In her essay, “Say It Ain’t So, Huck: Second Thoughts on Mark Twain’s ‘Masterpiece,’” Jane Smiley greatly critiques the characters in Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and questions how it ever came to be considered a great American novel. Personally, I agree with Smiley on many different accounts but there were a few places where our views of the book differed. I do agree that Huck Finn has no place in classic American literature as it is not quite as brilliant a novel as it’s made out to be but I feel that people, Jane Smiley included, take their analysis of the novel much too far.
The first of Jane Smiley’s arguments that I agreed with was questioning how in the world Huck Finn ever came to be considered the “novel that all American literature grows out of” according to ___________. Smiley wonders how this book can even be considered a serious novel, never mind it being a masterpiece and I completely agree. Reading this novel felt to me like reading a children’s book in a southern dialect. It did indeed involve issues that I would not deem appropriate for a children’s book but the adventurous twists and turns of the plot seemed that of a book to be enjoyed by a ten year old.
In her essay, Smiley brings up the fact that Twain seemed to be having a difficult time matching the ending to the original plot.
etc etc etc
(not finished)
3 comments:
1. agrees with Jane Smiley in a few areas.
2. quote from ___. add aome quotes from the book in your final.
3. reasoning explained add more though.
4. add counter claims possibly other than Smiley.(Lester and Marx).
5. I found Lester (controversy over race) and Marx(controversy over the ending) to be helpful. you might want to look at them. Henry as well.
6. more on why book could be considered racist.
i see your claim is questioning why huck finn is even considered an materpiece of an american lititure.
my only thing to you is mabey have some criteria on how the book got the label it did.
1. Your claim is that this novel is not worthy of being considered a masterpiece and should not be taught in schools.
2. There is no evidence from the novel or essays but there are ideas from Jane Smiley.
3. There is no quotes as evidence so they cannot really be explained.
4. No counter-claims are written yet but the essay is not complete.
5. You could use some of Henry's quotes from his essay such as the first one on the list of quotes that Mrs. Servais handed out. this talks about it being a classic and probably should not be. Also since you agree with Smiley so much you should add in several of her quotes to prove your point.
6. A good counter-argument for your claim would be some of Arac's ideas. He has the fact that this novel is considered a great American novel. Even if not used as a counter-argument I believe it would be a good idea for you to read some of Arac's ideas and use them in your novel. I think you both have similar yet contradicting ideas.
7. It is a good start but it is kind of hard for me to tell where you are going with this only because there is not a whole lot written yet. I thought you were going to be discussing the issue of race, but apparently you changed your ideas, which sometimes is smart, if it can help your essay in the end. With more quotes, both from the novel and essays, this could work well. I would try and organize your thoughts a little more carefully because at times i got lost between your ideas and Jane Smiley's.
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