Friday, December 4, 2009
Zero Draft
To me personally this book is racist because that is how black people were treated in that time. Throughout the whole novel Mark Twain kept up with this setting of this time period. In my essay i want to focus on how this book is not racist and should not be taught in school. I do not think it should be taught in school because if offends many blacks from the derogatory word choice. Also it offends blacks because Huckleberry and other characters suggest that black people are stupid. For some points in my essay i want to point out the history of this book and how it reflects the past. For example from a scene from the book is when Mrs. Phelps asked if anyone died on the steam boat. Huckleberry replied by saying "No only a nigger." Mrs. Phelps hearing that felt relieved because no "human" died. This is implying that blacks then were not real people.
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Alison,
ReplyDeleteThough brief, this post gives me a good sense of how you are going to approach this next essay. I'd keep the focus on the argument that the harm the book can do (by introducing such a racist text into potentially mixed-race classrooms) ultimately outweighs any benefit students might derive from it. In this regard, I think that Smiley has a number of arguments that you can make your own. Also, Peaches Henry might serve as a good foil for you (as we'll see tomorrow in class).
Anyway, thanks for getting this in!