huck Finn, to be written in class on Wednesday.  Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Huck's development - his maturity in attitude towards Jim, Tom, girls, slavery, the cons, religion, authority/society
  • Jim's admirable traits - as a father figure to Huck, and as a father to his own children
  • A comparison between Huck and Tom, Jim and Pap, "mothers" and "fathers," river and shore
  • Portrayal of the river - in realistic/naturalistic terms, as a symbol, as "home"
  • Function as an anti-slavery novel, or one to be banned for reinforcing stereotypes
  • Function as a temperance novel
  • Huck's "drowning" and "rebirth" - symbolic function of his staged death
  • Role of religion and/or superstition
  • The episodic nature of the narrative - a road to self-discovery, the hero's journey
  • The use of humor and satire, in particular
  • The recurrent theme of money (and poverty, and self-worth)
  • Motifs and allusions
Keep in mind that tracing Huck's development is an entire book of criticism, focusing on a few pivotal moments is a long research paper, while narrowing your analysis on the nuances of a particular scene is more appropriate for a short critical analysis.

Seniors
We will continue to discuss this rather large and diverse topic for the next couple of weeks. First, we will revise the paper written today by adding more research and developing the thesis further. We will read a another essay and a short story, and eventually we will watch a film. In addition, I will be giving you some work to take home regarding grammar or the AP exam.

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