  Give students background information about Mark Twain and his work in this interview with noted scholar Lee chlesinger, Associate Professor of Literature at the State University of New York at Purchase. The program focuses on the deeper implications of Huckleberry Finn and makes an ideal introduction to the book. (25 min). DVD is also available for streaming through Contemporary Arts Media |
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| Teacher's Guide By Lee Schlesinger Associate Professor of Literature, State University of New York at Purchase • Summary of Content Professor Schlesinger discusses the dominant themes of Huckleberry Finn, which relate to the novel’s characters and to Twain’s own experiences. Film clips are interspersed with lecture. The main points of Professor Schlesinger’s interpretation of the novel are: • Huck runs away from the Widow Douglas’s home because he feels “cramped up.” Thus, he acts out many readers’ fantasies of escape. • From a writer’s point of view, it is difficult to “finish” Huck’s story because there is no end to running away. • During one of his on-shore adventures, Huck is taken into the home of the Grangerford family. At first, Huck is utterly charmed by these people. But the Grangerfords are engaged in a violent feud with a neighboring family, which involves the separation of lovers and killing of children. When Huck discovers this senseless cruelty, he must flee this environment to return to the river. • Twain’s objective in using the word “nigger” throughout the novel was to demonstrate its atrociousness. Use of the word “nigger” transforms a human entity into an abstraction, a thing, a piece of property. • Another example of the cultural baggage of the nineteenth century South with which Huck is burdened, is revealed in how he sees his relationship with Jim, the runaway slave. Huck views his friendship with Jim as sinful and wrestles with his conscience about turning Jim in. Finally, he decides against it, resigned that he will “go to hell” for this decision. Readers wish Huck would condemn slavery, but his societal constraints make this impossible. • Huck is an outlaw, and as such, he is forced to resort to lying, stealing, disguising his identity and inventing stories—classic tactics of a con artist. The greatest story Huck tells, though, is the one the novel encompasses. Are readers being conned by Huckleberry Finn? |
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