When you go into high school, you expect two basic things: to become more mature, and to learn a lot (as much homework as it may be). I mean, four years can seem like a long time. What I didn’t expect, however, was how I would become more mature through my learning. I realized this when reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in my AP Literature and Composition class. Walking in for the first class, I expected a challenge unlike what I had previously. The syllabus was daunting as hell, but as usual, I was up for the challenge.
The chairs and desks of the classroom were set up in a circle, something I had seen only a few times before, but this was high school; the classroom itself represented the more mature knowledge I was expecting for school. The teacher explained that the class would involve some in-depth discussions, and that lack of participation would lead to a poor grade in the course. We went over all the books we would be covering over the course of the semester, and one of the books stuck out like a sore thumb in my eyes.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was burned into the paper of the syllabus. I soon remembered that name from a memory in my childhood: a particularly curious young boy, stumbling through books around the house, came across a copy of that same book. His parents had told him not to read that book because it was for older boys. Of course, I tried anyways. Turns out, they were right. I couldn’t read a damn page, it was just too much to understand.
Flash forward to the AP Literature and Composition classroom, where we were far enough into the semester to begin the book. Once I started reading the book, I couldn’t stop. I fell completely in love with every page and there was always some deeper understanding of every paragraph that we would discuss in class that drew me in further. This was really the first time that I started thinking about what authors goals are in composition, and how it can be reflected on our society, whether directly or through juxtaposition.
