My son, who is a junior in high school, has become very interested
in Anne Frank and her context as a result of seeing a high school
production of the play, "The Diary of Anne Frank". He is now reading
the diary itself plus parts of Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third
Reich that describe life under Nazi rule and the "final solution". All
this on his own initiative. He is also taking a course on the American
novel and, so far, has read Scarlet Letter, Ethan Frome, Gatsby, and
one other. Hawthorne gave him trouble and we had a couple of longish
discussions about what is going on in all those passages that aren't
dialogue but aren't exactly straightforward description of event or
setting. Why, he wanted to know, would anyone write all that stuff.
What was the point and how did it fit with the story? This leads me
to suggest that part of the reason for "lack of interest" in the
novel Huckleberry Finn - as differentiated from the character of Huck -
may have to do with lack of familiarity with complex prose, whether from
this era or any other, and a fear of looking dumb if you admit in class
that you don't see how a part, or parts, of the novel fit with the whole.
I'm not so inclined to favor the explanation that the social context of the
novel is "too remote" from our student's experience. The attitudes toward
blacks which Twain depicts have not vanished from our society. The hatred
of blacks is very strong in my part of the country and I hear "nigger"
frequently from young and old. Rather than being put on the shelf,
Huckleberry Finn should be taught regularly and used as an occasion to
discuss racial attitudes. I believe that racism is inherent and widespread
in our society and that each generation will have to teach its sons and
daughters how terrible it is, what awful crimes were committed in its name,
and what heroes did to resist it.

Gus Sponberg
Valparaiso University