|
Post by diane on Apr 7, 2007 18:59:16 GMT -6
In a documentary I saw about Mark Twain - his family had a maid that he once kidded because she always had a smile on her face. When she told her story - that she and her husband and her children had been sold separately and she never saw them again - he wrote down her story and sold it to a paper. The documentary said that was the first time he started to think of "slaves" being equal in their own right. I really liked "Huckleberry Finn" - I would certainly read it again. Huckleberry has grown up with Afro-American people being treated like second-class citizens or worse. It is quite odd to me that Huckleberry Finn, who is the town urchin, feels (at the beginning of the book) that he is far above Jim. When Huckleberry wrestles with his concious and decides to help Jim escape even though he knows he's going to "Hell" - I actually cried in that part. To me where the book falls down is when Tom Sawyer comes into it - I dislike that part so much. Up till that part the book dealt with adult themes such as slavery, corruption etc. When Huck meets up with Tom - to me suddenly all the characters become one dimensional - Jim becomes "the slave" again, Huck loses his personality and Tom becomes the main character telling everyone what to do. From an adult book it becomes a children's book. What do other people think? The End. I also have some opinions on "Pudden'head Wilson" as well - which is a great story.
|
|
|
Post by Midge on Apr 7, 2007 19:15:25 GMT -6
Diane, I haven't read Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn since I was a child, but these books were favorites of mine and we read them both in school in the days before political correctness. Your perspective on Huckleberry Finn is interesting, especially the part about the book going downhill when Tom Sawyer enters the story. I'm guessing that Tom Sawyer was such a popular character that Twain felt he needed to be part of the book. I would like to go back and read it as an adult and I'm sure that it would be quite a different experience, especially with regard to Twain's depiction of African Americans.
|
|
|
Post by diane on Apr 10, 2007 5:41:40 GMT -6
You are probably right about Mark Twain writing Tom Sawyer into "Huckleberry Finn" to make sure the book got an audience. In the documentary I saw in his later years he was quite an eccentric. Even though he wrote about "just plain folk" he really lived on a grand scale. I started watching "Pudd'nhead Wilson" on the Hallmark station but I found it confusing and only saw about an hour of it. The main plot about 2 babies being switched at birth had me intrigued and I wanted to read the book. "Pudd'nhead Wilson" is the "stranger in town" , an attorney who is the observer of the events in the story. Roxy is the young light-skinned afro american girl who is employed as a nurse maid to the richest people in town. She also has a baby and is often asked "how can you tell those babies apart'. One day she swaps them - to give her son a better life and the book then charts their progress. Her natural son now bought up as a rich man's son goes along a path of self destruction. The white child that is bought up as a slave is the mildest, gentlest boy in town. Is Mark Twain making the point that riches corrupt - or that afro-american people are basically weak with no character no matter how they are bought up? I'm not sure what he was trying to say - considering it was written in his later "darker" period (so the introduction said). There is another plot involving a pair of Siamese twins that Mark Twain had intended to make the central theme of the book. It is interesting and they do not seem out of place in the town at all.
|
|
|
Post by silentfilmlegend on May 14, 2007 6:54:29 GMT -6
Diane
That's great that you brought up Mark Twain on this message board. Definitely a part of Americana that should be kept alive!
I read Huck Finn 3 times as a kid - I would actually smile through the whole reading of it and hated for it to be over so I'd just read it again.
Have you ever read any H L Mencken? He's along the same vein - Twain was Mencken's hero and the best of Mencken's writing is every bit as funny and acidic as Twain's. In fact they were often compared to each other in the 1910s and 20s. And Mencken's now outdated politics and beliefs are just as politically-uncorrect as Twains so, as with Huck Finn, you have to be a bit mature and not an unthinking reactionary to be able to appreciate his point of view, even if you wouldn't agree with it today. But Mencken is another one whose writing is so good its actually exhilerating to read.
|
|
|
Post by Larry's 66 Diner on May 14, 2007 7:06:31 GMT -6
Having been raised in the "Mark Twain" region most of my life, and living there once again, needless to say, I've just about had my "fill" of Mark Twain. I just about hate the name! ![:-[](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/embarrassed.png) All throughout the northeastern part of Missouri is basically considered Mark Twain country. However, despite this sentimentality, in all fairness I must say that he was indeed a good author. He wrote many works aside from his Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn works, of which he is the most famous — especially around here. I've read some of his works over the years and will say that he was a master of his craft!
|
|
|
Post by silentfilmlegend on May 14, 2007 8:47:14 GMT -6
Larry
That's a perfectly fair point! Growing up with something that can be easily turned into folksy kitsch can definitely taint it. Where I grew up everything was decorated in fake Swedish stuff because it was a town in Minnesota started by Swedes. There they take Swedish culture - or the commodified version of it to be precise - and just ruin it. But now that I'm not surrounded by plastic Dala horses and old women with Swedish girl figurines all over the place, the heritage is no longer annoying. (This is NO OFFENCE to Swedes - because I do realise actual Swedish culture has more to it than gift shop garbage!) All I mean is, I can see where you're coming from Larry. I guess I'm pretty glad then that I should count myself lucky not to have all that tourist stuff clouding my introduction to Twain. Why does everything need to be turned into pencil toppers and shot glasses? lol
|
|
|
Post by Larry's 66 Diner on May 14, 2007 10:57:17 GMT -6
Larry That's a perfectly fair point! Growing up with something that can be easily turned into folksy kitsch can definitely taint it. Where I grew up everything was decorated in fake Swedish stuff because it was a town in Minnesota started by Swedes. There they take Swedish culture - or the commodified version of it to be precise - and just ruin it. But now that I'm not surrounded by plastic Dala horses and old women with Swedish girl figurines all over the place, the heritage is no longer annoying. (This is NO OFFENCE to Swedes - because I do realise actual Swedish culture has more to it than gift shop garbage!) All I mean is, I can see where you're coming from Larry. I guess I'm pretty glad then that I should count myself lucky not to have all that tourist stuff clouding my introduction to Twain. Why does everything need to be turned into pencil toppers and shot glasses? lol Yes, Anna, I was the same way when I moved away. When TC and I moved away to Oklahoma City and lived there for several years, needless to say, it didn't bother me so much hearing the name of Mark Twain, etc etc. But, having moved back into the area several years ago, and having it crammed down my throat constantly, it drives me nuts! ![:P](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/tongue.png) :nervous: But I can also be objective enough to say that he was indeed a great literary writer and deserves recognition as much as any other author would in his/her own hometown. :thumbsup: Larry ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png)
|
|
|
Post by diane on May 15, 2007 1:22:33 GMT -6
It's funny - when my daughter went to Switzerland she said that by the time she left she was completely fed up with Heidi. There were symbols and figures everywhere and where-ever she went there seemed to be someone dressed up as Heidi. She was their biggest tourist attraction. Funny - that was a book I could never take to as a child (or adult either). When I was little an uncle gave "Black Beauty" to my brother and "Heidi" to me. "Heidi" went unread but "Black Beauty" was my favourite childhood book. I haven't read any Mencken but after reading your message I will try to find "The Sceptic".
|
|
|
Post by Midge on May 15, 2007 2:00:33 GMT -6
Diane, I've heard that the Swiss people dislike Heidi just as much as you do. They resent being portrayed as simple mountain folk.
|
|
|
Post by Larry's 66 Diner on May 18, 2007 6:01:34 GMT -6
Well, since there's an on-going discussion of Mark Twain here, I figured I'd go ahead and post this article:
Workers and volunteers are needed May 28-June 2 to excavate Mark Twain's Uncle John Quarles' farmstead house site, which is located four miles north of Florida, Mo., just off Highway 107.
The Quarles farmstead became famous and internationally known when Mark Twain's autobiography was published. Two major film studios, one from the United States and the other from Japan, have filmed documentaries on the site.
Stipends to offset costs will be available for eight workers. Because the excavation is being done on a "shoe-string" budget, volunteers are also needed to help.
Plans for the site are to carefully dig the site to recover any artifacts associated with the Quarles' early house, to help verify Mark Twain's descriptions of the site prior to the restoration/reconstruction of the house and other structures.
The owner of the site, Karen A. Hunt, documented the Quarles farm in 1981 as part of her master's thesis in anthropology from Indiana University. She worked as the historical archaeologist in the Cannon Reservoir documenting 364 historic sites and on other archaeological sites throughout the United States, Australia, Canada and Czechoslovakia. She has also taught several workshops on historical archaeology with the American Living History Farms and Agricultural Museums Association and with Northeast Missouri State University, now known as Truman State University.
For more information, and a brochure about the Mark Twain archaeological dig call 573-735-2784.
|
|
|
Post by annavandenhazel on May 18, 2007 10:36:12 GMT -6
I started watching "Pudd'nhead Wilson" on the Hallmark station but I found it confusing and only saw about an hour of it. The main plot about 2 babies being switched at birth had me intrigued and I wanted to read the book. "Pudd'nhead Wilson" is the "stranger in town" , an attorney who is the observer of the events in the story. Diane, I've never read the story, but the mention of "Pudd'nhead Wilson" reminded me of a story/joke from Reader's Digest a few years ago. President Woodrow Wilson traveled to Hannibal, Mississipi and started a conversation with an old man, asking if he'd heard of Mark Twain. The old man said "Nope" so President Wilson tried again: "Haven't you heard of Tom Sawyer?" "Nope" "How about Huckleberry Finn?" "Nope" "Or Pudd'nhead Wilson?" The old man was suddenly interested, and he replied, "Oh yes, I voted for him last year!"
|
|
|
Post by Midge on May 19, 2007 19:44:06 GMT -6
That's very funny, Anna! ![8-)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/cool.png) (By the way, is there also a Hannibal in Mississippi? I thought it was in Missouri. ![???](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/huh.png) )
|
|
|
Post by tclion on May 20, 2007 8:36:18 GMT -6
Well Midge I don't know about Mississippi..... but I can state positively there is a Hannibal Missouri I studied that in school.. So I know that for to be true. Hey Larry that dig sounds interesting ....can we go maybe? ![???](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/huh.png)
|
|
|
Post by Larry's 66 Diner on May 20, 2007 10:03:32 GMT -6
Hey Larry that dig sounds interesting ....can we go maybe? ![???](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/huh.png) That's a possibility, depending on work schedules (and if we remember the silly thing)! ;D ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png)
|
|
|
Post by tclion on May 22, 2007 7:57:06 GMT -6
well go on line and find out all the ins and outs... K and let me know
|
|
|
Post by diane on Jun 19, 2007 0:03:59 GMT -6
re silentfilmlegend - I actually just finished Mencken's biography "The Skeptic" on your recommendation. It was an interesting read - when his diaries were opened in the 1980s there was a lot of shock, horror at his anti semitism but at the time I think a lot of people thought the way he did. Now with all the knowledge we have - we can see that Hitler was evil from the start but I don't think many people thought he was a frightening figure in the 30s (except for a far seeing few.) Mencken read Nietzsche around 1900 - Jack London did too and he had the same views as Mencken about the aryan "supermen".
|
|
|
Post by Midge on Jun 19, 2007 2:44:05 GMT -6
Diane, this is a reminder that we need to view historical figures in the context of the times they lived in, not condemn them out of hand because their values were not the same as ours.
|
|
|
Post by Larry's 66 Diner on Jun 19, 2007 6:45:17 GMT -6
Well said. :thumbsup:
That applies to views on minorities, women, homosexuals, etc. We have to look at these topics according to the time period. We see now that (according to our present views and beliefs) that these things were plainly wrong; however, they were not wrong in their time. :idea:
|
|
|
Post by annavandenhazel on Jun 19, 2007 14:31:31 GMT -6
OK, OK, I give up, maybe it is Missouri! ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) It's easy to get the 2 names confused because they start with M and end with I, and I had Mississippi drilled into my head because of the Mississippi River being such an important part of the story. That's very funny, Anna! ![8-)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/cool.png) (By the way, is there also a Hannibal in Mississippi? I thought it was in Missouri. ![???](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/huh.png) )
|
|
|
Post by annavandenhazel on Jun 19, 2007 14:40:16 GMT -6
You are probably right about Mark Twain writing Tom Sawyer into "Huckleberry Finn" to make sure the book got an audience. Here I go jumping around the thread again - but when I read this part again I remembered a story my grandpa told me years ago. I'm not sure when this story took place but he was born in December 1901 so I'm guessing in the early 20's. I'll call him Quentin in the story since he wasn't anyone's grandpa at the time. Anyway, Quentin was at the library and overheard a young girl ask the librarian where to start if she wanted to read Mark Twain, and the librarian said, "You should start with Huckleberry Finn!" Quentin knew better so he butted into the conversation and said, "no, you should read Tom Sawyer first, Huckleberry Finn is a sequel!" When the librarian didn't believe him, he hunted up the Huckleberry Finn book and showed her the first sentence: "You don't know much about me if you haven't read "Tom Sawyer" but that ain't no matter..." (something like that). So the librarian had to admit she was wrong!
|
|
|
Post by tclion on Jun 24, 2007 9:56:46 GMT -6
Cool story Anna nice to see a kid knew what he was talking about and see his findings to an adult...
|
|