Directions for Annotating the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Directions for Annotating The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

American Studies – Bell

Assignment:

You may either choose to annotate or keep a character chart on the following characters – either way, you will need to track their traits and development throughout the book. If you decided to keep a chart, make sure you include page numbers from the book so you can find the information easily. If you decide to annotate, stop when you come across a section that you feel is important, and use your sticky-notes to comment/mark on the section. You must annotate or keep a character chart on the following - Ch 1-8 (due Tues 10/18) and Ch 9-15 (Due Fri 10/21).

For all these characters, keep track of their personality traits, like and dislikes, views on slavery and religion, morals and values, stereotypes (of themselves or how they view others) and superstitions.

Ø Huckleberry Finn

· Response to religion (formality and phoniness)

· Response to games and adventure

· How he sees nature and his romantic notions of how things are or should be

· Response and views of manners and being “sivilized”

· superstitions

Ø Widow Douglas (takes care of Huck)

· Religion and manners

· How Huck should behave and act

Ø Tom Sawyer (Huck’s friend)

· Views of games and adventure (fantasy vs reality)

· How he sees nature and his romantic notions of how things are or should be

· Foil for Huck?

Ø Miss Watson (Widow Douglas’ sister)

Ø Jim (the slave)

· Superstition and views on slavery and the whites

· Foil for Huck?

· Is he a stereotype or does he stereotype?

Ø Pap (Huck’s dad)

· Views on morals, manners, religion, politics

· Racist views and stereotypes

· How Huck should act and behave

Ø Judge Thatcher

I expect around 15 annotations or comments for each reading. Although you may annotate more than this if you like. These annotations will show me that you are interacting with the text, so don’t be skimpy. Your sticky notes need to be big enough to write on (I suggest 3x3) – and should explain/list important info (don’t just write one word and expect it to count as an annotation). Not all annotations need to be about characters – you can also have some questions and comments about the story.

I will check your annotations/character chart on the day it is due; you will receive a completion grade for this assignment and will be graded on…

- your depth of thought/insights

- addressing the above topics

- having at least 15 annotations or comments per reading

Expect to be sharing your annotations and using them in class to develop character charts/posters and to share in class discussion.

10+ Please fill out this chart for each due date. We will be using this to guide discussion.

Due Tue 10/18

Level 1
Write one or more questions concerning the text. This could be things you are curious about or things that confused you.
Level 2
Write one or more questions incorporating the text and your own opinions or thoughts or inferences.
This question can be creative.
Level 3
Write one or more questions incorporating the text, the world (or other lit/hist), and your own thoughts/opinions/
Inferences or larger questions about theme.

Due Fri 10/21