BookTalk.org

THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
Mark Twain

Chapters 1 - 6

I just wanted to ask who is reading the book and is ready to start talking about it. Thanks.

I'm reading along, but I have less to say than I do for the non-fiction books; no promise on intelligent commentary.

I'm getting moving on it slowly now, about half way to chapter 6--do hope to be able to contribute something here...

Dexter wrote:I'm reading along, but I have less to say than I do for the non-fiction books; no promise on intelligent commentary.

That's hedging your bet, Dexter! It remains to be seen what kind of discussion the book will spur. Since it's largely an adventure book, maybe that will mean there isn't quite as much to say about it as with other novels, I don't know.

I've read to Chapter 14, and what impresses me most this time around is how good the language is. That might seem strange to say, since English teachers over the years have disapproved of Huck's "grammar." But that's their hang-up; Huck's speech is colorful, metaphorical, rhythmical, economical, and poetic. He knows how to paint a scene and convey a sense of character as well as any other narrator I can think of. He's one of the unique voices in literature. He comes across as part savage, part sensitive soul; as half shrewd and half naive; as a boy who takes action yet remains passive to other circumstances.

I said something earlier about the Tom Sawyer/Miss Watson world that Huck uneasily fits into at the start of the book. Tom and Miss Watson might seem different from one another, but they're really of the same conventional world. What they're concerned about--fantasies based on adventure books with Tom, and proper morals and bearing with Miss Watson--seems unreal to Huck, who has lived a life much closer to the bone and who has a father lurking around who is a very bad and dangerous character. He's truly menacing when he appears in Huck's room. There's no sentimental varnish at all in Huck's feelings about his father--he wants him dead. The book is largely a journey away from the Tom/Miss Watson world to an unsheltered world full of unsavory characters and moral danger.

I'm sure we'll get into the controversy the book has caused with its view of race and especially the word "nigger." Is the book still sometimes banned?

Does anyone know if a movie that is really true to this book has been made, one that isn't Disneyish? It would seem to be ripe for remake as a film.

What's with these english teacher types - the book was written at a certain time in history, about certain kinds of people - the writer has to present them exactly the way they would speak. You can't do it any other way.

As for the word 'nigger' being used - well, we can't go back and re-write the books written in that time. Some people used the word and there's no getting away from that.

I remember when Show Boat was put on the stage here in Toronto - there were people that wanted to go in and make changes to it - they didn't like the way the black people were presented.

Well, whaddya' want? If we re-wrote these books and plays, they wouldn't be the same. It's like meeting somebody, becoming lovers, then trying to change everything about them - the person you're in love with doesn't really exist - it's just that you're in love with somebody for who you want them to be.

WildCityWoman wrote:What's with these english teacher types - the book was written at a certain time in history, about certain kinds of people - the writer has to present them exactly the way they would speak. You can't do it any other way.

As for the word 'nigger' being used - well, we can't go back and re-write the books written in that time. Some people used the word and there's no getting away from that.

I remember when Show Boat was put on the stage here in Toronto - there were people that wanted to go in and make changes to it - they didn't like the way the black people were presented.

Well, whaddya' want? If we re-wrote these books and plays, they wouldn't be the same. It's like meeting somebody, becoming lovers, then trying to change everything about them - the person you're in love with doesn't really exist - it's just that you're in love with somebody for who you want them to be.

I might have maligned the English teachers of today, who are probably more enlightened about language than the typical "Miss Grundy" English teacher of old. As for the word "nigger," coincidentally over the past couple of days, I've been hearing about a new edition of HF that replaces "nigger" with "slave." The editor said that he's heard from many teachers that they'd love to use the book in classes, but because of either their own misgivings or objections form parents or administration, they don't feel they can. This editor says he's actually received hate mail for what he's done, which is extreme. While not favoring censorship, I can put myself in the place of a teacher of a mixed class of black and white students and understand why she'd be hesitant. "Nigger" has become such a poisoned word for us; reporters are not allowed to use it even in stories about the word. And the word appears not just occasionally but, on average, on nearly every page of the book. My wife said that she didn't want to read HF to our daughter just because of that word.

Replacing it definitely does change the book that Twain wrote, though, so for that reason I think this kind of editing is a bad idea. Take the famous scene where a riverboat accident has occurred and someone asks if anyone was hurt. The response: "No, killed a nigger." That reply indicates a depth of depravity in the morality of white people that wouldn't come through as well with "slave" inserted. Another example would be Pa Finn's fulminating over a free black man and his fancy ways. He wasn't a slave, so then would Pa Finn be calling him a Negro or a black? That would seem totally false.

That would be difficult; yes, I guess changes have to be made.

I am thoroughly enjoying the story; it has been on my shelf forever and now just reading it. I find it so engaging and heartwarming as well as frightening just 6 chapters in. I found myself getting myself all up in a twist about the talk of people taking the liberty to change words around in a classic novel. I thank you for your perspective DWill, and it does make sense to me on that level. But if we have the license to rewrite people's books because of fear of what may be offensive, where does it stop? The book of course is fiction, but the context of the language, poverty, and condition of slavery certainly is not. I'm actually not sure it is a good idea under any circumstance. Mark Twain is rolling as we speak.

I'm with you Karenlee. This book represents a certain time in history. I'm not for re-writing history; this is already happening with history texts, surely we don't have to rewrite the classics! If it's too difficult to explain the context to school-age kids then let them wait till they're old enough to understand it, or let's do a better job teaching history! I'm at chapter IX now. Something struck me as sad/funny/ironic (?) not sure exactly what, by the words of Jim that close out chapter XIII :

"Yes, en I's rich now, come to look at it. I owns mysef, en I's wuth eight hund'd dollars. I wisht I had de money, I wouldn' want no mo'."

We are all a lot richer than we imagine I suspect. And it's not a matter of hundreds of dollars!