The Mysterious Stranger

Mark Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger is a novella featuring the experiences three young boys have with a supernatural creature named Satan. Mark Twain, whose writings had begun to reflect the darkness that resided in his mind, attempted several versions of the story and died before it was finished. His editors took over and wrote the rest before it was finally published in 1916. Possessing literary elements of strong narrative structure, unique setting, complex characterization and dark romanticism

Satan can be looked at in many different perspectives, and have many different reactions. When three young boys in the city of Eseldorf come across Satan, they particularly enjoy his presence, and his fantastical powers. In Mark Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger, the satirical elements portrayed are Dramatic Irony, Absurdity, and Fantasy, to mock the ignorance and insignificance of the human race; and not only that, but also to draw the attention of humans and help make most of their flaws clear.

determined. In other words, not all characters have to conform to one archetypal character type and may sometimes play somewhat opposing archetypes that in the end have the same end goals. An example of this happening is seen in Mark Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger, when the character Satan acts as both an evil figure with the ultimately good heart, and a mentor figure when teaching and guiding Theodor and his friends Seppi, and Nikolaus. Therefore, it is because of this that the character Satan plays

the faults and contradictions of human ethics, religion, justice, morality, and culture, The Mysterious Stranger provides narrative in a small Austrian village in the winter of 1590, following the point of view of three children: Nikolaus, Seppi, and Theodor. The book begins with the trio exploring the countryside and encountering a mysterious figure in the form of a child. The children ask who the stranger is, he responds that he is “only an angel.” The character they meet is found to possess mystic

Laughter is powerful. In fact, it was Mark Twain who once said, “Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand” (Twain, “The Mysterious Stranger and Other Curious Tales”). Be it a frown, hesitation, or a person’s dignity, the human desire to be liked and express emotion in such a form permeates almost every aspect of our daily life. In literature specifically, laughter plays an essential role in expressing characters’ emotions, illuminating the tensions between characters, and even advancing

Are we doing things right or wrong? How do we know? When do we know? Those are some questions that we ask ourselves often. Mark Twain has the ability to make our moral senses stagger during his novella The Mysterious Stranger. Doubts can rise while reading his novella, shaking the moral senses of anyone. Satan is part of the wrong moral senses, but during the novella, Twain makes Satan sound right and sensible sometimes. Twain even creates an image of Satan a bit similar in some ways to us. Humans

in many of his works such as The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg, and The Mysterious Stranger. In both stories are set in small towns who's residents are oblivious to their own moral hypocrisy. The sudden appearance of a stranger spreading a sort of knowledge, initiates a chain of events the leads to certain residents to self-evaluate their own character and that of the whole human race. It's is through these "Mysterious Strangers" and the events they trigger that Twain is able to depict his unfiltered

stories concerning individuals whose ordinary lives are suddenly upset by mysterious forces beyond their control. The mysterious force in this story is the stranger. The family is interrupted in the preparation of supper by the stranger who wants to look around his childhood home. The mysterious force of the stranger brings into question whether or not he is a ghost or time traveler, and what has happened to the sister. The stranger is a ghost because of how he was dressed with no hat when he arrived

Washington takes us through a journey about a man who took a twenty year nap. Waking up noticing the world he knew has changed. Washington Irving’s national mythology, “Rip Van Winkle” greatly impacts its reader through his use of unique settings, mysterious characters, and magical events. The setting is very magical, unique and different. This story takes place in a small town at the foot of the Kaatskill Mountains. “Every change of season every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day produces

Oates, the author uses one of the characters in the story to create a mysterious mood because he was very strange. With the character being strange it builds mystery by making the reader want to know what his next move is. The author uses characters to establish many characteristics