Huck Finn Gets Some Changes

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

@drole...slight correction, there are hip hop courses that are being taught in schools.

Fair, but it's a different class and I'm sure they have their own discussions about whether to censor or not. I still find it possible to have two different opinions.

Originally Posted by MysticCat

This is the main reason I've never made it past a few chapters. It drove me crazy.

It's why I'm not a big fan of Beloved either. I just can't get into it. Oddly Canterbury Tales were just fine with high school me

I loved Catcher in the Rye. Loved, loved, loved it. Fairly early in our marriage, I learned that my wife had never read it, and I was bugging her that she had to. I remember watching while she finished it. As I looked at her expectantly, she put it down and rather slowly said, "So . . . you liked this?"

(At least I laughed when she said that.)

Seriously, sometimes I've wondered if it's a high school-or college-aged guy's book.

It Is that to an extent, but I was that whiny angsty teenager, just female, at some point but I found him so much worse. I might be able to credit it with helping me not be that teenager.

As for a more inane book, that's easy: The Old Man and the Sea.

I think I escaped that one, we may have read an excerpt but not the whole thing. Thankfully.

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Second this eek

Sorry, Gatsby just doesn't do it for me. I found it so pointless. But then don't ask me about Jane Austen either. It took Zombies to get me to read P&P and even then I was kind of thinking "why would I bother with this except for the zombies?" It only supported my dislike.

I think it might be - anti-heroes still require the reader to relate, and it's really hard for a lot of people to relate to a precocious, whiny, angry, unsure-yet-cocksure, rage-against-the-machine dude feeling his way around the world. Except for other guys in that same spot.

Even when I could relate I found him so unlikable that it didn't matter anymore.

Originally Posted by 33girl

Tangent, Anne's gotten edited on & off over the years as well. Some people weren't cool with her rhapsodising about another girl's boobies.

Yeah, in general I'm anti-censorhip. I'd rather they just teach things to the appropriate level.

As for The Great Gatsby, I don't think it should EVER be taught to HS students. It's one of those books you can't appreciate till you're older. I didn't read it till I was in my early 30s and it's one of my 2 favorite books. I know I wouldn't have "gotten it" in HS.

You give me (and perhaps MC on my behalf) some small bit of hope. I'll try it again in a few years maybe.

Re dreck: The Red Badge of Courage. Yuk.

Ooh dodged that one too. How about anything by Faulkner written in stream of consciousness?

Originally Posted by MysticCat

I'm not sure I like the implicit assumption here.

Ha!

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

For me, a lot of it depends on the role the book has. I know that recently, Judy Blume approved changing parts of "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret," to reflect the changes from pads/belts to tampons and pads. .

When I learned about belts I went

Originally Posted by Gusteau

On the other hand, I feel like a learned a lot of things about history and culture by investigating the things I didn't understand in books. I tend to see "out of date" references as a learning opportunity, but I get what you're saying.

I never read Huck Finn, so I can only comment further by saying how disappointed I am the Drole doesn't like The Great Gatsby.

I agree, to an extent about changing the out of date references, but I think it depends on the purpose of the book. Is it capturing a moment in time or trying to capture a universal* experience? The latter doesn't necessarily lose something by updating. (*universal here may apply to a group or subgroup)

Originally Posted by ThetaPrincess24

I read that in college and am in agreement it is easy to understand.

I really love Swift.

Originally Posted by sceniczip

I LOVED Gatsby in HS! It was my favorite book I read all through high school.

I'm teaching a Modest Proposal to my students this semester. So excited

You make up for your love of Gatsby by teaching A Modest Proposal.

Originally Posted by AGDee

I enjoyed The Great Gatsby, On The Road, Huck Finn, The Crucible.. but I have to agree with MysticCat re: Old Man and the Sea. Beowulf was pretty awful to get through as were The Canterbury Tales because of the old language.

My kids read these required books out loud in class too. I think I would have slit my throat if I'd had to listen to my peers read these things out loud. My English teacher did read Beowulf to us and used an accent when doing so, which was weird too. Thankfully, the rest of them we read on our own. I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye too. The whole stream of consciousness thing was a fascinating idea to me.

I love books.

Beowulf and Chaucer were both much easier for me to get into. Shakespeare was still harder, but something about the Old English clicked with me. Or maybe it was just that Chaucer was so dirty...

I'm trying to remember what else I liked but I'm only remembering a few. Snow Falling on Cedars was good. Prince of Tides was really good but the movie sucked. King Lear was ok, Hamlet was good and Macbeth is still my favorite I think. I never read R&J because the Honors class did Julius Caesar instead.

/long reply.