Leonidas W. Smiley

“How you talk, Huck Finn. Why, you’d have to come when he rubbed it, whether you wanted to or not” (11). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is known to encompass many aspects of society in the nineteenth century, the majority of which symbolized by one or more aspects the within the book. Perhaps the most crucial representation in perhaps Twain’s greatest novels is how society had, and has, many faults. Though this point could be made clear with many objects throughout the book, three of the more pressing come to mind. As the reader follows Young Huckleberry, or “Huck,” down the river, we encounter many things alongside him. One of these occurrences is a circus where a “drunk” man who is really a performer demonstrates a stunt, and the audience

Twain uses local dialect throughout the story. Dialect enhances the story by painting a picture of the surroundings, giving a deeper understanding of the characters and adding local color. The following quotes show Twain's main purpose is using dialect, which is to emphasize the rural feel of the story's setting. On page 1189 the narrator says "He was always ready and laying for a chance; there couldn't be no solit'ry thing mentioned but that feller'd offer to bet on it, and take ary side you please, as I was just telling you." On page 1190 the narrator says, "Other dogs jest by the j'int of his hind leg and freeze to it—not chaw…." Smiley uses some interesting and somewhat peculiar phrases at the end of the story:

We see everything through his eyes – and they are his eyes and not a pair of Mark Twain’s spectacles. And the comments on what he sees are his comments – the comments of an ignorant, superstitious, sharp, healthy boy, brought up as Huck Finn had been brought up; they are not speeches put into his mouth by the author (292).

One of the most noteworthy aspects of Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the skillful way in which Twain relates Huck’s thoughts. By telling the story from the first person point of view, Twain not only lets the reader into Huck’s mind, but he also allows Huck to characterize himself in terms of dialect—his manner of speaking, as we hear his thoughts in his own uneducated and thoroughly “countrified” voice.

Smiley has missed the point of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and has depressed the book to a fractions of its ideas. She sees the book as a failed social commentary on racism and enabling the reader to avoid responsibility. A Short sighted sentiment from Mrs. Smiley, but Mark Twain has a light directed elsewhere. He lights out the territory of social improvements by vexing the reader to view from different vantage points.

In Thurber’s work, when Muggs dies, it says, “On the board I wrote with an indelible pencil ‘Cave Canem’,” (262). This shows Thurber’s use of precise diction to show satire. Thurber uses latin to show humorous writing because “Cave Canem” means Beware of the Dog. For example, in “A Toast to the Oldest Inhabitant: The Weather of New England,” Mark Twain states, “I like to hear rain on a tin roof, so I covered part of my roof with tin, with an eye to that luxury. Well, sir, do you think it ever rains on the tin? No, sir; skips it every time,” (255). This shows Twain’s use of precise diction when he uses the words “skips it every time,” because the rain can’t skip something every time. This also shows how his use of precise diction helps him create fantastic hyperboles that stir one’s imagination. Twain and Thurber’s use of precise diction helps depict

Part of the reason that makes Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain a masterpiece is because of the way he forced the readers to fondle the details to find a greater meaning. He places details in the language for the readers to further their understanding of the characters and get a good feel for the setting of the novel. Twain places a heavy emphasis on Jim’s dialect, he does this by making Jim’s speech hard to read and digest. He does this to show Jims place in society, his level of education, and to show how most slaves during the time period talked. Twain also uses his language to show how slaves were treated in different states and to show the amount of education they receive. For example

Therefore, anyone who is unsatisfied with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’s ending for lack of excitement and explanation must have missed Twain’s “Notice” explaining that it is crucial for readers to read past the straightforward words on the

In the short story titled ”The Notorious Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County” the author, Mark Twain, conjures a story about Smiley and his frog that can jump on command. In the story, it is in a first person point of view as a person asked a friend known as Simon Wheeler. A man known as Leonidas W. Smiley and his pet frog that can jump on command. He is also known as Jim. Jim was a humongous better.

Mark Twain a famous writer of the past uses distinct amount of words to be able to reflect the environment to visualize a western setting. He is able to utilize diction to allow the reader to feel as they are put inside of the story and be part of the story. During the beginning of the story the narrator walks in into the tavern and describes how the tavern looks like and his friend Simon Wheeler. He says”,... I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the bar room stove of the old

The prominent choices of diction which appear on the first page of Twain’s short story, some examples include, “lurking suspicion” and “he backed me into a corner and blockaded me with his chair.”. The diction helps foreshadow the deception that occurs later on in the story; furthermore, the choice of diction suggests intelligence, which means that someone of higher intelligence is foreshadowed to try and deceive someone of lower intelligence despite the fact there are consequences. The dialogue of Smiley being accounted by Simon Wheezler, “he ketched a frog one day and took him home and said he cal’klated to edercate him” (Twain 3), contains diction that emphasizes the lack of a formal education. By using diction that suggests lack of intelligence and education, Twain is able to use the theme of deception ending with unexpected consequences to showcase that probability that people with lower intelligence have a hard time learning of their mistakes, especially when deceived. The final example of diction, “well I don’t see no p’ints about that frog that’s any better’n any other frog,” (Twain 4), highlights another person with a lack of education, but this person has more intelligence or at least more awareness than the people Smiley usually tricks, which will eventually make it harder for Smiley to deceive him; thus, being unable to deceive him means

In the story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” Mark Twain incorporates the use of informal, slang, and uneducated diction. Twain uses this type of diction to describe the character, Jim Smiley; furthermore, it also give the reader a conclusion of when and where the story takes place. This also helps develop a persona of Jim Smiley and gives the reader an insight of the western setting.

He applies animal-like terms such as “flew”, “skip” to describe the elite during the disaster of the San Francisco earthquake. By doing so, Twain portrays to his audience how the wealthy act superior, but the wealthy act just like animals. For instance, a minister at the church was the first to leave when the earthquake occurred, he had “skipped” when his duty was to be in control of keeping members of the church in place to die in a crumbling structure. Mark Twain successfully illustrates how “prominent citizens” could be selfish. Twain shows irony when a minister who supposedly evokes the concept of helping others and being selfless, yet he himself abandoned everyone to save himself. Twain also uses sarcasm to mock people by mentioning a lady, who fell down the stairs along with a statue and almost got a “strike with its club”, the lady was upset to the extent where gave birth to a “club-footed” child. The author’s purpose was to demean a serious situation, by making a mockery out of it. It reflects his personality as a sarcastic person who often use jokes to mock people who put on airs. By doing so, Twain can change the public’s

As Bierce explains, “The man who was engaged in being hanged was apparently about thirty-five years of age. He was a civilian, if one might judge from his habit, which was a planter.” An attention to specific details is given especially in Part I when the setting is being described. Countless adjectives are used, giving the reader the understanding of the scene so that they can feel as if they are sitting in and watching everything mentioned take place. Again, diction is used although not in the same way as Twain had used it. Instead, a type of southern slang is used, denoting people from the North as “Yanks” and to flax as “tow.” Finally, the last part of this story is made up on the lead character’s daydream which shows that Bierce was focusing on the psychology of the character, another very realist thing to do in literature.

The following paper will briefly show arguments, and conclusions within the writings of Mark Twain’s story Huckleberry Finn. I will discuss the various themes that Mark Twain is bringing to light within his story. This paper will show how Mark Twain uses those themes within the story, and how they are specifically used. I will also briefly discuss the life of Samuel Clemons, the author known as Mark Twain, and give the reasoning behind choosing the name of Mark Twain when writing his novels. Themes of escapism will be discussed.