How to teach The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the classrooms?

           The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic novel that deals with issues such as racism, violence, slavery, intellectual education, moral education, etc. The question that has started a debate with this book is “Should The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn be taught in classrooms?” As a future English teacher, I believe that this novel should be taught in the classroom because it allows students to learn about things such as slavery in the perspective of a teenager rather than some history book.

            If I were to teach this book in my classroom, I would start my lesson plan with a lesson on African-American/slavery history because this will give students a background on slavery and the word “nigger.” Student will learn the ins and outs of slavery and how the word “nigger” came into existence. I think that giving students a brief introduction on slavery and African-America history can help them understand the reason why Mark Twain uses the language he uses. 

Throughout the novel, I would allow my students to express their opinions on issues such as slavery, racism, etc. This would allow students to share what they have to say about the book. I would incorporate an assignment where students get to become a slave and argue why they should be freed. I would allow my students to write another letter role playing as Huck Finn and writing about similar experiences from that of the student’s life and the novel. I think that incorporating these writing assignments give students a voice about major issues and helps them learn how to deal with them and also learn about the issues. The issue of slavery can be incorporated into the bigger lesson plan of teaching students about race. Most teachers and students don’t feel comfortable talking about race and it has become a taboo subject. This book can help students learn about racism.    

            After reading the entire novel, I would break my students into two groups. One group would argue why The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught in the classroom and the other group would argue against teaching this book in the classroom. I would use this debate as a way to give my students a voice and it could—in a way—undermine the big controversy. In my opinion, this book is not a “bad” book. I think people (especially adults) think the book is inappropriate because it uses the word “nigger” multiple times but students would catch this but not think that it is something bad. I just think that this issue shouldn’t be an issue especially in this century where were supposedly over racism! 

A Brief Summary of Native American Conflict

In the early 1800’s, the United States was rapidly growing. They quickly took ownership of land they found and grew crop to further develop their economy. Although land was abundant, the settlers encountered a problem; the land was home to five Indian Nations: the Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, Creek and Chicasaw. The need to grow crop and expand their country, made settlers pressure the government to take the Indian territories. Andrew Jackson commanded the US military in 1814 and wiped out a colony of Creek Nation Indians; winning millions of acres in Georgia and Alabama. This continued with other Indian colonies resulting in the acquirement of millions more acres of land by 1818.

Andrew Jackson then negotiated nine treaties between 1814 and 1824. The treaties promised they will not be harmed if they agreed to settle in a designated piece of land and surrender their remaining land to the United States. The US now owned land in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina. This continued for years and when the Indians rebelled, they were massacred. With their homes being taken and their people being killed and threatened, the Native Americans continued to fight back. They tried both peaceful and violent means of fighting back, but in 1827 the Cherokee took advantage of a constitution declaring them to be a sovereign nation. This allowed them to cede their land. The Indians of course found themselves having problems with the settlers who did not want to abide by their constitution, which resulted in a tougher situation.    

Through out this entire time the Native Americans were never recognized as American citizens well up into the mid twentieth century. It wasn’t until two years after World War II that Native Americans in the United State were finally granted citizenship. The fact that Native Americans only recently gained the rights to be American Citizens makes what we read in class to be far more relevant. Although the old west is not as it was dozens of years ago, the conflict between the Non-Native Americans and the Native Americans still exist.  

Hard Time's Schooling

Hard Times by Charles Dickens is truly a classic novel. There will also be turmoil between the rich and the poor: one aspect in society that has been affected by this turmoil is education. Funding for education is facing budget cuts affecting programs, teachers, and especially the students who attend schools and participate in those programs. Schooling then differs between the schools with more funding and schools with less. In Hard Times, readers are exposed to a school where nothing but fact is taught. In the school there is no room for imaginations, creativity or anything of the sort to run freely through children’s minds. It becomes quite clear that only the wealthier families are able to send their children to school, while the poor don’t have any means to pay for it. 

To a degree, this stands true in America today. One particular part of the novel developed this thought. When Sissy is given the opportunity to go to school—if she agrees to entirely rid herself of her past life—she is left to feel subordinate to the other students in class. She comes home one day and tells Louisa about her learning difficulties.  Sissy then explains what Mr. M’Choakumchild asked her: “‘National Prosperity. Now this classroom is a nation. And in this nation, there are fifty millions of money. Isn’t this a prosperous nation, and a’n’t you in a thriving state?” “I said I didn’t know. I thought I couldn’t know whether it was a prosperous nation or not, and whether I was in a thriving state or not, unless I knew who had got the money, and whether any of it was mine. But that had nothing to do with it. It was not in the figure at all” (Dickens 66). Sissy’s thoughts are similar to those of today. 

Another aspect of the school in Hard Times is that school is strict, lifeless and relies solely on information that can be explained through science, math, etc. Although it seems farfetched, it is happening today in subtle forms. Recess is being cut in grade school, art and music programs are being cut in colleges and secondary schools and books that open the mind are being banned. I recently watched an episode of “Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Headband”. In this episode Aang, the Avatar, is attending a Fire Nation school as someone else. Aang is a free spirit and realizes that the students in the school are rigid and lack spontaneity. Aang realizes this is an issue to his adolescent peers and decides to help them. The schooling in Hard Times is seen and feared in today’s society as well.