The Library of Congress

Enrichment Activities

Twain's Hannibal is an integral part of a larger unit on The Adventures of the Huckleberry Finn taught in our school system. The educational projects listed below are directed at Mark Twain and his writings, but they could easily be adapted to almost any other author and his/her environment. For example, Michigan had a very heavy influence on Ernest Hemingway's writing just as California influenced John Steinbeck and Chicago, Gwendolyn Brooks.

One unit taught in our school includes students interviewing and videotaping people who live along or near the Mississippi River to determine the river's impact on employment, social life, economy, transportation, family life, and politics. This activity ties school to career and strengthens technology and communication skills such as speaking, listening, interviewing, notetaking, telephone use, and electronic mail. This activity spans a full semester and is built upon year after year. Video clips are saved, edited into a final tape and/or burned into a CD.

Enrichment activities have been incorporated into the unit at one time or another from year to year. For example, students:

• Role play Twain and his reaction to today's social issues. For example, how would Twain react to or view civil rights, technology or the media?
• Compose a song about Huck and Jim's travels.
• Write an editorial from Twain's perspective dealing with a local issue.
• Compare travel in Twain's time with that of today.
• Compare sheet music created during Twain's time to that of today.
• Locate dialects found in the novel and determine how they are used today.
• Keep a log or diary from Huck or Jim's perspective as they travel down the river.
• Pose as a news reporter and write accounts of key events that happened in the novel.
• Investigate and discuss censorship issues relating to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
• Determine whether the adventures of Huckleberry Finn could happen today. Why or why not? Would the feud between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons be settled in the same way today?
• Compile a list of questions to ask Mark Twain if he were alive today and predict his responses.
• Role play scenes from the novel or impersonate a character.
• Watch a video version of the novel and discuss how Hollywood has interpreted the work.
• Draw a map tracing Huck and Jim's travel down the Mississippi River.
• Discuss the law or lack of law in the novel.
• Interact with an impersonator of Mark Twain.