Post a comment about the student essay. Consider things such as:
- The overall quality of the essay
- The use of evidence
- The accuracy of analysis
- Quality of the thesis
- Level of interest
- Understanding of satire
- Anything else that you find notable
PS. I forgot to remind you that this was homework at the end of class. Therefore, anyone who completes it before Monday because they were responsible enough to read the weekly plan will get extra credit. Everyone else will have this as homework on Monday night for regular credit. So I guess that means if you are reading this, tell your friends if you want to be nice :)
I think the student was quite successful in addressing the satire within Pap's gov'ment speech. He/she touched upon many of the points we mentioned in class such as Pap not voting because a slave had the right to vote. He/she also brought up a very interesting point when saying, "it shows that whites would rather voluntarily step down to the status of a slave then let slaves step up to their level of equality." I thought this was a great analysis of the meaning behind why Pap was represented the way he was. The student clearly understood Mark Twain's purpose of portraying Pap as a typical Southern white man. Overall, it is evident that the student understood the satire throughout Huck Finn and was able to accurately analysis it in terms of the time period it was written in.
ReplyDeleteLike Leah said, the student clearly understands the satire within Huck Finn, and she does include a lot of points. She correctly analyzes the role reversals between Huck and Pap, as well as the role reversal between Pap and the slave he talks about. I think this strengthens her piece and drives her point across. The thesis was clear, and the understanding of the satire was evident throughout the piece. One thing that I think diminished the overall quality of the essay was the pacing. It seemed like the student would touch upon a lot of topics without breaking it up very much. This may just require the student to break up the main body into different paragraphs. The text support was frequent and plentiful for such a short essay, again helping the quality of the piece. There were a few grammatical errors in the essay. At one point she talks about how Pap is a "free nigger" himself and that society, "would treat him as a slave". I don't think that society would exactly treat him as a slave per say, because society at the time in the south held a lot of the same ideas that Pap enforced, but the student still clearly understands the fact that Twain is comparing Pap to a slave in his role in the book. I'm just not sure how society at the time would view Pap at the same level as a slave, even though that is the point that Twain was trying to get across with his "role reversal" with Pap. In general, the analysis was good, there are just a few things that need to be adjusted structurally and grammatically, but as a whole it was a great example of analysis for paps govment speech.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I thought that this essay brought forth many significant ideas. By including irony, role reversals, and repetition of phrases, the author was able to strongly prove Twain's use of satire in the scene. Although, like Ben pointed out, the pacing could use a bit of work. The author seemed to be racing to get all of her points across which made my experience as a reader feel a bit rushed. If the author included better transitions between points I believe the satire would be understood more as a whole than opposed to in all these separate pieces or irony, role reversals etc. One other area that may need improvement is the authors examples of irony. It seemed that she would call something "ironic" and then just state simply what happened in the scene. The author should go more into specific to why exactly the scene is ironic in order to strengthen his/her analysis. Besides these few errors, the essay had a sufficient amount of examples which backed up his/or her thesis and made for a solid essay.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the author was successful at addressing the satire in the book and several of the points we discussed during class. She also fluidly puts quotes in throughout the piece to support her arguments. I also thought she did a very good job of discussing the fact that Pap blames the government for all of his problems while he refuses to vote or do any thing else that could better his situation. Also, the irony of Pap spelling government incorrectly helps to strengthen the satire. Pap is complaining about the government being corrupt and wrong when he does not even have enough sense to speak properly. He is complaining when he is no better, a classic flaw of society. However, as Ben previously stated, I don't agree with the statement that Pap was a 'free nigger'. Yes its true that he was viewed as a thief and did not practice his right to vote, but he was still seen as higher up than freedmen. Freedmen were viewed as lesser beings because of their skin color and because Pap is white, no matter how poorly he acts, he will always be viewed better than them. In the end, I believe it was a very well written piece with an impressive amount of textual support that flowed right in with the her analysis.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this essay accurately addressed the satire in Huck Finn. The complexity and structure of the essay, like Ben and Justin said, could use serious work. As the author brings up a very valid point, the format, and syntax of the essay allows the reader to be distracted from the idea being brought forth. From a satirical standpoint, the essay very accurately displays the satire in Paps gov'ment speech. By drawing attention to the conformist mindset of a white male in the abolitionist period, the satirical element of this specific scene not only enhances the writing as a whole, but relates back to many of the big picture of ideas displayed through Huck Finn. I strongly agree with Gretchen on the idea of Pap being "free nigger", although pap has lowered his societal standards to that of a slave, the image of a white male during this time period was completely protected by society. Although his moral standards are that of a slave, comparing a white male to a slave at this time was impossible. All in all, the essay brought forth good ideas from a satirical standpoint in Huck Finn, but the structure and syntax weakens the essay.
ReplyDeleteI thought this essay was actually very well written. I liked how the author was able to connect satire so accuratly to Huck Finn. When she pulled parts out of Pap's speech and turned them around to connect with satire it brought new things to my attention. I realized how ironic it was that a dunken white man was not only giving up his rights to vote but also criticizing the government. I thought she brought up a good point when she explained how Pap basically resembled a "free nigger." I thought it was a good essay that accuatly connected to the way society works. Overall, the essay was a bit dry but it kept me engaged by seeing the connections.I think the connection between the speech and who it was coming from was a great example of satire. It demonstrated what it was and how it was used in the book.
ReplyDeleteJulia Hansen:
ReplyDeletei agree with everyone who thinks that the student had a good out look on satire and also a good understanding of how pap is pot rayed in this story. i believe that the student had very well developed ideas also. in particular, the part leah touched on, about how whites would rather step down voluntarily to African Americans. this part just happened to be the most interesting part to me. i thought this was great and very well done for a student because i never realized it before and i would never had thought is that direction. also this section made perfect sense and was one hundred percent true. alone with this i thought the rest of the paper made sense and was written very well with good technique. these r the reasons why i do agree with most of you in the fact that the student writer had a good grasp of pap's importance and symbolism, along with satire.
Jake Dare:
ReplyDeleteEveryone here has made a great point and I agree with all of the people that have posted already. the student that wrote this article has a good wrap around what satire really is and gives many examples of it like his dad being drunk all the time and how huck has to make dinner how the roles are switched. also the stepping down of whites to make whites and blacks equal and just pap's look on society and government how it is all satire. I believe that this article was well written and like Julia said how if we didn't read this i would have never known and really opened up my eyes that the relationship between huck and his father and his fathers views are all satire.
chapters 21 and 22 analysis
chapter 21 and 22 is first the thought of the play of Shakespeare and who would be in it from the town showing all of the characters in the play and such, after this the next day is the whole bogg and sherburn situation where bogg tries to pick a fight with sherbrun but sherburn does take it in a good way and shoots him, then everyone revolts against him but then gives a speech of how people are half a man and that they cant fight with out there white masks and the darkness (KKK) then Huck flees and goes to the circus and watches how everyone is getting faster and faster of what they are doing people people don't like it and finally Huck sees the sigh for the play of Romeo and Juliet and starring people in the town
I believe that the student provided a lot of good points and wrote a great analytical essay overall. They had a straight-to-the-point vibe and an obvious thesis statement with relevant quotes and analysis to back themselves up. I thought that the way they thought that Pap was subconsciously describing himself in his speech was an interesting idea and one that I hadn't thought of before. The only beef I really had with this essay is what some of these guys have already stated. The syntax and overall structure of the essay could use some work, but otherwise the essay was pretty good and interesting to read.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone that has already posted. The student has written a good piece relating satire to Huck Finn. The student developed a clear understanding of how pap is portrayed and what his underlying role is. The thesis is clear but the article is not in a great format. I think the middle paragraph has too many points in it to be one whole paragraph. The paragraph could be split up into different paragraphs, each with their own idea. It talks about pap being drunk, his government speech, and then role reversals. I personally think it should be split up. Also there are a few wordy sentences which could be fixed. Along with that, there are some grammatical errors as well. Overall, the student showed a good understanding of Huck Finn but could use some work on the essay.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was okay. I am going to disagree with my colleague Justin Craco about what he had posted. Mr. Craco says that almost all of the elements included in this piece "made for a solid essay". This essay was not bad, but did show some very well written sections such as in the thesis and the analysis of some parts. The things that made me not love this essay were the amount of evidence, lack of analysis, and few awkward phrases that stood out to me. Some of you said that she/he had a good amount of examples and evidence in her essay while I say she/he had too much. Some people must know how to use the perfect amount of evidence in an essay. She/he has more quotation marks in the essay than all of her analysis combined. She/he throws a lot of quotes out, and gives little analysis on most of them. Analysis is the most essential part to an essay and she/he does not have enough of it. She/he needs to expand on a couple of quotes like she had done, and scrape the rest. The surplus of evidence in their essay makes the main body very choppy and the overall quality of the essay worse than it could have been. In this case, Justin Craco is wrong and has fallen into a puddle of bad judgment. Her introduction and conclusion are both strong, but their body paragraph needs to be simpler, instead of trying to jam as much information in as possible. They did do a good job talking about the role reversals and that was a very strong aspect to the essay. There was not all bad elements to this essay, and the potential is very high for this writer.
I agree that the article had a strong thesis and clearly stated the purpose in the text. However, I agree with Dan's comment on the lack of analysis. The author provided many strong reasons and examples, but was lacking when it came to the analysis. The quote to analysis ratio was off giving the examples weak support. The piece was very well written but could have been even stronger if the author took the support to the next level. By the amount of quotes used from the book, it's evident that the author had a high understanding of satire. Overall, the piece was well written, but could have been stronger with more analysis.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article, I thought the writer was able to clearly tell the readers that satire was used through different examples of writing such as irony and syntax. The essay was able to show a clear thesis and tell its readers what pap was all about and how he was never really their for Huck. I agree with Dan also. I thought this essay was able to clearly state specific reasons and examples which was great, but I thought this essay could have used a little more analysis to strengthen their ideas. Like Dan stated, a paper can't be considered good if their is no analysis to back up the points made. Without analysis papers can't be considered good because their is no support. Overall, I thought this paper was decently good because of how clear the points were!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dan. I thought the article was okay. Like others have said, there are definitely some grammatical errors. The second sentence, "Pap is not very loyal,racist, and often drunk man who serves as a satire of slave owners and Southern whites" makes it seem like Pap is not racist which is misleading and makes it confusing to read. I also don't think that society would completely treat him as a slave by giving up his right to vote because this is a time period where the color of your skin is very important to your social ranking and level of respect. Like Gretchen said, no matter what Pap does, he will still be viewed higher than a slave simply because he is white. One point that I thought was interesting was the irony that whites would rather step down to the status of a slave than let slaves step up to their level. The author successfully illustrates the irony that white men are played out to be so powerful when in reality Pap has to have his 10 year old son take care of him because he is too drunk to cook himself dinner. Overall, the article had some good points and has a lot of potential, but the author needs to fix some grammatical errors and improve on the analysis.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the grammar and other aspects needed to be worked on, the writer clearly understands the satire and Twain's intentions in the book. She uses countless quotes which flow easily within the paper, yet does lack in analysis, as mentioned above. The author, however, did clearly state Pap's role in the novel and gives support for the idea that he represents a white, southern male as a societal figure. The idea of voting rights and how white people were willing to step down, but not let African Americans step up was interesting, and something I hadn't considered.
ReplyDeleteI would like to combine Dan, Jill, and Marina's thoughts. I believe that the writer does have a few mistakes and is confusing at times, but overall, he/she thoroughly understood the Satirical meaning. The quote that Jill references "Pap is not very loyal,racist, and often drunk man who serves as a satire of slave owners and Southern whites" is misleading and does not help support her thesis. However I do believe this is just a typo that needs to be fixed. The writers other quotes are smoothly worked in and support the thesis very well. Even though there are some grammatical/sentence errors, the overall message was clearly well understood. Numerous other quotes were used and a high level of analysis was presented in a well organized essay. There were many points made that I had never considered before, and others of which were general, but still very important to mention. Overall, the essay was a very good representation of a quality review of satire and displays a clear understanding of what Mark Twain was trying to really say.
ReplyDeleteAlright, first things first; Grammar and spelling. Although the errors in this analysis don't make the author's less clear, it simply is annoying and unprofessional to read. It's hard to say that a piece of writing is well done when it looks like it was typed by someone who doesn't care (Which may or may not be the case, who knows.) But I mean, come on, it was typed on a computer. Correcting your grammar and such takes maybe one minute. I guess the errors kind of inhibit my ability to fully appreciate the writing, similarly to when people say things such as "like" repeatedly; You start looking for errors more than actually reading. Maybe I'm just a grammar Nazi.
ReplyDeleteAlso, before I begin my own full thoughts on this analysis, I'd like to mention my confusion regarding people thinking it had a "lack of analysis". I'm not sure where you guys are coming from. Look at this thing. My absolute first impression of this piece (past the grammar, of course) was that the author did an above average job delving into Pap as a satirical figure. The author (who is named Morgan Taylor... can I just call them Morgan? Sure, why not.) explains how Pap represents white "society" in three separate ways; As weaker than they act, accusatory and foolish, and stuck up enough to bring themselves down in status to avoid having slaves rise up in status. Morgan does this without using excessive quotes, and fully fleshes out her ideas, making them clear and elaborate. As such, I'd love if someone who said that it was "lacking analysis" could further explain what they meant, I just really don't see it.
On that note, I felt the evidence was satisfactory, if not a little sparse. It was enough to make the piece convincing, but I feel that perhaps a quote from when Huck made dinner even would have been enough. Again, not bad, but my gut reaction after reading it was that there could have been more support. (Note, not more analysis, more SUPPORT.)
The thesis was also passable. It was clear, concise (especially this part; "Mark Twain satirizes the relationships between people in the South during the time of slavery"), and when I read the thing through I was actually thinking "Yeah, seems about right". As someone who finds satire and symbolic figures in literature only mildly interesting, I was surprised to find myself agreeing with what Morgan had to say, and actually interested in their opinion. She didn't over-analyze the book to death, and she didn't just scratch the surface. For the small size that the analysis was, I'd say it delved just deep enough to hold my attention without becoming over-complicated and incomplete.
I get that "literary skills" and rubrics and guidelines are important and everything, but at the end of the everything, was this actually worth my time to read? Yes, yes it was. It can have all the literary devices it wants in there, but if I can't bring myself to finish it then what do I care? It brought up an interesting point of view, especially with the "Whites would rather reduces themselves than raise slaves up" point. Fix the grammar and spelling and I might even say I like it.
Seriously though Morgan, you have the grammatical sense of half of a refrigerator door. Pls fix. (Irony, haha.)
I kept interchanging "she" and "their". You saw nothing. Carry on.
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ReplyDeleteThis paper has some pretty good analysis in it. It clearly defines the satirical and ironic elements of Pap's gov'ment speech. For instance, the essay explains the irony of Pap's views compared to how he lives in the lines, "At one point Pap describes free slaves as "prowling,thieving,infernal, white-shirted free nigger", and when saying this, Pap is subconsciously describing himself. As mentioned before, if Pap gave up his right to vote, he would be on the level s of those who could no vote. However, unlike the slaves, even by giving up his right to vote, he would still be free. Since Pap is white, he is "a free nigger", having freedom to choose to give up his voting rights. Society viewed blacks as lesser, and as thieves, and without his rights, Pap fits this same definition." This type of analysis is abundant in the example essay. Another example of satire analysis is when the author describes Pop's way of living. the essay says that Pop is a representation of southern whites, living off the work of others while claiming to be better than the workers. Overall, I think the essay was pretty good, but it had a few minor grammar issues. Other than that, it was pretty good. It had a clear thesis, it had good content, and it was interesting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what everyone said about this essay.I think he author did a very good job portraying what Mark Twain was trying to say in this scene and the satire behind his lines. The author of this piece also clearly understood the meaning of satire and was able to pick out the satire in this scene. The smelling errors make it contradicting at points because it is hard to understand and interpret but overall you get the meaning of what he/she was trying to say, even though the analysis was lacking a little. Inconclusive the author of this paper did a very good job showing and proving the satire in paps character.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading over the essay it was easy to determine that the author knew what they were talking about in regards to satire in Huck Finn. Their thesis was clear and they gave multiple examples from the text to support the thesis, improving the overall quality of the essay. However there are many aspects of the essay which need improvement in order for it to be a great essay. The first area, in need of improvements, that stuck out to me were the many grammatical errors. Personally, I found the grammatical errors to a little distracting. They caused me to re-read sections that contained errors which disrupted the flow of the essay. This brings me to the next most noticeable area in need of improvement; pacing. The pacing of this article was choppy, making it more difficult to read. One of the more significant areas in need of improvement was the analysis of each quote used from Huck Finn. I understood what the author was saying in their analysis but they left me wanting a higher level of analysis. Overall this was a good essay that clearly conveyed the author's understanding of the use of satire in Huck Finn. In order for it to become a great essay the author needs to correct some grammatical errors, improve upon their flow, and take their analysis to the next level.
ReplyDelete