The Use of Irony in "Advice to Youth" by Mark Twain

Mark Twain is a fictitious name of Samuel Clemens. Mark Twain was an American journalist, humorist, novelist, and lecturer. He acquired global fame because of his travel narratives, such as The Innocents Abroad of the year 1869, Roughing It of the year 1872, and Life on the Mississippi of 1883. He is also famous for his boyhood adventure stories, particularly The Adventures of Tom Sawyer of the year 1876 and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn of 1885. He was known to be a distinctive humorist, and irascible moralist, and a gifted raconteur. Before independence, America was marked by cultural and religious differences among small colonies, making a single nation from these diverse populations

It can cause shock in the beginning but that makes it even stronger. He manages to instill the idea that we are all special, everybody in their own way and the person sitting next to us deserves as much respect and appreciation as we do. He also demonstrates that we need to live life for the better of ourselves and others equally because that will bring us true satisfaction.

There are three main types of irony to familiarize yourself with: dramatic irony, situational irony, and verbal irony. Firstly, lets start off with situational irony. Situational irony occurs when the expected outcome does not happen. Situational irony is used in stories to add humorous effects. For example, in the Most Dangerous Game, when Zaroff, the man who hunts people for entertainment, tells Rainsford, the unwilling victim of Zaroff, “We’ll visit my training school… It’s in the cellar. I have about a dozen pupils down there right now” (PG). Basically, Zaroff is not referring to a training school, he is referring to a prison where he keeps his unwilling victims who will eventually be hunted. This quotation shows how dramatic irony affects the tone and the

In Mark Twain’s book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist, Huck Finn, struggles in-between the Southern values of slavery and his own conscience, letter revealing situational irony. Situational irony is an occasion in which the outcome is significantly different from what was expected or considered appropriate. Slavery was commonplace in Huck’s time. No one has told him differently, but somehow the isolation on the raft, away from the laws of civilization changed that misguided outlook.as a port uneducated boy, Huck questions the precepts that society takes for granted. This self questioning is heighten by the difference of social orders: Huck and Jim’s microcosmic community where everyone wants everyone else to be satisfied

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.

What is humor? With humor we think of something that is obvious, something that sticks out to us in a book or in a paper that makes us laugh. Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, included numerous occasions of humor throughout his writings, though Mark Twain makes his humor very dry and sometimes hard to tell that it is even there. Mark Twain, unlike most authors, includes humor in his writings without it being blatantly obvious.

In Chapters 3-6 in the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Fin, Huck uses satire to seem smart, to be funny, and cover up how hard is life is in society. An example of this satire frequently used throughout these chapters is the quote “Well, I got a good going-over in the morning from old Miss Watson on account of my clothes; but the widow she didn’t scold, but only cleaned off the grease and the clay, and looked so sorry I thought I would behave a while if I could,” (Twain 10). This quote not only shows how most people were magnates, but still cared about appearance, that Huck has a satire relationship with the widow. Although satire is used in more obvious ways than this, this is a good “secret” satire quote because it shows their playful relationship and the irony Huck gets from her.

Authors use irony in literature in order to give double meanings and make it more interesting to the reader. In the play “ The Death of a Salesman” Arthur Miller uses irony as a strong writing technique in order to express the character's behavior. In “The Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller moments of situational and dramatic irony helps to illustrate the story's theme in which Willy is a man trying yo achieve the American dream, however he have created a world of illusion.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri. He is better known by his pen name “Mark Twain”, which is a nautical term which means two fathoms deep. As a child he learned to smoke and led a gang, leaving school at age 12 to become an apprentice at a printing shop. He became a free lance journalist and traveled around country until age 24, when he became a river boat pilot on the Mississippi, his childhood dream. During the Civil War, Twain joined the Confederate Army, but left and went west in search of gold. When that failed him, he became a reporter and comedian. His book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in 1885. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is narrated from Huck’s perspective,

People always say that laughter alleviates tension. If this is the case, then it makes sense that the use of humor when discussing uncomfortable topics can make the conversation easier and more light-hearted. One of Mark Twain’s most frequently used devices in works such as “Advice to Youth”, “To the Person Sitting in Darkness”, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is satire, which can provide society a method to bond over uncomfortable topics, and facilitate the ability to sustain that bond through an easier way to create discussion.

American author Mark Twain was one of the most influential people of his time. Twain is perhaps best known for his traditional classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a novel about an adventurous boy named Huck Finn as he traverses about on the Mississippi. Under first impressions, Huckleberry Finn would be considered nothing but a children’s tale at heart written by the highly creative Mark Twain. However one interprets it, one can undoubtedly presume that Twain included personal accounts within its pages, humorous and solemn opinions on the aspects of the diverse societies around him during his life. Throughout the entire story, Huck Finn would often come into conflict between choosing what was consciously right and what was morally

Mark Twain, in his writing of “Advice to Youth,” reveals what he believes to be relevant instruction to guide the youth to success. These statements in regard to who he’s speaking to is are as pertinent today as it was in 1882 when the speech was given. This didactic oratory, as it was written to the young, is expressed in the vernacular which allows for a sense of relation from Twain to those he’s speaking to. In addressing this advice, Twain uses several literary techniques including satire, diction, and hyperbole among several others. Specifically used by Twain is Juvenalian satire which bitterly and ironically criticizes society, in this case how children are raised to think and act.

Although people disagree over what makes someone morally “good” or morally “bad,” most people can agree that caring and compassion are good qualities while intolerance and selfishness are bad qualities.  Mark Twain uses satire in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to amplify the good and bad qualities of people.  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn exposes Twain’s thoughts on human nature by showing undesirable qualities of people in the racist white people and showing preferable qualities in the African-American slave, who is a victim of racism.  The racist white people are portrayed by Twain as prejudice and egotistic while Jim portrays compassion.

In Both Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller there is a lot of satire included in the novel. Although they both use satire Twain uses different types of satire unlike Heller who mostly uses comical satire. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the different types of satire used are slavery, racism, religious hypocrisy and superstitions. Twain uses satire more efficiently because he relates it to serious problems that people could relate to.

Mark Twain’s “Advice to Youth” is more than just a satirical speech. He is advising youth to prepare to join and be competent in adult life. Twain uses satire and sarcasm as an effective tool to be able to communicate and capture his youthful audience. Since conventional sermons about ethics and morals are often heard and overused during this time, Twain was brilliant enough to understand this and develop an effective technique. Without using this technique, his speech and many of his words may of fell on many of deaf ears. His cleverness cannot be argued with the effective method used to communicate and deliver his monumental speech. However, considering that the true purpose of this message is to bring about a positive message to the teenagers, some may consider his purpose more directed towards the adults mocking the old saying ‘do as I say, not as I do’ motto. Twain may have been more focused on tying to point out the errors of adult cynicism, with a view toward making society more honest, cooperative, and rational. The end result, although untraditional and sarcastic, his speech and advice was likely absorbed by the teens because it was delivered in a way those young minds would rather hear and listen to. His satirical and humorous word and phrase choices engaged his audience and strengthened