Questions 11 - 20

Homework for TRIP:- Read to chapter 20 and answer study questions. Your final will be on the book (chapter 1-20) and come from your list of literary terms, study questions, episodes and themes.


1. Compare and contrast the lies Huck gives to Mrs. Judith Lotus to the lies he tells the watchman? (chap 11 and 13). Think about purpose and results. Remember lies and inventing (or reinventing) personas is a motif. What theme do you think these lies reinforce?
2. Make a list of names Huck uses or invent.
3. Contrast the gang on the Walter Scott to Tom’s Gang (you might even look at some of the rules of Tom’s Gang). What is the significance of these two gangs? What idea is Twain trying to reinforce?
4. Look up Walter Scott on the internet. Why would Twain name the sinking boat Walter Scott? What is he making fun of? (Hint: Research the name and read about who Walter Scott was).
5. Look up the dimensions of the Mississippi. Write them down. Look up the Mississippi in Illinois and Missouri. What does the internet say about the river in these two states? Find a picture of the Mississippi. Why do you think Twain used the Mississippi as a symbol?
6. What are Huck’s descriptions of the river when he and Jim first leave Jackson Island (before the storm)? What theme does this reinforce?
7. Why does Huck want to save the gang of murders? What is funny about this? What does it say about Huck?
8. What is the significance of the following quote: “Do you reckon Tom Sawyer would ever go by this thing? Not for pie, he wouldn’t. He’d call it an adventure—that’s what he’d call it; and he’d land on that wreck if it was his last act. And wouldn’t he throw style into it?—wouldn’t he spread himself, nor nothing? Why you’d think it was Christopher Columbus discovering Kingdom-Come.”
9. What is funny about the discussion between borrowing and stealing? Discuss what you think the significance of this is.
10. Make a list of references to death so far in the novel.
11. List the allusions so far.
What was your favorite event that happened in chapters 11-13? Why?


Huck Discussion Questions: XV - XX

1. Discuss the significance of the fog incident and Jim's interpretation of it. "The lot of towheads was troubles we was going to get into with quarrelsome people and all kinds of mean folks, but if we minded our business and didn't talk back and aggravate them, we would pull through and get out of the fog and into the big clear river, which was the free states, and wouldn't have no more trouble" (64). Consider the major themes as well as foreshadowing.

2. How does Huck feel about playing the trick on Jim? Comment: "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't sorry for it afterwards, neither" (65). How does this statement contribute to the overall meaning of the novel?

3. Discuss the significance of the following quotes from Chapter XVI:

"Jim said it made him all over trembly and feverish to be so close to freedom. Well, it made me all trembly and feverish, too, to hear him because I begun to get it through my head that he was most free -- and who was to blame for it? Why me. I couldn't get it out of my conscience, no how nor no way." (66).

"Here was this nigger which I as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children -- children that belonged to a man I didn't even know; a man that hadn't ever done me no harm." (67). Explain the irony in this quote as well as the significance.

"Well, then, says I, what's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?" (69).

"Doan' less' talk about it, Huck. Po' niggers can't have no luck. I awluz 'spected dat rattle-snake skin warn't done wid its work." (70).

4. Why do the bounty hunters give Huck money? What is ironic about their reaction to Huck's story?

5. What does the destruction of the "naturally" created raft by the "industrially" created steamboat symbolize?

6. Speculate on why Twain put Huckleberry Finn aside for a few years at the end of XVI?

7. Describe the Grangerford house. What is satirical about the furnishings, art, and poetry? What does this description say about the Grangerfords?

8. The first part of Chapter XVII reveals an example of the theme of Huck playing on Buck's gullibility. Discuss this example as well as other examples of the novel's major themes evident in Chapters XVI & XVII.

9. What does Huck's reaction to "Moses and the candle" indicate? Discuss the meaning of "Moses" as a motif in the novel.

10. What does Twain satirize in his description of the church service and the hogs that sleep under the floor?

11. What does the feud symbolize? Does this remind you of another famous piece of literature? Explain. Through the feud incident, Twain satirizes human traits and behaviors. Discuss.

12. "I was powerful glad to get away from the feuds, and so was Jim to get away from the swamp. We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so clamped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft"(88). Discuss the paradox. Furthermore, this excerpt from the final paragraph of Chapter XVIII is significant in that it pertains to the major themes of the novel. Explain.

13. Huck and Jim's manner of dress on the raft is symbolic. What do clothes represent?

14. Why doesn't Huck expose the Duke and the King (Dauphin) as frauds?

15. Who is the most shrewd, the King and the Duke or Huck? Why? Give some examples.

16. What does Twain satirize in the plan to present Romeo and Juliet? Discuss Romeo and Juliet as a motif.

17. Discuss the significance of the pirate and the revival meeting. What is Twain satirizing?

18. Is Twain making a statement about society through the antics of the King and Duke? Explain.

Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses

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Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses

by Mark Twain

"The Pathfinder" and "The Deerslayer" stand at the head of Cooper's novels as artistic creations. There are others of his works which contain parts as perfect as are to be found in these, and scenes even more thrilling. Not one can be compared with either of them as a finished whole. The defects in both of these tales are comparatively slight. They were pure works of art.
--Professor Lounsbury

The five tales reveal an extraordinary fullness of invention. ... One of the very greatest characters in fiction, Natty Bumppo... The craft of the woodsman, the tricks of the trapper, all the delicate art of the forest were familiar to Cooper from his youth up.

--Professor Matthews
Cooper is the greatest artist in the domain of romantic fiction in America.

--Wilkie Collins
It seems to me that it was far from right for the Professor of English Literature at Yale, the Professor of English Literature in Columbia, and Wilkie Collins to deliver opinions on Cooper's literature without having read some of it. It would have been much more decorous to keep silent and let persons talk who have read Cooper.

Cooper's art has some defects. In one place in "Deerslayer," and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offenses against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record.

There are nineteen rules governing literary art in domain of romantic fiction -- some say twenty-two. In "Deerslayer," Cooper violated eighteen of them. These eighteen require:

1. That a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere. But the "Deerslayer" tale accomplishes nothing and arrives in air.

2. They require that the episodes in a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help to develop it. But as the "Deerslayer" tale is not a tale, and accomplishes nothing and arrives nowhere, the episodes have no rightful place in the work, since there was nothing for them to develop.

3. They require that the personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and that always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others. But this detail has often been overlooked in the "Deerslayer" tale.

4. They require that the personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there. But this detail also has been overlooked in the "Deerslayer" tale.

5. The require that when the personages of a tale deal in conversation, the talk shall sound like human talk, and be talk such as human beings would be likely to talk in the given circumstances, and have a discoverable meaning, also a discoverable purpose, and a show of relevancy, and remain in the neighborhood of the subject at hand, and be interesting to the reader, and help out the tale, and stop when the people cannot think of anything more to say. But this requirement has been ignored from the beginning of the "Deerslayer" tale to the end of it.

6. They require that when the author describes the character of a personage in the tale, the conduct and conversation of that personage shall justify said description. But this law gets little or no attention in the "Deerslayer" tale, as Natty Bumppo's case will amply prove.

7. They require that when a personage talks like an illustrated, gilt-edged, tree-calf, hand-tooled, seven- dollar Friendship's Offering in the beginning of a paragraph, he shall not talk like a negro minstrel in the end of it. But this rule is flung down and danced upon in the "Deerslayer" tale.

8. They require that crass stupidities shall not be played upon the reader as "the craft of the woodsman, the delicate art of the forest," by either the author or the people in the tale. But this rule is persistently violated in the "Deerslayer" tale.

9. They require that the personages of a tale shall confine themselves to possibilities and let miracles alone; or, if they venture a miracle, the author must so plausibly set it forth as to make it look possible and reasonable. But these rules are not respected in the "Deerslayer" tale.

10. They require that the author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and in their fate; and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones. But the reader of the "Deerslayer" tale dislikes the good people in it, is indifferent to the others, and wishes they would all get drowned together.

11. They require that the characters in a tale shall be so clearly defined that the reader can tell beforehand what each will do in a given emergency. But in the "Deerslayer" tale, this rule is vacated.

In addition to these large rules, there are some little ones. These require that the author shall:

12. Say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it.
13. Use the right word, not its second cousin.

14. Eschew surplusage.

15. Not omit necessary details.

16. Avoid slovenliness of form.

17. Use good grammar.

18. Employ a simple and straightforward style.

Even these seven are coldly and persistently violated in the "Deerslayer" tale.

Cooper's gift in the way of invention was not a rich endowment; but such as it was he liked to work it, he was pleased with the effects, and indeed he did some quite sweet things with it. In his little box of stage-properties he kept six or eight cunning devices, tricks, artifices for his savages and woodsmen to deceive and circumvent each other with, and he was never so happy as when he was working these innocent things and seeing them go. A favorite one was to make a moccasined person tread in the tracks of a moccasined enemy, and thus hide his own trail. Cooper wore out barrels and barrels of moccasins in working that trick. Another stage-property that he pulled out of his box pretty frequently was the broken twig. He prized his broken twig above all the rest of his effects, and worked it the hardest. It is a restful chapter in any book of his when somebody doesn't step on a dry twig and alarm all the reds and whites for two hundred yards around. Every time a Cooper person is in peril, and absolute silence is worth four dollars a minute, he is sure to step on a dry twig. There may be a hundred other handier things to step on, but that wouldn't satisfy Cooper. Cooper requires him to turn out and find a dry twig; and if he can't do it, go and borrow one. In fact, the Leatherstocking Series ought to have been called the Broken Twig Series.

I am sorry that there is not room to put in a few dozen instances of the delicate art of the forest, as practiced by Natty Bumppo and some of the other Cooperian experts. Perhaps we may venture two or three samples. Cooper was a sailor -- a naval officer; yet he gravely tells us how a vessel, driving toward a lee shore in a gale, is steered for a particular spot by her skipper because he knows of an undertow there which will hold her back against the gale and save her. For just pure woodcraft, or sailorcraft, or whatever it is, isn't that neat? For several years, Cooper was daily in the society of artillery, and he ought to have noticed that when a cannon-ball strikes the ground it either buries itself or skips a hundred feet or so; skips again a hundred feet or so -- and so on, till finally it gets tired and rolls. Now in one place he loses some "females" -- as he always calls women -- in the edge of a wood near a plain at night in a fog, on purpose to give Bumppo a chance to show off the delicate art of the forest before the reader. These mislaid people are hunting for a fort. They hear a cannon-blast, and a cannon-ball presently comes rolling into the wood and stops at their feet. To the females this suggests nothing. The case is very different with the admirable Bumppo. I wish I may never know peace again if he doesn't strike out promptly and follow the track of that cannon-ball across the plain in the dense fog and find the fort. Isn't it a daisy? If Cooper had any real knowledge of Nature's ways of doing things, he had a most delicate art in concealing the fact. For instance: one of his acute Indian experts, Chingachgook (pronounced Chicago, I think), has lost the trail of a person he is tracking through the forest. Apparently that trail is hopelessly lost. Neither you nor I could ever have guessed the way to find it. It was very different with Chicago. Chicago was not stumped for long. He turned a running stream out of its course, and there, in the slush in its old bed, were that person's moccasin tracks. The current did not wash them away, as it would have done in all other like cases -- no, even the eternal laws of Nature have to vacate when Cooper wants to put up a delicate job of woodcraft on the reader.

We must be a little wary when Brander Matthews tells us that Cooper's books "reveal an extraordinary fullness of invention." As a rule, I am quite willing to accept Brander Matthews's literary judgments and applaud his lucid and graceful phrasing of them; but that particular statement needs to be taken with a few tons of salt. Bless you heart, Cooper hadn't any more invention than a horse; and don't mean a high-class horse, either; I mean a clothes- horse. It would be very difficult to find a really clever "situation" in Cooper's books, and still more difficult to find one of any kind which has failed to render absurd by his handling of it. Look at the episodes of "the caves"; and at the celebrated scuffle between Maqua and those others on the table-land a few days later; and at Hurry Harry's queer water-transit from the castle to the ark; and at Deerslayer's half-hour with his first corpse; and at the quarrel between Hurry Harry and Deerslayer later; and at -- but choose for yourself; you can't go amiss.

If Cooper had been an observer his inventive faculty would have worked better; not more interestingly, but more rationally, more plausibly. Cooper's proudest creations in the way of "situations" suffer noticeably from the absence of the observer's protecting gift. Cooper's eye was splendidly inaccurate. Cooper seldom saw anything correctly. He saw nearly all things as through a glass eye, darkly. Of course a man who cannot see the commonest little every-day matters accurately is working at a disadvantage when he is constructing a "situation." In the "Deerslayer" tale Cooper has a stream which is fifty feet wide where it flows out of a lake; it presently narrows to twenty as it meanders along for no given reason, and yet when a stream acts like that it ought to be required to explain itself. Fourteen pages later the width of the brook's outlet from the lake has suddenly shrunk thirty feet, and become "the narrowest part of the stream." This shrinkage is not accounted for. The stream has bends in it, a sure indication that it has alluvial banks and cuts them; yet these bends are only thirty and fifty feet long. If Cooper had been a nice and punctilious observer he would have noticed that the bends were often nine hundred feet long than short of it.

Cooper made the exit of that stream fifty feet wide, in the first place, for no particular reason; in the second place, he narrowed it to less than twenty to accommodate some Indians. He bends a "sapling" to form an arch over this narrow passage, and conceals six Indians in its foliage. They are "laying" for a settler's scow or ark which is coming up the stream on its way to the lake; it is being hauled against the stiff current by rope whose stationary end is anchored in the lake; its rate of progress cannot be more than a mile an hour. Cooper describes the ark, but pretty obscurely. In the matter of dimensions "it was little more than a modern canal boat." Let us guess, then, that it was about one hundred and forty feet long. It was of "greater breadth than common." Let us guess then that it was about sixteen feet wide. This leviathan had been prowling down bends which were but a third as long as itself, and scraping between banks where it only had two feet of space to spare on each side. We cannot too much admire this miracle. A low- roofed dwelling occupies "two-thirds of the ark's length" -- a dwelling ninety feet long and sixteen feet wide, let us say -- a kind of vestibule train. The dwelling has two rooms -- each forty- five feet long and sixteen feet wide, let us guess. One of them is the bedroom of the Hutter girls, Judith and Hetty; the other is the parlor in the daytime, at night it is papa's bedchamber. The ark is arriving at the stream's exit now, whose width has been reduced to less than twenty feet to accommodate the Indians -- say to eighteen. There is a foot to spare on each side of the boat. Did the Indians notice that there was going to be a tight squeeze there? Did they notice that they could make money by climbing down out of that arched sapling and just stepping aboard when the ark scraped by? No, other Indians would have noticed these things, but Cooper's Indian's never notice anything. Cooper thinks they are marvelous creatures for noticing, but he was almost always in error about his Indians. There was seldom a sane one among them.

The ark is one hundred and forty-feet long; the dwelling is ninety feet long. The idea of the Indians is to drop softly and secretly from the arched sapling to the dwelling as the ark creeps along under it at the rate of a mile an hour, and butcher the family. It will take the ark a minute and a half to pass under. It will take the ninety-foot dwelling a minute to pass under. Now, then, what did the six Indians do? It would take you thirty years to guess, and even then you would have to give it up, I believe. Therefore, I will tell you what the Indians did. Their chief, a person of quite extraordinary intellect for a Cooper Indian, warily watched the canal-boat as it squeezed along under him and when he had got his calculations fined down to exactly the right shade, as he judge, he let go and dropped. And missed the boat! That is actually what he did. He missed the house, and landed in he stern of the scow. It was not much of a fall, yet it knocked him silly. He lay there unconscious. If the house had been ninety-seven feet long he would have made the trip. The error lay in the construction of the house. Cooper was no architect.

There still remained in the roost five Indians. The boat has passed under and is now out of their reach. Let me explain what the five did -- you would not be able to reason it out for yourself. No. 1 jumped for the boat, but fell in the water astern of it. Then No. 2 jumped for the boat, but fell in the water still further astern of it. Then No. 3 jumped for the boat, and fell a good way astern of it. Then No. 4 jumped for the boat, and fell in the water away astern. Then even No. 5 made a jump for the boat -- for he was Cooper Indian. In that matter of intellect, the difference between a Cooper Indian and the Indian that stands in front of the cigar-shop is not spacious. The scow episode is really a sublime burst of invention; but it does not thrill, because the inaccuracy of details throw a sort of air of fictitiousness and general improbability over it. This comes of Cooper's inadequacy as observer.

The reader will find some examples of Cooper's high talent for inaccurate observation in the account of the shooting-match in "The Pathfinder."

A common wrought nail was driven lightly into the target, its head having been first touched with paint.

The color of the paint is not stated -- an important omission, but Cooper deals freely in important omissions. No, after all, it was not an important omission; for this nail-head is a hundred yards from the marksmen, and could not be seen at that distance, no matter what its color might be. How far can the best eyes see a common housefly? A hundred yards? It is quite impossible. Very well; eyes that cannot see a house-fly that is a hundred yards away cannot see an ordinary nail-head at that distance, for the size of the two objects is the same. It takes a keen eye to see a fly or a nail-head at fifty yards -- one hundred and fifty-feet. Can the reader do it?
The nail was lightly driven, its head painted, and game called. Then the Cooper miracles began. The bullet of the first marksman chipped an edge of the nail-head; the next man's bullet drove the nail a little way into the target -- and removed all the paint. Haven't the miracles gone far enough now? Not to suit Cooper; for the purpose of this whole scheme is to show off his prodigy, Deerslayer-Hawkeye-Long-Rifle-Leatherstocking-Pathfinder-Bumppo before the ladies.

"Be all ready to clench it, boys!" cried out Pathfinder, stepping into his friend's tracks the instant they were vacant. "Never mind a new nail; I can see that, though the paint is gone, and what I can see I can hit at a hundred yards, though it were only a mosquito's eye. Be ready to clench!"
The rifle cracked, the bullet sped its way, and the head of the nail was buried in the wood, covered by the piece of flattened lead.
There, you see, is a man who could hunt flies with a rifle, and command a ducal salary in a Wild West show to-day if we had him back with us.
The recorded feat is certainly surprising just as it stands; but it is not surprising enough for Cooper. Cooper adds a touch. He has made Pathfinder do this miracle with another man's rife; and not only that, but Pathfinder did not have even the advantage of loading it himself. He had everything against him, and yet he made that impossible shot; and not only made it, but did it with absolute confidence, saying, "Be ready to clench." Now a person like that would have undertaken that same feat with a brickbat, and with Cooper to help he would have achieved it, too.

Pathfinder showed off handsomely that day before the ladies. His very first feat a thing which no Wild West show can touch. He was standing with the group of marksmen, observing -- a hundred yards from the target, mind; one Jasper rasper raised his rifle and drove the center of the bull's-eye. Then the Quartermaster fired. The target exhibited no result this time. There was a laugh. "It's a dead miss," said Major Lundie. Pathfinder waited an impressive moment or two; then said, in that calm, indifferent, know-it-all way of his, "No, Major, he has covered Jasper's bullet, as will be seen if any one will take the trouble to examine the target."

Wasn't it remarkable! How could he see that little pellet fly through the air and enter that distant bullet-hole? Yet that is what he did; for nothing is impossible to a Cooper person. Did any of those people have any deep-seated doubts about this thing? No; for that would imply sanity, and these were all Cooper people.

The respect for Pathfinder's skill and for his quickness and accuracy of sight [the italics are mine] was so profound and general, that the instant he made this declaration the spectators began to distrust their own opinions, and a dozen rushed to the target in order to ascertain the fact. There, sure enough, it was found that the Quartermaster's bullet had gone through the hole made by Jasper's, and that, too, so accurately as to require a minute examination to be certain of the circumstance, which, however, was soon clearly established by discovering one bullet over the other in the stump against which the target was placed.

They made a "minute" examination; but never mind, how could they know that there were two bullets in that hole without digging the latest one out? for neither probe nor eyesight could prove the presence of any more than one bullet. Did they dig? No; as we shall see. It is the Pathfinder's turn now; he steps out before the ladies, takes aim, and fires.
But, alas! here is a disappointment; in incredible, an unimaginable disappointment -- for the target's aspect is unchanged; there is nothing there but that same old bullet hole!

"If one dared to hint at such a thing," cried Major Duncan, "I should say that the Pathfinder has also missed the target."

As nobody had missed it yet, the "also" was not necessary; but never mind about that, for the Pathfinder is going to speak.
"No, no, Major," said he, confidently, "that would be a risky declaration. I didn't load the piece, and can't say what was in it; but if it was lead, you will find the bullet driving down those of the Quartermaster and Jasper, else is not my name Pathfinder."
A shout from the target announced the truth of this assertion.

Is the miracle sufficient as it stands? Not for Cooper. The Pathfinder speaks again, as he "now slowly advances toward the stage occupied by the females":
"That's not all, boys, that's not all; if you find the target touched at all, I'll own to a miss. The Quartermaster cut the wood, but you'll find no wood cut by that last messenger."

The miracle is at last complete. He knew -- doubtless saw -- at the distance of a hundred yards -- this his bullet had passed into the hole without fraying the edges. There were now three bullets in that one hole -- three bullets embedded processionally in the body of the stump back of the target. Everybody knew this -- somehow or other -- and yet nobody had dug any of them out to make sure. Cooper is not a close observer, but he is interesting. He is certainly always that, no matter what happens. And he is more interesting when he is not noticing what he is about than when he is. This is a considerable merit.
The conversations in the Cooper books have a curious sound in our modern ears. To believe that such talk really ever came out of people's mouths would be to believe that there was a time when time was of no value to a person who thought he had something to say; when it was the custom to spread a two-minute remark out to ten; when a man's mouth was a rolling-mill, and busied itself all day long in turning four-foot pigs of thought into thirty-foot bars of conversational railroad iron by attenuation; when subjects were seldom faithfully stuck to, but the talk wandered all around and arrived nowhere; when conversations consisted mainly of irrelevancies, with here and there a relevancy, a relevancy with an embarrassed look, as not being able to explain how it got there.

Cooper was certainly not a master in the construction of dialogue. Inaccurate observation defeated him here as it defeated him in so many other enterprises of his life. He even failed to notice that the man who talks corrupt English six days in the week must and will talk it on seventh, and can't help himself. In the "Deerslayer" story, he lets Deerslayer talk the showiest kind of book-talk sometimes, and at other times the basest of base dialects. For instance, when some one asks him if he has a sweetheart, and if so, where she abides, this is his majestic answer:

"She's in the forest -- hanging from the boughs of the trees, in a soft rain -- in the dew on the open grass -- the clouds that float about in the blue heavens -- the birds that sing in the woods -- the sweet springs where I slake my thirst -- and in all the other glorious gifts that come from God's Providence!"

And he preceded that, a little before, with this:
"It consarns me as all things that touches a friend consarns a friend."

And this is another of his remarks:
"If I was Injin born, now, I might tell of this, or carry in the scalp and boast of the expl'ite afore the whole tribe; of if my inimy had only been a bear" -- [and so on]

We cannot imagine such a thing as a veteran Scotch Commander-in- Chief comporting himself like a windy melodramatic actor, but Cooper could. On one occasion, Alice and Cora were being chased by the French through a fog in the neighborhood of their father's fort:
"Point de quartier aux coquins!" cried an eager pursuer, who seemed to direct the operations of the enemy.
"Stand firm and be ready, my gallant 60ths!" suddenly exclaimed a voice above them; "wait to see the enemy, fire low, and sweep the glacis."
"Father! father" exclaimed a piercing cry from out the mist. "It is I! Alice! thy own Elsie! spare, O! save your daughters!"
"Hold!" shouted the former speaker, in the awful tones of parental agony, the sound reaching even to the woods, and rolling back in a solemn echo. "'Tis she! God has restored me my children! Throw open the sally- port; to the field, 60ths, to the field! pull not a trigger, lest ye kill my lambs! Drive off these dogs of France with your steel!"


Cooper's word-sense was singularly dull. When a person has a poor ear for music he will flat and sharp right along without knowing it. He keeps near the tune, but is not the tune. When a person has a poor ear for words, the result is a literary flatting and sharping; you perceive what he is intending to say, but you also perceive that he does not say it. This is Cooper. He was not a word-musician. His ear was satisfied with the approximate words. I will furnish some circumstantial evidence in support of this charge. My instances are gathered from half a dozen pages of the tale called "Deerslayer." He uses "Verbal" for "oral"; "precision" for "facility"; "phenomena" for "marvels"; "necessary" for "predetermined"; "unsophisticated" for "primitive"; "preparation" for "expectancy"; "rebuked" for "subdued"; "dependent on" for "resulting from"; "fact" for "condition"; "fact" for "conjecture"; "precaution" for "caution"; "explain" for "determine"; "mortified" for "disappointed"; "meretricious" for "factitious"; "materially" for "considerably"; "decreasing" for "deepening"; "increasing" for "disappearing"; "embedded" for "inclosed"; "treacherous" for "hostile"; "stood" for "stooped"; "softened" for "replaced"; "rejoined" for "remarked"; "situation" for "condition"; "different" for "differing"; "insensible" for "unsentient"; "brevity" for "celerity"; "distrusted" for "suspicious"; "mental imbecility" for "imbecility"; "eyes" for "sight"; "counteracting" for "opposing"; "funeral obsequies" for "obsequies."
There have been daring people in the world who claimed that Cooper could write English, but they are all dead now -- all dead but Lounsbury. I don't remember that Lounsbury makes the claim in so many words, still he makes it, for he says that "Deerslayer" is a "pure work of art." Pure, in that connection, means faultless -- faultless in all details -- and language is a detail. If Mr. Lounsbury had only compared Cooper's English with the English he writes himself -- but it is plain that he didn't; and so it is likely that he imagines until this day that Cooper's is as clean and compact as his own. Now I feel sure, deep down in my heart, that Cooper wrote about the poorest English that exists in our language, and that the English of "Deerslayer" is the very worst that even Cooper ever wrote.

I may be mistaken, but it does seem to me that "Deerslayer" is not a work of art in any sense; it does seem to me that it is destitute of every detail that goes to the making of a work of art; in truth, it seems to me that "Deerslayer" is just simply a literary delirium tremens.

A work of art? It has no invention; it has no order, system, sequence, or result; it has no lifelikeness, no thrill, no stir, no seeming of reality; its characters are confusedly drawn, and by their acts and words they prove that they are not the sort of people the author claims that they are; its humor is pathetic; its pathos is funny; its conversations are -- oh! indescribable; its love-scenes odious; its English a crime against the language.

Counting these out, what is left is Art. I think we must all admit that.

Huck Finn chaps 1-8

Today we're going to review chapters 1-8 by playing jeopardy.

You might want to check up on your notes.

Questions for chapters 5-11

You should answer these as you read. For those going on trips, you need to read chapters 5-8.

Good luck! Email me if you have questions.


Huck Discussion Questions: V - XI

1. Pap: "I won't have it. I'll lay for you, my smarty; and if I catch you about that school I'll tan you good. First you know you'll get religion. I never seen such a son." Discuss the meaning and irony.
2. How does the refusal of the court to grant custody of Huck to the Widow Douglas and Judge Thatcher reflect on society?
3. Even though Huck is regularly beaten, he prefers to stay at the shanty. Why? How does this reflect one of the major themes?
4. Comment on Pap's drunken tirade over the "govment." What message is Twain sending?
5. What major theme is reflected by Huck's escape from his father and his discovery of Jim?
6. What is ironic about Huck wishing Tom were there to help plan the escape? How do you think the plan would have developed had Tom been there? Would it have been successful?
7. Discuss the irony in Huck's finding bread to eat. He also seems to modify his position on prayer. Discuss.
8. Discuss Jim' actions after meeting Huck.
9. Discuss how running into Jim represents Huck's rebirth. Discuss the resulting conflict in Huck's mind.
10. Significance: "People would call me a lowdown Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum."
11. Even though Jim seems to rely on superstition, many of his predictions are rooted in knowledge.
Explain the significance.
12. Discuss the trick that Huck plays on Jim. It that typical of Huck's character? What does he learn?

13. What do we learn about Huck's character from his trip to shore?
14. When Mrs. Loftus discusses the money that Tom had found, a common human trait emerges. Discuss.
15. Discuss the satire revealed in the amounts of the rewards.

Huckleberry Finn THEMES

Major Themes: Mark Twain described the major theme of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as an irony: "A sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat." We can define the "deformed conscience" as a conscience influenced by the laws of society and a sense of duty toward those laws. The laws of society at the time of Huck's journey considered people of African descent as property and, therefore, less than human. Huck's struggle with his "deformed conscience" represents a major conflict in the novel. Furthermore, the novel is rich in common themes, themes that we will discover in many other pieces of literature.

1. The conflict between the individual and society - Huck's struggle with his "deformed conscience"
2. The conflict between the emotional and the rational
3. Appearance vs. reality - hypocrisy and "phoniness"
4. Superstition - as a method of explaining and understanding
5. Tolerance vs. prejudice
6. Dehumanization - dehumanizing human beings to oppress them
7. Death and rebirth
8. Coming of age - the hero's journey
9. The role of the outsider
10. The nature and significance of the following human traits: gullibility, ignorance and naivete

Other significant themes include: the feeling of loneliness and isolation; the quest for freedom; romantic vs. real; implied vs. literal; the role of women; the concept of family.

Huckleberry Finn and that Damned Human Race

Picarsque Novel: Usually a satirical novel which depicts in realistic detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who survives by his or her wits in a corrupt society.

Bildungsroman: A novel whose principal subject is the moral, psychological and intellectual development of a youthful main character.

Episodic Plot: A structure that features distinct episodes or a series of stories linked together by the same character. Huck Finn can be broken up into 8 or 9 episodes.

Romanticism:
Work of literature that deal with imagination, that represent ideals of life, these works often include fantastic adventure stories, spiritual connections with nature, gothic stories of the fantastic. Authors include: Sir Walter Scott, Fenimore Cooper, Poe.

Realism:
Works of literature that depict life and people as they really appear. Hence Realistic.
Themes include corruption of society as a whole, racism.

Anithero:
A protagonist who doesn't fit the traditional description of a hero.

Persona:
An assumed identity or character.

Satire:
A work of literature that uses irony and hyperbole to attack and mock some aspect of society as a way to promote social change.

Thesis Statements

Thesis Statements are due TODAY!



Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement directs all of the ideas, quote selection, and commentary in your essay. Therefore, a muddled or imprecise thesis statement will lead to an unclear or meaningless essay.

A thesis statement is NOT:

1. An abstract concept. For example, “Greed” is not a thesis statement.

2. A general “universal” truth. For example, the following sentence is not a thesis statement: “For thousands of years, man has been greedy.”

A thesis statement IS a statement that provides direction for the analysis of a theme or idea presented by a particular text. Therefore, in order to construct an effective thesis statement, you must first determine what a text is suggesting about an abstract concept (like greed, for example).
Your thesis statement will address an abstract concept PLUS the evaluation of that concept through a particular text.

A thesis statement for “The Pardoner’s Tale” might address the abstract concept of greed as it is handled in the story. The first two examples are NOT thesis statements. The third one is a complete thesis statement:

a. Greed is something that man has struggled with for centuries, as demonstrated in “The Pardoner’s Tale” by Chaucer. (Abstract Concept Only)

b. “The Pardoner’s Tale,” written by Chaucer, is a story about how three men kill one another while looking for Death. (Plot Summary)

c. “The Pardoner’s Tale,” written by Chaucer, suggests that the “deadly” sin of greed is stronger than any oath of friendship, and will ultimately lead those who give into its allure to their own destruction.

DUE DATES:

Dialectical Journals are due on Wednesday 11/16.
Vocabulary Quiz on Friday 11/18.
Critical Essays on the SCARLET LETTER are due on 11/23.


Analysis Essay:

In 2-3 papers students will need to analysis some aspect of The Scarlet Letter and connected it to a theme. Things that can be explored include symbolism, tone, diction, characters and events. I expect students to use their didactical journals for focus on examples. I also expect all students to choose something small to concentrate on. I would rather you spend three pages examining one paragraph in relation to a theme, than to try and examine something like Pearl’s role as Savior and Chillingworth’s role as the devil (unless you view these roles from looking at one paragraph or one page). This would be too large. You couldn’t examine it in enough detail in three pages. Remember I’m looking for precise thesis statements and evidence that is analyzed.

GRADE: Essay grade with 100 points.

Due Date: Monday November 15th.
Note: If you are traveling you better turn it in on Monday.

Scarlet Letter Vocabulary # 2

Loquacity
Importunate
Chirurgical
Physiognomy
Ignominy
Misanthropy
Invigorated
Irrefragable
Galliard
Sombre

Scarlet Letter Vocabulary List

1) Dearth

2) Magnate

3) Opaque

4) Veneration

5) Florid

6) Esoteric

7) Malleable

8) Evanescent

9) Vitiated

10) Propensity

Marking the TEXT

As you read:

1) Circle unknown words (you should look these up latter)
2) Box unclear passages (sections that you do not understand)
3) Underline or highlight key points (you might have different highlight colors for different type of points: yellow for character, orange for sections that back up theme, pink for symbols).
4) Write in the margin questions and/or notes (especially questions/notes about highlighted sections).
5) At the end of each chapter you should write a brief summary of it for yourself (especially if there is room, white space, in the book)
6) Drawings are also good if they help you.

NOTES and THEMES for THE SCARLET LETTER

THEMES:

Nature vs. Human Law
Nature of Evil
Sin vs. Forgiveness or Punishment vs. Forgiveness
Individual vs. Society
Exile
Public Guilt vs. Private Guilt
Civilization vs. Wilderness or Town vs. Woods
Good vs. Evil

NOTES:

Hester Prynne
Hester: Hestier in Greek mythology, Zeus’s sister, a woman of beauty
hestier (hasty)
Prynne: prurient
prune: purify her sin
pry: probe into the interior of one’s heart

Arthur Dimmesdale
Arthur: Adam, adultery
Dimmesdale: dim + dale: dim interior (to hide one’s sin )

Roger Chillingworth
Roger: rogue (revenge)
Chillingworth: chilly (cruel, inhumane)
+ worth (induce Arthur to speak out his own sin)

Pearl: good, pure and precious


Scarlet: Definition

Function: adjective
1 of the color scarlet
2 a : grossly and glaringly offensive
Function: noun
Middle English scarlat, scarlet, from Anglo-French escarlet, from Medieval Latin scarlata, from Persian saqalAt, a kind of rich cloth
1 : scarlet cloth or clothes
2 : any of various bright reds
Main Entry: scarlet letter
Function: noun_: a scarlet A worn as a punitive mark of adultery

Scarlet Letter

For an example of last year's blog (Rori's) go here

In chapter 2, compare the scarlet letter (the "A") on Hester's chest to the rosebush in chapter 1.

Take into account the title of the chapter: "The Marketplace" - why? What happens in Marketplaces? What is Mistress Hibbins a symbol of? Who was she - historically? Keep in mind that she will be very important in this book. Note the "gossip" of the "Goodwives" (is there an irony here?) Think about word choices and images such as "black shadwo" "grim" "naughty baggage" (what is the naughty baggage? The baby?) Why is Hester's attire so much brighter than the rest of the crowd? What does this mean? What happens on the scaffold (why a scaffold?) - happens in general? Think punishment. "A man well stricken in years, a pale, thin, scholar-like visage, with eyes dim and bleared by lamp-light that had served them to pore over many ponderous books. Yet those same bleared optics had a strange, penetrationg power, when it was their owner's purpose to read the human soul... This figure...was slightly deformed." Interpret that quote. Who does it relate to? What does it mean? Who, besides priests and God, can read the "human soul". Deform is both physical and spiritual. "Indian" - why? There's meaning here. Think history - what did the puritans think of the natives? Nature vs. Society.

Look up meaning of Hester's name (first and last).

Use shmoop if you need it.

Smile. I'm watching you.

The Scarlet Letter Chapter 1

Notes: Remember how the Puritans, the people waiting outside the door, are dressed: very gray and drab: lifeless in many ways. The puritans felt that elaborate dress was sinful. How the people dress reflects their inner lives. Also not that the society itself reflects the prison - the prison door becomes more important in this aspect (the reader wants it to open). The prison symbolizes the society, being trapped within the society, and the graveyard is the only escape. Look at the "wild rose" and remember that it is outside of society. It is the only thing of color: an immense red (ah red - what does red symbolize? what else will be red?). How does the red contrast the door? The people? The society?

Did you look up the allusions? What do they mean or how do they relate to the chapter? (In looking up these allusions keep in mind the puritan view of wealth and Jesus comments about a rich man going to heaven?)

Reread the chapter and take notes.

Word of the Day for Wednesday

To mitigate the lose, the coach talked about all the good things the team did on the court.

The Scarlet Letter

The Dialectical Journal: THE SCARLET LETTER


Effective students have a habit of taking notes as they read. This note-taking can several forms: annotation, post it notes, character lists, idea clusters, and many others. One of the most effective strategies is called a dialectical journal. The word “dialectical” has numerous meanings, but the one most pertinent is the “art of critical examination into the truth of an opinion” or reworded “The art or practice of arriving at the truth by using conversation involving question and answer.” As you read, you are forming an opinion about what you are reading (or at least you are SUPPOSED to be forming an opinion). That opinion, however, needs to be based on the text – not just a feeling. Therefore, all of your opinions need to be based on the text.

The procedure is as follows:

1. Purchase a dedicated spiral notebook and draw a line down the center of each page of the notebook. NOTE: I expect you to publish these journal entries on your blogs nightly and number them as you go.

2. As you read, pay close attention to the text.

3. Whenever you encounter something of interest (this could be anything from an interesting turn of phrase to a character note), write down the word/phrase in the LEFT HAND COLUMN making sure that you NOTE THE PAGE NUMBER. If the phrase is especially long just write the first few words, use an ellipsis, then write the last few words.

4. In the RIGHT HAND COLUMN, WRITE YOUR OBSEVRATIONS ABOUT THE TEXT you noted in the left-hand column. This is where you need to interact in detail with the text. Make sure that your observations are THOROUGH, INSIGHTFUL, and FOCUSED CLEARLY ON THE TEXT.

Requirements:

1) For each novel we read you will need to complete a MINIMUM of 55 entries if you wish to be eligible for an “A”. 35 is the minimum for a passing grade. Make sure you number your entries.
2) A completed dialectical journal should be brought to class each day a reading assignment is due.
3) On some short fiction and poetry reading assignments I may ask you to keep a dialectic journal on the reading (usually I’ll ask for 5-10 entries for shorter works).
4) Dialectic journals will be used as part of class discussion and will be randomly collected and graded for homework.

When should you write things down?
• When certain details seem important to you
• When you have an epiphany
• When you learn something significant about a character
• When you recognize a pattern (overlapping images, repetitions of idea, details, etc.)
• When you agree or disagree with something a character says
• When you find an interesting or potentially significant quote.
• When you notice something important or relevant about the writer’s style.
• When you notice effective uses of literary devices.
• When you notice something that makes you think of a question

That is all there is to it. This way, once you have read your text you will already have a great set of notes on which to draw when you write your paper. You also should have gained a great deal of insight about your particular text.

Note: Should you rather type this, just use the COLUMN function in your tool bar and complete steps two-four electronically.

Grading (based on 55 entries, if you have 45 entries an A= B, B= C, 35 entries A=C)

A—Detailed, meaningful passages, plot and quote selections; thoughtful interpretation and commentary about the text; includes comments about literary elements (like theme, diction, imagery, syntax, symbolism, etc.) and how these elements contribute to the meaning of the text; asks thought-provoking, insightful questions; coverage of text is complete and thorough; journal is neat, organized, numbered and readable.
B—Less detailed, but good selections; some intelligent commentary about the text; includes some comments about literary elements (like theme, diction, imagery, syntax, symbolism, etc.) but less than how these elements contribute to the meaning of the text; asks some thought-provoking, insightful questions; coverage of the text is complete and thorough; journal is neat, organized, numbered and readable.
C—A few good details about the text; most of the commentary is vague, unsupported or plot summary/paraphrase; some listing of literary elements, but perhaps inadequate discussion, but not very thoroughly; journal is relatively neat.
D—Hardly any good or meaningful details from the story; notes are plot summary or paraphrase; few literary elements, virtually no discussion on meaning; no good questions; limited coverage of text, and/or too short.

Grammar Exercises

Add semicolons, colons, dashes, quotation marks in the following sentences:

1. There was only one thing to do study till dawn.

2. Montaigne wrote the following A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.

3. The following are the primary colors red, blue, and yellow.

4. Arriving on the 8 10 plane were Liz Brooks, my old roommate her husband and Tim, their son.

5. When the teacher commented that her spelling was poor, Lynn replied All the members of my family are poor spellers. Why not me?

Review for Quiz

You'll need to know the following:

"The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin"
"Speech in the Virginia Convention" - note: outline the argument
Thesis: The question before us is one of either freedom or slavery
Points: 1) It is natural to give into the illusions of hope but we must look at experience
a) The British over the last ten years have not responded to us
b) The British have made warlike preparations against us and sent armies and navies to Americas.
1) Who are these armies and navies for? These are implements of war and subjugation.
2) Has the British any enemy in this quarter of the world?
2) We have petitioned, remonstrated, prostrated ourselves before the thorn looking to amended the situation and we have ignored.
3) We can't listen to arguments that we are too weak to oppose the British or we'll find ourselves chained, bound hand and foot.
4) We are not weak.
a) We have 3 million citizens
b) God is on our side
c) God will rise up friends to help us
d) Besides it is too late not to fight
Conclusion: As for me give me liberty or give me death!

Correct the Punctuation

Put in semicolons, colons, dashes, quotation marks, where ever they are needed in the following sentences.

1. Several countries participated in the airlift Italy, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg.

2. Only one course was open to us surrender, said the ex-major, and we did.

3. Judge Carswell later to be nominated for the Supreme Court had ruled against civil rights.

4. In last week's New Yorker, one of my favorite magazines, I enjoyed reading Leland's article How Not to Go Camping.

5. Yes, Jim said, I'll be home by ten.

What's wrong with the punctuation?

The following are from the book EATS SHOOTS & LEAVES by Lynne Truss.

1) Leonora walked on her head, a little higher than usual.
2) The driver managed to escape from the vehicle before it sank and swam to the river-bank.
3) Don't guess, use a timer or watch.
4) The convict said the judge is mad.

SAT List # 3

1) Obsolete

2) Paucity

3) Philistine

4) Meticulous

5) Officious

6) Peruse

7) Mitigate

8) Perfidy

9) Morose

Sentence Combining

Today you'll be required to take notes on the dash. Remember you should already have notes on the comma, colon, and semi-colon. You're expected to know how to use these punctuation marks properly and to practice using them.

Today's sentence combining exercise:

The bear was big. The bear broke open the garbage. The bear ate the left over pizza. Dan's father shot the bear. Dan cried.

Combining Sentences

Espionage is the secret collection of intelligent information. The history of espionage goes back over two thousand years. Espionage was started in China by Sun Tzu.

Combining Sentences

Kernal: John owns a hat.

John loves to wear hats. John's girlfriend likes to see John in cowboy hats. John's hero is John Wayne.

Combining Sentences

We're going to work with combining sentences and discuss sentence kernels, connective, subordinative, and adjectival modes of progression.

Exercise number 1:

Kernal: My shoes are Nikes.

Sentences to combine: My Nike shoes are designed to play tennis. My Nikes have air soles. I like their weight.

Exercise number 2:

Kernal: Breakfast is my favorite meal.

Sentences to combine: I like hot food for breakfast. I prefer eggs and bacon to oatmeal. A good breakfast always starts my day off right.

Complex Sentences

For Thursday, finish study questions on "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" and then do the practice exercises on the following website

If you need more background on complex sentences please go here

Know the following readings:

"The Iroquois Constitution"
"The Devastation of the West Indies"
"The General History of Virginia"
"Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God"
"Of Plymouth Plantation"

1) Know what type of document it is (Political, Religious (as a sermon), history, biography)
2) Know the purpose of the document (why was it recorded? what was the author's intentions?)
3) Be able to summarize the document.
4) Review study questions for each reading.

SAT Vocabulary List # 2

1) Disdain
2) Dogmatic
3) Egregious
4) Emulate
5) Dissipated
6) Diminution
7) Disparage
8) Effervescent
9) Elucidate
10) Distraught

Vocabulary Quiz

9/2 First Vocabulary Quiz

SAT Vocabulary List # 1

1) Callous
2) Capricious
3) Cajole
4) Censure
5) Catalyst
6) Caustic
7) Capitulate
8) Celestial
9) Catharsis
10) Carping

Welcome to English 11

English 11
Course Syllabus: 2011-2012
Instructor: Mr. Fielding
Email: fieldingkent@hotmail.com

Course Description: American Literature

Emphasis: The accelerated development of critical literary skills and devices to use in the analysis of works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. The writing of formal essays, research papers, and creative fiction and poetry.

The primary purpose of English 11 is to provide an opportunity for students to expand their critical thinking and writing skills by focusing on some of the challenging material of American Literature. The course is similar to English 10 in the dissection of literature in the pursuit of analysis but the class will cover more material and the expectation of the student’s performance is much higher. We will also look at the history of American Literature and explore themes that are unique to the American Experience such as The American Dream and the creation of the American Character. Reading in this class will correspond with the U.S. History class.

We will build on the foundation established in English 10 for composing literary, persuasive, and reflective essays, and to produce an original research paper. Additionally, students will utilize proper writing conventions appropriate to their learning level. To accomplish this, students will actively read from an extensive selection spanning all literary genres, analyze these works, develop original theses, and share their ideas in formal compositions (persuasive, reflective, and analytical), class discussions, and oral presentations.

In other words the class will dissect literature (and literary genres) at the roots—for the roots beneath the tree are extensive and only by understanding those roots can one understand the entire tree. We will look at literature as an investigation, an exploration, an adventure. We will examine genres and themes and we will share our ideas, interests and findings by discussion and writing essays, poetry, and fiction and by doing research to find out more.

Texts: The Great Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, Death of a Salesman, The Grapes of Wrath, The Red Badge of Courage, poetry and short story selections from Literature and Language Arts Textbook, and selections from Walden.

BLOGS

Students will be required to keep a blog throughout the year. This blog will be your journal writing for the year. In this blog/journal will be reading reflections, lists of literary devices found in stories and novels, creative assignments that correspond with readings, pre-writing exercises, analytic writing.

NOTE: I read every journal entry and you will lose points for skipping entries or not following directions. If you do not understand an assignment please ask.

GRADES:

Tests – 25% of overall grade
Papers—25% of overall grade
Projects—20% of overall grade
Quizzes, class work, homework—20% of overall grade
Journals/Blogs—10% of overall grade

Scale:

100- 93 = A
92.49- 90 = A-
89.49- 87 = B+
86.49-83.00 = B
82.49- 80.00 = B-
79.49-77.00 = C+
76.49- 73 = C
72.49-70.00 = C-
69.49-67.00 = D+
66.49- 63.00 = D
62.49- 60 = D-
Below 60 = F

Late Work: Mark down 10% per day. You are expected to turn in work on the deadlines due.

Required Materials:

1 Pocket Folders (to keep handouts, note guides, returned work)
1 Binder with loose paper

General Guidelines:

1. Be prepared when class begins. It is imperative that all pencils are sharpened and materials are ready when the bell rings.
2. Class discussions should be conducted in an orderly and respectful fashion.
3. Do not talk when I am talking.
4. I dismiss you, not the bell!
5. You may choose you own seat, but I reserve the right to assign seats or move you if I see the need.
Respect others and their property. This respect extends to remaining quiet during announcements, directions, lectures, and presentations. If you are talking someone else might not be able to hear.