Samuel Langhorne Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, was an American writer, entrepreneur, and publisher. He was an adventurer with a quick witted attitude and an ambitious use of the pen. His childhood and adolescence came to shape two of the most iconic and influential stories. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The basis of all American Literature came from those two books. These two stories caused Twain to become one of the richest men of his time. Twain was an influential writer to American Literature, he is well known because of his prodigious use of dialogue, satire, and realism. Twain is very well known for his use of dialogue. He had several different techniques that he used to make his dialogue sound …show more content…
In Huckleberry Finn a “good Christian” women owns slaves which to me seems like it is a very hypocritical statement. In an article written by Flora Richards she states, “Mark Twain carefully chose his words and used satire in his books to address controversial or taboo issues that afflicted his society”. He wrote Huck Finn in an attempt to protest and contest the vices of the 19th century and took matters into his own hands when he wrote Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. He used these stories to make a point about all the bad things going on in the American culture during his time. Twain realized that Humor was going to be one of the most important ingredient in creating satire, and Mark Twain mastered that art to improve his satire throughout his books. He used his humor to fully allow his reader to be reached by his satire and for it to be fully understood. Some people believed that these stories had nothing to do with satire and were merely just a humorist story. In an article written by Leo Marx, Twain came out to say, “The truly profound meanings of the novel are generated by the impingement [through satire] of the actual world…“Huck is a funny book suitable for children, too, but the grownups who read it will find depths in its humor and in its meaning” (12). There truly is a deeper meaning to his stories, the use of humor towards the topics …show more content…
Realism was very popular during the time of the civil war and at the turn of the century. He used it in his stories to portray the middle and lower class people of the post-civil war era. He was a regional writer and wrote most of his stories based off his childhood and adolescence. “He emaciated and dignified the speech and manners of a class of people largely neglected by writers and largely ignored by genteel America”. (87) He knew exactly how to portray each character correctly. Jim who was an uneducated illiterate slave was portrayed almost impeccably. An example of his way of speaking is, "Well, it's a blame ridicklous way, en I doan' want to hear no mo' 'bout it. Dey ain' no sense in it." (Twain 39) This quote is just one of the many examples of how the slaves spoke. He correctly portrayed how they spoke and made all the characters in his stories have separate and distinct accents. Not only did Twain know how to correctly and distinctively portray each character. He also knew how to make his setting very realistic. Because of his past experiences as steam boat engineer, Mark Twain was easily able to describe settings in detail and give the reader a good mental picture of what was going on and the area around where it was happening. An example of this in Huck Finn is, “The first thing to see, looking away over the water, was a kind of dull line - that was the woods on t'other side; you couldn't make nothing else out; then
The use of Satire in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn In his novel the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published in 1884, Mark Twain uses satire frequently as a medium to display his feelings on a range of issues related to society at that time. Throughout the book he ridicules many aspects of society, including the prevalent views on slaves and religion, and their social structure. Even though the novel was set fifty years before it was published, the themes still held true for contemporary society. This led to the novel being criticised widely as a result of it condemning the very society it was presented to.
These stories along with many others help prove he is the greatest influence to American Literature. Mark Twain is known for his creation of a new style of
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pseudonym Mark Twain, has been central to American literature for over a century. His seemingly effortless diction accurately exemplified America’s southern culture. From his early experiences in journalism to his most famous fictional works, Twain has remained relevant to American writing as well as pop culture. His iconic works are timeless and have given inspiration the youth of America for decades. He distanced himself from formal writing and became one of the most celebrated humorists. Mark Twain’s use of the common vernacular set him apart from authors of his era giving his readers a sense of familiarity and emotional connection to his characters and himself.
One writing that Mark Twain is not as famous for, but is still a well known piece of work for showing the use of humor in his writings is, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. This work starts off slow without much humor until later on in the writing. The humor picks up as Twain includes bits of sarcasm to the mix. The humor in this short work is not so hidden or subtle as it may have been in some of Twain’s other writings. One example of this sort of dry humor is, “And Smiley says, sorter indifferent like, ‘It might be a parrot, or it might be a canary, may be, but it an't it's only just a frog.’” (Jumping Frog). This shows a side and type of writing that is not usually seen with Twain. Usually the humor in his writings was always sort of hidden away and harder to pick out, but in this work, it is more obvious that he is trying to make it humorous. “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” may not be as widely known as some of Twain’s other work, but it is a good example of how he includes humor into his writings to catch the reader’s attention and to provide some comic relief from, at times, tense situations.
Mark Twain, unlike any other famous novelist/writer, has his very own accomplishments. The two of his greatest accomplishments is what everyone knows him famous for. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as being his greatest and most popular works were also to quickly become his greatest accomplishments. Likewise, both books corresponded with the other about adventures of both low class, Huck Finn, and middle class, Tom Sawyer, had together and of their friendship. Another believed greatest accomplishment was his hidden eulogy that hadn’t
Mark Twain was a popular and well known writer who was known for his humorous, and satire writing. His writing style often reflects the common rhetoric of people. He uses irony, and sarcasm, but the style often depends on the character he’s talking through. Twain often speaks his mind eloquently throughout his satiristic stories. The following two stories are examples of how speaks to his readers.
Twain, Mark, pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), American writer and humorist, whose best work is characterized by broad, often irreverent humor or biting social satire. Twain's writing is also known for realism of place and language, memorable characters, and hatred of hypocrisy and oppression.
Between the discussions, encounters, and nail biting situations Huckleberry Finn and Jim experienced there is always a level of satire that Mark Twain uses to hint at bigger problems he saw in the world. Although a lot of elements of the book can be seen on a deeper level some of the most obvious points were the relationship between Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, the actions of Christians contradicting their beliefs, and the various unjustified deaths that occurred during their travels. Twain makes it a point to significantly juxtapose the perspectives of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer from the beginning of the book to the very end. Although Tom is more educated and has more exposure to different types of media he is so easily influenced making his judgment unrealistic. On the other hand Huck Finn has the small bit of “sivilizing” he got from the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson and the basic instinct he needs to survive.
Although the characters are fictional the messages and motives behind them are not. Throughout the story Twain satirizes much of what is happening. Twain shines a light on the hypocrisy that goes on in the lives of the “model adults” that Huck encounters. Miss Watson being a prime example, to Huck she preaches endlessly about honesty
To begin with, Twain uses small, effective pieces of humor to show Huck’s maturity throughout the novel. Towards the beginning of the story, Huck has an immature
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain, was a renowned writer and humorist in American literature. Twains most famous and well known pieces are The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Throughout most of Twains writings he primarily used a form of humor known as satire. The definition of this literary device used by Twain is “The use of humorous exaggeration and irony to expose people's failings and stupidity” (Satire, 2017). Usually, humor plays a role in making people laugh, which makes it easier to break the ice and for satirical writing to reach its targets. “To make it more effective to change society, Mark Twain used satire, which is a literary manner of denouncing, criticizing and laughing at the foibles, crimes or vices of a person or society, with the aim of correcting them” (Mark Twain Satirical Approach, 2017). Mark Twain used his satirical writing style to convey, criticize, and poke fun at the flaws in society prevalent at the time.
Twain made his presence felt with every place he visited. Many people considered him to be a hero for the way he went about his life. He was a realist and spoke his mind about things that he didn’t agree with. This, however, did
Mark Twain is an unique author full of different types of figurative language engraved into his novels. Twain has always been this way as he used his past life to inspire the way and reason of his writing. Because of his irregular past, his style is quite odd and can sometimes be critiqued. Twain is an unique writer and uses figurative language act as imagery, symbolism and irony to influence his novels. Mark Twain has endured a trial some childhood which has been the reasoning and influence on many of his characters and settings.
He also wrote some famous books that you might have heard of like The adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Twain is a very caring, selfless person. He's less concerned about money and is more concerned about making the people around him happy. At one time in his life, Mark Twain published a book called The Innocents Abroad.
Mark Twain, his real name, Samuel Langhorne Clemens wasn't just an author but also a humorist, whose work is set apart by his mocking humor or biting social satire (Mark Bio). Twain's writing is also known for realism of place and language, classic characters, and hatred of hypocrisy, oppression and his overall practicality in the way he