Adventures of Huckleberry Finn :)

1. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:)

7. Historical/Political Context - 1840sSetting of Huck Finn • Missouri Compromise still in effect (passed in 1820) • Beginning of the era of “Manifest Destiny” • expansion prevalent: Texas annexation, drawing of Maine/Canada boundary line, annexation of Oregon • Wilmot Proviso - said there would be no slavery in any territory formed from Mexico • Calhoun Memorandum - said slave-holders can take their “property” anywhere they wanted • Popular Sovereignty

8. Slavery still prevalent in the South, not present in the North • Lots of tension between North and South in congress: any attempt to regulate slavery or any law regarding slavery would die in the senate • Disagreements between North and South became more pronounced, cooperation more difficult • Compromise of 1850: • California is a free state • New Mexico had no mention of slavery • No slave trade in Washington D.C. • Texas war debts paid • Stronger Fugitive Slave Law - if a slave runs away, the North must return them, even if they are in free land, and the North must get rid of the Underground Railroad. Also, the South would pay the North if the caught a slave and returned them, or if they returned someone who was not a slave

9. Historical and Political Context - 1880sMark Twain’s Time • Post-Civil War • New technological advances and Industrial Revolution - railroads, big business • Still heavy discrimination against blacks - no more slavery, but laws and social attitudes did not allow for complete equality or integration • Still tension between the North and South, but not as intense as before • Tension particularly drawn from the rise in industry and technology

10. Controversy Surrounding Huck Finn • When first published, it was put on the banned books list • Many people want the book banned or censored, either prohibiting the teaching of this book or replacing potentially offensive words and phrases • Accused of being insulting or discriminatory • Most often accused as a “racist” text • frequently uses the n-word • characterization of blacks and slaves

11. Samuel Langhorne Clemens • You thought this was about Mark Twain?

12. Growing Up Born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. Moved to Hannibal at age 4, situated on Missouri River. (fictional St. Petersburg) Hannibal was a bustling river town, exposing many aspects of humanity. At age 10, Sam witnessed a slave beaten to death by his owner for "merely doing something awkward." Mother became head of the household in 1847 when father died unexpectedly. The Clemens family "now became almost destitute” • Left school at 12, taking up a job @ the Hannibal Courier, where he was paid in food • Began learning how to pilot a steamboat at age 21, was licensed within 2 years • Career as pilot cut short by outbreak of civil war two years later. Spent several weeks fighting for Confederacy, moved West. • After brief stint trying to pan for gold, found work in Virginia City as a reporter

13. Career Adopted the pen name "Mark Twain" — steamboat slang for twelve feet of water Published various works, with first national success Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog. By age 34, one of most well-known writers in America. Embarrassed about his roots – wish was to get rich, support family, rise socially, and receive what he called "the respectful regard of a high Eastern civilization.”

14. "The skin of every human being contains a slave." - MT Married a rich girl from a gentile family, hoped she would “reform” him Twain's "low-minded" Western voice broke through on occasion. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in 1876, and he began work on Huck Finn shortly after. Writing this work, comments biographer Everett Emerson, freed Twain temporarily from the "inhibitions of the culture he had chosen to embrace."

15. :C Had 4 children, 3 of which died before him. His wife died in 1904. Became a “bitter old man” who “lived in hell”. Took to frequent cigar smoking, gambling, and reading in bed Never able to gain wealth he hoped for, went on speaking tours around world to try and pay off debts. Died at 74 on April 21, 1910

16. Gettin' Quotey • “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” • “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.” • “It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.” • “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.” • “Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.” • “In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language.” • “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.”

17. (cont.) • “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” • "Man is the only Slave. And he is the only animal who enslaves. He has always been a slave in one form or another, and has always held other slaves in bondage under him in one way or another. In our day he is always some man's slave for wages, and does that man's work; and this slave has other slaves under him for minor wages, and they do his work. The higher animals are the only ones who exclusively do their own work and provide their own living."