AP Language and Composition
Mrs. Malanka
Spring 2010
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Essay/Letter due: Tuesday, 5/25/10
1. After you have read the essays that address the issue of whether Huck Finn should be read in
schools, write a letter in which you address one of the essays’ authors. Respond to his/her viewpoint,
offering your perspective vis-à-vis this debate, which is ongoing in the realm of American education.
2. You may choose to write this letter in a personal or a neutral voice. Base your decision on which
you feel will be the most effective and convincing technique, given your argument points.
3. I am not only evaluating your writing based on how convincing and well-grounded your viewpoint
is; I’m also interested in how well you respond accurately and appropriately to the specific points in
the essay to which you respond, and how well you use specifics from Huck Finn to support your
thesis.
4. Try not to build your essay’s main argument on an emotional appeal. Make your argument wellrounded. Show that you have carefully considered the opposing point of view.
5. Think about all the works we’ve read this year and consider how you may incorporate various
rhetorical strategies in order to write the most effective/convincing letter.
6. Secondary sources are not required but may be used. I expect that you make use of direct quotes
from the essay to which you base your response. I also think that using direct quotes or specific
references to Huck Finn is important.
7. Your letter should not exceed more that 3 typed pages, double-spaced, 12-point standard font, 1-inch
margins.
8. Consider carefully the following pillars of rhetoric in crafting a persuasive letter: 1) Author, 2)
Occasion, 3)Objective, 4) Subject, 5) Audience
OTHER REQUIREMENTS:




Be sure your essay/letter doesn’t feel like a loose collection of paragraphs. You need to have an idea that
controls your entire essay. Be sure your writing has the necessary “connective tissue” that holds it together.
SUBMIT the final version to TURNITIN.COM.
You must use MLA format for in-text citations.
If you use secondary sources beyond the essay to which you respond, you must provide a Works Cited.
YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO USE SECONDARY SOURCES BEYOND THE SOURCES
PROVIDED IN THE PACKET. Visit the following page on my Website for excellent links to MLA
guidelines:
http://www.tenafly.k12.nj.us/~lmalanka/research_paper.htm#ESSENTIAL_RESOURCES:_General
_Formatting,_Structure_and_Requirements

Follow all THS Essay Formatting Guidelines (I will deduct points if you do not):
http://www.tenafly.k12.nj.us/~lmalanka/THS%20English%20Dept%20Essay%20Guidelines.doc
AP Language and Composition
Mrs. Malanka
Spring 2010
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Essay/Letter due: Tuesday, 5/25/10
Alternate Writing Assignment
Prompt: Write an essay in which you weigh in on the scholarly debate surrounding the controversy of
Huck Finn’s ending. Form a line of inquiry given the questions this debate incites: Is the ending of
Huck Finn (from Phelps Farm episode) a literary failure/disappointment? Why (not)?
See the collection of critical essays I provided earlier on this topic. Conduct your own reading and
research in the field of literary criticism to synthesize a point of view.
1. Write this essay in a neutral voice, appropriate for scholarly discourse—no personal pronouns.
2. I am not only evaluating your writing based on how convincing and well-grounded your viewpoint
is; I’m also interested in how well you respond accurately and appropriately to the literary criticism
you cite, and how well you use specifics from Huck Finn to support your thesis.
3. Make your argument well-rounded. Show that you have carefully considered differing points of
view, to some degree.
4. Secondary sources are required. I expect that you make use of direct quotes or from the essay(s), or
paraphrase. Direct quotes from Huck Finn are required. Use at least 2 and no more than 3
secondary sources (Huck Finn is your primary source).
5. Your letter should not exceed more that 3 typed pages, double-spaced, 12-point standard font, oneinch margins (change the default settings in Microsoft Word).
6. You need an MLA Works Cited page. You must use MLA format for in-text citations.
7. Be sure your essay/letter doesn’t feel like a loose collection of paragraphs. You need to have an idea
that controls your entire essay. Be sure your writing has the necessary “connective tissue” that holds
it together.
8. This option in many ways is more ambitious that the previous letter option; I will take this into
account when evaluating your work.
9. SUBMIT your essay to TURNITIN.com
10. Follow all THS Essay Formatting Guidelines (I will deduct points if you do not):
http://www.tenafly.k12.nj.us/~lmalanka/THS%20English%20Dept%20Essay%20Guidelines.doc
11. Visit the following page on my Website for excellent links to MLA guidelines:
http://www.tenafly.k12.nj.us/~lmalanka/research_paper.htm#ESSENTIAL_RESOURCES:_General_Fo
rmatting,_Structure_and_Requirements
Name: ___________________
Period: _________
Date: _____
Write your CONTROLLING IDEA/THESIS STATEMENT in the space below:
Body Paragraph 1
Point
Evidence
Quote
Link to the rest
(explain how your
points all relate to
one another and
your thesis
statement) Use this
input for your
transitions between
your
points/paragraphs.
Body Paragraph 2
Body Paragraph 3
Essay to which you’re
responding
Author/
Speaker
Occasion
Audience
Subject
Objective
You, the writer
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. A-5
LENGTH: 454 words
HEADLINE: SCHOOL URGED TO DROP 'HUCK FINN'
BYLINE: Dan Wascoe, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS
BODY:
Ken Gilbert read the story of Huckleberry Finn in the late 1960s in a segregated black North Carolina school,
but he doesn't remember much about Huck's adventures and the book's status as an American classic.
What he does remember is class discussions of the "N-word." Mark Twain used it over and over.
"Why were there so many usages of the same word?" he said. "We never got to the story line. It was the
racial issue."
When his daughter, Nia, was assigned to read it in her 10th-grade honors class, his memories of a racially
volatile childhood came surging back.
Now, Mr. Gilbert and his wife, Sylvia, are reviving a century-old debate by asking St. Louis Park High to
remove the novel from the required-reading list.
While controversy over the novel dates back to the 1880s, debate over use of the N-word by schools, theaters
and even black entertainers continues to make news.
For Mr. Gilbert, 52, a small-business owner, there's not much question: While no word should be banned
entirely, he said, he believes that it should not be tolerated in informal conversation or popular entertainment.
For African-Americans, he said, "there's no word that brings you to a lower level. ... It makes children feel less
than equal in the classroom."
He does not seek to ban the book from the school. "I don't care if all of America reads the book," he said, but
he doesn't want it to be required classroom reading.
A 12-member committee of teachers, parents, a community member and a school administrator reviewed the
Gilberts' request. According to a letter to parents from Principal Robert Laney, the group decided that,
although some of the novel's language is offensive, "the literary value of the book outweighed the negative
aspect of the language employed."
The Gilberts will appeal to Superintendent Debra Bowers.
As word of the challenge to the book spread at school, some students created posters saying "Save Huck
Finn" and began a Web site objecting to the Gilberts' request.
Patrick Zahner, a junior, read the book last year after previously reading Twain's "Tom Sawyer." He described
the request to remove "Huckleberry Finn" as "misguided" because the book uses racist characters "to parody
racism." Similar arguments could be used "to take many other books out of the curriculum," he said.
Rosalyn Korst, head of the high school's language arts department, said that in her 34 years at St. Louis Park,
she could not recall a previous effort to remove a title from the curriculum. Some parents have asked that
their children be allowed to read alternative books. Ms. Korst said the book was read this year by more than
100 students in four sections of the 10th-grade honors program. It also is read by 11th-grade English
students.
Ken Gilbert read the story of Huckleberry Finn in the late 1960s in a segregated black North Carolina school,
but he doesn't remember much about Huck's adventures and the book's status as an American classic.
What he does remember is class discussions of the n-word. Mark Twain used it over and over.
"Why were there so many usages of the same word?" he said. "We never got to the story line. It was the
racial issue."
When daughter Nia was assigned to read it in her 10th-grade honors class, his memories of a racially volatile
childhood came surging back. Now Gilbert and his wife, Sylvia, are reviving a century-old debate by asking St.
Louis Park High School to remove the novel from the required-reading list.
So far their request has been declined, but an appeal is planned.
While controversy over the book dates back to the 1880s, debate over use of the n-word by schools, theaters
and even black entertainers continues to make news.
For Gilbert, a 52-year-old small-business owner, there's not much question: While no word should be banned
entirely, he said, he believes it should not be tolerated in informal conversation or popular entertainment. For
blacks, he said, "There's no word that brings you to a lower level. ... It makes children feel less than equal in
the classroom."
He does not seek to ban the book from the school. "I don't care if all of America reads the book," he said, but
he doesn't want it to be required classroom reading.
A 12-member committee of teachers, parents, a community member and a school administrator reviewed the
Gilberts' request. According to a letter to parents from Principal Robert Laney, the group decided that
although some of the novel's language is offensive, "the literary value of the book outweighed the negative
aspect of the language employed."
The Gilberts will appeal to Superintendent Debra Bowers.
As word of the challenge to the book spread at school, some students created posters saying, "Save Huck
Finn" and began a website objecting to the Gilberts' request.
Patrick Zahner, a junior, read the book last year after having read Twain's "Tom Sawyer." He described the
request to remove "Huckleberry Finn" as "misguided" because Twain uses racist characters "to parody
racism." Similar arguments could be used "to take many other books out of the curriculum," he said.
Rosalyn Korst, head of the high school's language arts department, said that in her 34 years at St. Louis Park
she could not recall a previous effort to remove a title from the curriculum, although some parents have asked
that their children be allowed to read alternative books.
Korst said the Twain book's value in the curriculum rests partly on "learning to fight racism in a safe
environment. ... It's a good learning experience."
She said Twain's uses of dialects, satire and irony are important teaching tools and illustrate why he is
considered "the authentic voice of the American people."
Laney said students may request an alternative assignment. Nia Gilbert and another student read "The Secret
Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd as an alternative to "Huckleberry Finn."
But Gilbert said such a request can make a student feel ostracized from the rest of the class. He said his
daughter has taken heat at school because of the controversy. Nia Gilbert declined to be interviewed.
Ken Gilbert said he is a former member of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in North Carolina. The
party, founded in 1966 in Oakland, Calif., had a reputation for championing black power -sometimes militantly
- and its leaders espoused socialistic solutions to problems of poverty.
Gilbert said he joined at age 10 because the Panthers were viewed in his neighborhood as a community
service organization and as protection during a racially volatile time. He said that the group offered havens
from potential violence and that it once saved him and his brother from threatened harm by robed members
of the Ku Klux Klan.
He said that he "wholeheartedly" disagrees with the school committee's recommendation, and that if his
appeal to Bowers fails he will suggest that his daughter leave the St. Louis Park school system. He predicted
that because she knows he wants what's best for her, "She will accept my recommendation."
Twain revisited
The Gilberts' objections echo those over many generations since Twain's book was published in 1885. It was
the fifth-most-challenged book during the 1990s, according to a list published by the American Library
Association. It has slipped from that rank since then.
One recent dustup occurred early this year in the Lakeville district.
Barbara Knudsen, Lakeville's director of teaching and learning services, said two teachers are testing a new
three-week unit, which includes a variety of Twain's works but not "Huckleberry Finn." The goal is to avoid the
controversy over the offensive language but to continue to teach the nature of satire and irony. Except for
those units, the book is still used in Lakeville's curriculum.
Not just Twain
Other books occasionally have stirred controversies in Minnesota schools. In 1997 the Sauk Rapids-Rice school
board voted to keep John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" in its curriculum despite a parent's complaint that it
was racist.
The same year, the Anoka-Hennepin district rejected a mother's request that some of the "Goosebumps"
series of scary stories be banned.
The Richfield school district did remove "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou from its ninthgrade reading list, also in 1997.
Audrey Betcher, past president of the Minnesota Library Association and library director in Rochester, said,
"The really important point is that just because [a book] is controversial doesn't mean it's bad." Presented in
the proper historical context, it can "teach critical-thinking skills," she said.
The Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis is staging a play adapted from "The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn." Elissa Adams, director of new play development, said there was "a great deal of discussion"
over whether to use the racial slur. It was not included in the production, she said, because the play focuses
on action and characters and not on the full social context and satire of the original novel.