Update Feb. 28

First draft of Huck Finn rhetorical analysis essays due today.

We enjoyed a presentation by Dr. Steven Walker on humor in the Bible.

An address by Dr. Walker from a BYU-ID devotional can be found at the following link:
http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/transcripts/majorforums/2003_07_17_walker.htm

His recent book is available on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Illuminating-Humor-Bible-Steven-Walker/dp/1620321483

Update Feb. 25

Students are working on their rhetorical analysis essays of Huckleberry Finn. We discussed rhetorical strategies typically associated with satire or which are predominant in the novel:

1. irony
1. verbal irony--irony in which a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning.
1. understatement--a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is
2. dramatic irony--irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters.
3. situational irony--irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected.
2. juxtaposition or parallel scenes/characters/situations
3. exaggeration
1. caricature--where particular aspects of a character are exaggerated to create a silly or comic effect, often the follies of an individual or a stereotype are amplified for critical examination
4. parody-- an imitation of a particular writer, artist or a genre exaggerating it deliberately to produce a comic effect
5. allusion--a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers, but relies on the reader's familiarity to "fill in" the unstated significance of the reference.
6. symbolism

Homework: Continue working on your essay outline. We moved the due date for the first draft from Thursday to Friday this week.

Update Feb. 21

We discussed the questions from Lectures on Faith related to Twain. Students were officially assigned the rhetorical analysis essay on Huck Finn, the first draft of which will be due next Thursday.  Students began creating T-charts for their essays.

Huck Finn Rhetorical Essay

Prompt: Analyze the strategies Mark Twain uses to satirize American society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? Why are those strategies likely to be effective for his audience? What is he saying about American society?

Guidance:

·         Ensure that your argument is cohesive. It should not be simply a collection of paragraphs talking in isolation about Twain’s rhetorical strategies; rather, paragraphs should work together to reveal how Twain’s novel works to communicate his main ideas.

 

·         Do not just identify Twain’s rhetorical strategies. Show how those strategies relate to the historical occasion and the concerns of his audience. (Use your SOAPSTone analysis.)

·         Remember, Twain publishes the novel in 1884, long after the end of slavery. Thus the novel is more likely to be about the failure of Reconstruction than about slavery.

·         Use the four-part quotation analysis pattern for each body paragraph:

1.       Claim

2.       Background/Context for the Quotation

3.       Quotation (or paraphrase, or summary)

4.       Commentary on the quotation

·         Length: I am not specifying a length because I don’t want you to fill pages with fluff. Rather, consider all that we have learned about Huckleberry Finn and consider that this assignment is worth 150 points and is the main assessment of what you have learned this term. It would be impossible to do this topic justice in a five paragraph essay.

To get started, you need to create a T-chart showing Twain’s rhetorical strategies and the effects of the strategies on the readers.

Update Feb. 19

Students studied in pairs the fourth lecture from Lectures on Faith. Then they responded in writing to the following questions:

1. What is the nature of God?
2. What does Twain fail to understand which keeps him from good faith?
3. What is life like for someone who doesn't have good faith?

Update Feb. 18

Today I collected students' reflections on why Huckleberry Finn matters to them.

We then discussed the central theme from the novel of self-betrayal and bad faith. We saw that Twain's ideas are grounded in his assumptions about human nature and the nature of God. To help us understand the opposite of bad faith, we will be studying the fourth lecture from the Lectures on Faith.

Homework:
Finish your SOAPSTone analysis of Huckleberry Finn. You should have it all done except for last minute questions you may want to ask tomorrow. Remember, you should write down as much as you can for each of the SOAPSTone categories:
Speaker
Occasion
Audience
Purpose
Subject
Tone

Update Feb. 11

We finished the lecture by Prof. Forrest Robinson on Twain and slavery. We then discussed how the lecture enlightens our understanding of Huckleberry Finn. Students should begin outlining an essay on the question of how Twain satirizes American society through the novel.

Homework:
Read through page 202 of Huckleberry Finn.

Update Feb. 10

During class on Thursday and today we watched and discussed a recorded lecture on Twain and slavery. The video introduces the concept of bad faith, the phenomenon when people act as though something were true which they actually know to be false. It is a form of self-deception. We learned that self-deception is usually a communal act of denying what everyone knows to be true. We also learned that it is the very act of concealment that calls attention to the truth, thus ironically serving as a revelation of guilt. Thus Twain, or Clemens, claims that as a boy he was unaware that slavery was wrong since everyone acted as though it were right; nonetheless, this is clearly an act of denial or bad faith. We discussed how The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is itself an act of bad faith, for it tells the story of innocence lost when it seems that innocence was not the original state. The novel is an attempt to cover up national guilt by claiming ignorance/innocence prior to a moral awakening.

Homework:
Read through page 189 of Huckleberry Finn.

AP
We are working on writing rhetorical analyses. We have been learning to identify rhetorical strategies and their effects on audiences. Today we focused particularly on syntactical patterns including periodic and loose sentences.

Last week we learned about writing effective transition sentences that serve as "bridges" between paragraphs. We also reviewed paragraph structure for analysis writing:
1) claim
2) context for quotation
3) quotation
4) analysis of quotation

Of course, multiple quotations might be used in a single paragraph in support of the same claim. Such a paragraph might be structured as 123234 or 1234234.

Homework:
Review the list of rhetorical strategies. Look up any terms you do not yet know. Add any terms you feel are missing.

Update Feb. 6

Yesterday we read together from Huckleberry Finn. We discussed Huck's decision to "go to hell" rather than turn in Jim.

Today we watched the first 23 minutes of a lecture on Twain and slavery . We discussed the concept of bad faith and considered ways in which we might engage in bad faith ourselves.

Homework: Read through page 175 of Huckleberry Finn by Monday.

Update Feb. 4

In class we finished reading and discussing "The Decay of the Art of Lying" by Twain. We also looked at a few passages from Huck Finn:

1) page 111-- Just after Sherburn has dissipated the mob with a speech on how the average person is a coward, Huck lies to himself by also leaving saying, "I could a staid, if I'd a wanted to, but I didn't want to."

2) page 114-- When the audience in the King and Duke's Royal Nonesuch show realizes they have been conned, they respond "But we don't want to be the laughing-stock of this whole town, I reckon, and never hear the last of this thing as long as we live. No. What we want, is to go out of here quiet, and talk this show up, and sell the rest of the town! Then we'll all be in the same boat. Ain't that sensible?" The people perpetuate a lie to save face.

3) page 127-- When the King is posing as the Wilks brother, he realizes he has been using the wrong word to talk about funeral obsequies, calling them funeral orgies instead. He covers his track with an absurd explanation of the Greek and Hebrew roots of the word "orgies" arguing it is actually the best word. This is one of the most grotesque examples of covering the truth with a lie in plain sight. Twain seems to indicate how absurd the lie is through the meanings of the supposed word roots: orgo=outside, open, abroad and jeesum=to plant, to cover up. Something is indeed being covered up in wide open view, namely the truth. The people want to be deceived and so they allow this disgusting con to proceed, even when the truth of it stinks to high heavens.

Homework:

• Rhetorical Notebook entry for "The Decay of the Art of Lying" is due tomorrow.

Update Feb. 3

In light of our class discussion on Friday, students took a quiz on Huck Finn responding to the question: Why did Twain include the King and the Duke in the novel?

Next, students finished presenting their fashion analyses.

Homework:
Write a well-structured, complete paragraph synthesizing what you learned from the fashion analysis presentations about the messages communicated by the clothing we wear. Did you observe some common themes across various fashion styles? What were your "aha" insights? What are you, personally, taking away from this experience?

Please ensure that your paragraph is well-formed. It should have a clear topic sentence, strong supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence. Supporting sentences should use concrete examples and imagery to support your abstract ideas.