Mark Twain
The two institutions that Mark Twain attacks and ridicules in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- that will be critiqued in this paper -- are religion and government. There are multiple examples of Twain's brilliant use of his narrative and dialogue to illustrate how he really feels about religion and about government. The novel that Twain produced has been used in schools all over the United States because of the many themes that embrace social realities in the 19th century, but his use of irony, parody, satire and even silliness had important impacts on the novel and on his legacy as one of the great authors in American history. Thesis: Through his characters and his dialogue, there is no doubt that Mark Twain was editorially lampooning and outright attacking the institutions of religion and government in 19th century America; this was both intentional and editorially important to the theme,…...

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Works Cited

Grols-Langenhoff, B. (2006). Social Criticism in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Santa Cruz, CA: GRIN Verlag.

Reichardt, M.R., and Pearce, J. (2009). Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: With an Introduction

and Contemporary Criticism. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press.

Scharnhorst, G. (2009). Mark Twain's Relevance Today. ZUSAs Occasional Paper No. 6.

This experience had a profound effect on Huck, as he claimed that "It made me so sick I most fell out of the tree. I ain't a going to tell all that happened" (Twain 226). Huck sees more and more people being killed as he matures and comes to be certain that he does not want to be a member of a society where people see nothing wrong in killing others for reasons that are not necessarily important.
Readers are provided with a succinct image of the world as Huck travels down the river and they mature alongside of him as they acknowledge many things that are wrong with society. Pap stands as the perfect example of the social order, considering that he initially seems that he actually wants to change but fails to do so in the end. It appears that Huck is the only individual who can really…...

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Works cited:

Champion, Laurie ed., the Critical Response to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1991)

Durst Johnson, Claudia, Understanding Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996)

Mensh, Harry and Mensh, Elaine Black, White, and Huckleberry Finn: Re-Imagining the American Dream (Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2000)

Pinsker, Sanford "Huckleberry Finn and the Problem of Freedom," the Virginia Quarterly Review 77.4 (2001)

The funeral [for Jean] has begun...The scene is the library in the Langdon homestead. Jean's coffin stands where her mother and I stood, forty years ago, and were married; and where Susy's coffin stood thirteen years ago; where her mother's stood five years and a half ago; and where mine will stand after a little time." A little time indeed: Twain died on April 21, 1910.

Another health issue: Twain on smoking and the University of ochester's use of Twain's writing

In his What is Man? And Other Essays book (pp. 216-219), one hundred and fifty years before there would be any reliable information on the link between cancer and tobacco use, Twain talks about superstitions and interesting habits regarding tobacco, and quips, "...me, who came into the world asking for a light." He pokes fun at those who thinks they know what a good cigar should taste like, and explains the…...

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References

Browne, Ray B. "Mark Twain and Medicine: 'Any Mummery Will Cure'." Journal of American Culture 27 (2004): 243-245.

Budd, Louis J. (ed.). Mark Twain: Collected Tales, sketches, Speeches and Essays 1852-

1890. New York: The Library of America, 1992.

Budd, Louis J. (ed.). Critical Essays on Mark Twain, 1887-1910. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1982.

Mark Twain, The Riverboat Pilot,
Huckleberry Finn

In his American classic Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain relates the adventures of Huck Finn and his companion Jim in such a way that the reader can sense that the story is based on true events, especially through characterization, setting and dialog. In essence, Twain has inserted himself into the novel via some very clever plot constructions and one of the best examples of this can be found in his descriptions of life on the Mississippi River as it relates to Huck Finn and Jim. However, Twain has also inserted his own experiences as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River into the story, a suggestion that can be supported via numerous extracts from the novel.

In his American classic Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain relates the adventures of Huck Finn and his companion Jim in such a way that the reader can sense that the story is…...

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WORKS CITED

Johnson, Allen and Dumas Malone, Eds. Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. 4. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1953.

Kaplan, Fred. The Singular Mark Twain: A Biography. New York: Doubleday, 2003.

Kunitz, Stanley J. And Howard Haycraft, Eds. American Authors, 1600 to 1900: A Biographical Dictionary of American Literature. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1938.

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Bantam Books, 1989.

Huck even sounds more like Jim than the other characters in the work in terms of his dialect, and the fact that he pretends Jim is his father underlines the degree to which the two of them are bound in a relationship. The NAACP national headquarters' current position endorses the book: "You don't ban Mark Twain-you explain Mark Twain! To study an idea is not necessarily to endorse the idea. Mark Twain's satirical novel, Huckleberry Finn, accurately portrays a time in history -- the nineteenth century -- and one of its evils, slavery" (Huckleberry Finn, PBS, 2011). Twain was a product of his society, but he was also a critic of it, and his ironic language enables the reader to appreciate nuances in his satire of racism that perhaps even many of Twain's contemporary readers did not fully understand.
orks Cited

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Teacher's Guide. PBS.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/teachers/huck/aboutbook.html [August 5,…...

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Works Cited

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Teacher's Guide. PBS.

  [August 5, 2011]http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/teachers/huck/aboutbook.html 

Burns, Ken, Dayton Duncan, and Geoffrey Ward. "The Life That Shaped Mark Twain's Anti-

Slavery Views." American Federation of Teachers, Fall 2002.

Mark Twain's realism in fully discovered in the novel The adventures of Huckleberry Finn, book which is known to most of readers since high school, but which has a deeper moral and educational meaning than a simple teenage adventure story. The simplicity of plot and the events that are described in the book look to be routine for provincial life of Southerners in the middle of the 19th century. But in reality, the problems touched are deeper and more expanded as they refer to nearly every sphere of society's life of that epoch.
I'm not sure that any other writer had shown such a full encyclopedia of American life in 1840 ies -- 1850 ies in just one of his novels. But Mark Twain succeeded to show the conflict of an individual and society, slavery issues, immorality and bigotry of "civilized" society, religious, Philistine and racial prejudices of Southerners, problems of…...

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References:

Mark Twain, The adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Penguin Classics1999

Mensh, Elaine Black, White, and Huckleberry Finn: Re-Imagining the American Dream University of Alabama Press, 2000 p.34

Daniel G. Hoffman From "Black Magic -- and White -- in Huckleberry Finn," Article in Mark Twain: A Collection of Critical Essays Book by Henry Nash Smith; Prentice-Hall, 1963 p.101

Champion, Laurie The Critical Response to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn Book; Greenwood Press, 1991 p.140

Mark Twain wrote about a trip to Europe and the Middle East in his book Innocents Abroad, and in the course of the book he also reveals much that he observes about American foreign policy in the broadest sense. This means not so much about foreign policy as it is thought of with reference to the policies of the American government but more about the source of such policy, meaning the attitudes of the American people toward foreign climes. On the one hand, Twain criticizes certain behavior on the part of his fellow-travelers which shows them to be arrogant toward as well as somewhat ignorant about many of the regions through which they travel. On the other hand, Twain himself shows many of these same traits as he also assumes the superiority of anything American over anything foreign.
The Innocents Abroad is a book that started as a series of letters…...

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Works Cited

Kravitz, Bennett. "There's No Place Like Home: 'Geographies of the [American] Mind' in The Innocents Abroad." American Studies International 35(2)(June 1997), 52-76.

Richler, Mordecai. "The Innocents Abroad' or the New Pilgrim's Progress." New Criterion 14(9)(May 1996), 10-18.

Twain, Mark. Innocents Abroad. New York: Greystone, 1922.

wain did receive some harsh criticism for including a freed slave as one of the central characters of the book: a character wain called Nigger Jim. Yet Adventures of Huckleberry Finn contains resolute messages about social power and race relations.
he title character runs away as a child, dissatisfied and disillusioned with poverty and with what Huckleberry Finn refers to as "sivilized" life. Finn states in the opening chapter about Aunt Polly: "she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn't stand it no longer I lit out." Huckleberry Finn decries conventional morality too: "hat is just the way with some people. hey get down on a thing when they don't know nothing about it," (Chapter 1). he character of Old hatcher reveals the strong social…...

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Twain's fiction had not received much critical acclaim until he published the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and especially Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In fact, the latter book is what made Mark Twain iconic among American writers. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is known as "one of the greatest American works of art," and has been lauded by Twain's contemporaries including Ernest Hemingway ("Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,"). Twain did receive some harsh criticism for including a freed slave as one of the central characters of the book: a character Twain called Nigger Jim. Yet Adventures of Huckleberry Finn contains resolute messages about social power and race relations.

The title character runs away as a child, dissatisfied and disillusioned with poverty and with what Huckleberry Finn refers to as "sivilized" life. Finn states in the opening chapter about Aunt Polly: "she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn't stand it no longer I lit out." Huckleberry Finn decries conventional morality too: "That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don't know nothing about it," (Chapter 1). The character of Old Thatcher reveals the strong social commentary woven throughout the novel, embodying the Old South that clings to racism and slavery: "They call that govment! A man can't get his rights in a govment like this. Sometimes I've a mighty notion to just leave the country for good and all," (Chapter 6).

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Retrieved Mar 5, 2009 at  http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/huckfinn/huchompg.html

Twain Humor
Mark Twain's short but entertaining story entitled The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is an interesting tale that presents many useful arguments for dialogue. The purpose of this essay is to explore this short story and discuss the realistic and humorous aspects of this literature. This essay will present an argument that suggests that Twain's story is mostly symbolical and the literary techniques used in the writing of this story are used to help disguise a more secret meaning of the story.

Once the reader is warned by the narrator about the dubious circumstances of visiting Wheeler, we should recognize that Twain is taking us for a ride with an unknown destination. This use of humor, to set up the reader, is very effective and eventually when the anti-climactic ending is revealed, the true humor of the absurdity of this tale is shown.

How real is this tale and how…...

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References

Twain, Mark. The Celebrated Frog of Calaveras County. The Celebrated Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches, 1867. Edited by Angel Price November 1996. Web.  http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/projects/price/frog.htm

Mark Twain, "Turning Point"
In "The Turning-Point of My Life," Mark Twain confesses that "the most important feature of my life is its literary feature" (Twain, ii). Although Twain's literary output is perhaps best remembered for fiction like Huckleberry Finn, "The Turning-Point of My Life" is a work of non-fictional memoir. However "The Turning-Point of My Life" utilizes a specific literary device to accomplish much of its storytelling goals. This is the literary device of irony, which can be loosely defined as saying one thing but meaning another, while expecting the reader to note the two different senses and react, frequently with laughter. Irony is, of course, not invariably funny -- many tragedies, like the story of Oedipus, are built upon a larger ironic structure which hardly makes us laugh. But the most important thing, according to literary scholar ayne Booth, is that the author and reader both recognize that irony…...

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Works Cited

Booth, Wayne C. A Rhetoric of Irony. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974. Print.

Tarnoff, Ben. "Mark Twain's Eternal Chatter." New Yorker, Nov 13, 2013. Web. Accessed at:  http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/11/the-eternal-chatter-of-the-autobiography-of-mark-twain-volume-2.html 

Twain, Mark. "The Turning-Point of My Life." Classic Lit. Web. Accessed at:  http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/mtwain/bl-mtwain-turning.htm

Mark Twain's "Pudd'nhead Wilson"
Mark Twain began The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and The Comedy of Those Extraordinary Twins as an examination of Siamese caught in a farce, but as it developed, it morphed into the tragic story of with the introduction of a stranger and detective by the moniker of "Pudd'nhead Wilson." The story centers around the slave woman passing as a Free white named Roxy, who, with her "son" Tom, becomes involved in a murder trial in which her "true" identity as a "negro" is discovered by the novel use of finger printing. (Chapter Two.) In doing so, while they are freed of any incrimination in the trial of Judge Driscoll, they are restored to the ante-bellum society into which they were born with legislated discrimination. Pudd'nhead Wilson is another of Twain's classic social commentaries, with an ambiguous questioning of the status-quo that leads to a varied cadre of…...

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Barringer, Paul B. The American Negro: His Past and Future. Raleigh: Edwards and Broughton, 1900.

"Pudd'n Head Wilson." The American Monthly Review of Reviews. January, 1894.

Williams, Martha McCulloch. "In Re 'Pudd'nhead Wilson.'" Southern Magazine. February, 1894.

Tom Sawyer, the 'good' rapscallion who only plays at the dark life of a wild boy torments Jim before revealing the fact that Jim is free. Tom does not understand the true meaning of freedom, and so he engages in a kind of sick adolescent joke when Jim is being held captive by Tom's relatives the Phelps.
Over and over again the novel mocks hypocrisy and ignorance: for example, the young Grangerford girl who died young and sketched beautiful and morbid works of art lived in a world where families would pray and shoot themselves. The Shakespearean actors who pretend to have culture (they call themselves the 'duke' and the 'dauphin') attempt to extort the money from the kindly ilks only meet their comeuppance because of Huck's revelation of their schemes. People who make pretences of either faith or aristocracy thus rot in the lowest pits of Twain's hell.

Twain's system…...

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Works Cited

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Full e-text available October 9, 2009 at  http://etext.virginia.edu/twain/huckfinn.html

Ark Twain and Paul Laurence Dunbar, ace and the Politics of Memory
It is a confirmed fact that even the most rudimentary foundations of racial equality within the United States, as it specifically applies to African-Americans and to Caucasians, did not occur until the midway point of the 20th century when the Civil ights movement began in earnest and advances towards a full-fledged integration were made. It is also noted within Fishkin's text that there were a number of ex-slaves who were decidedly nostalgic regarding the institution of chattel slavery of which they were a part. These slaves perhaps fancied the feeling of the lash on the back, or the welcome sight of their supposed masters raping, torturing, and killing women at their whim while such slaves were powerless to stop them. Or perhaps they simply had privileged positions of fetching the food and cleaning the filth of slave owners in…...

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References

Fishkin, Shelley. "Race and the Politics of Memory': Mark Twain and Paul Laurence Dunbar." Journal of American Studies Vol. 40, No. 2 (Aug., 2006) pp. 283-309. JSTOR. Cambridge University Press.

Oswald, Emily. " 'Imagining Race': Illustrating the Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar." Book History Vol 9, (2006), pp. 213-233. JSTOR. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

t would be very difficult to find a really clever "situation" in Cooper's books, and still more difficult to find one of any kind which has failed to be rendered absurd by his handling of it."
t is difficult to understand why Twain had displayed such serious animosity against Cooper when others had been sympathetic to his work but Twain does a good job of making a strong case against Cooper's books. He gives examples from Cooper's work to justify his caustic criticism. He finds Cooper lacking in all areas of literary arts including dialogue as Twain writes: "Cooper was certainly not a master in the construction of dialogue. naccurate observation defeated him here as it defeated him in so many other enterprises of his life. He even failed to notice that the man who talks corrupt English six days in the week must and will talk it on seventh,…...

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In the year 1895, Mark Twain wrote the acerbic essay on James Fenimore Cooper's books criticizing him rather ruthlessly for his numerous literary offenses. From the very beginning of the essay, it was clear that Twain seriously disliked the romantic tradition in writing. He was not particularly against Cooper; he was against the Romantic Movement for taking liberties with literary rules. Twain's chagrin was grounded simply in Cooper's inability to follow the rules as he asserted that in his work Deerslayer, the writer had "committed 114 offenses against literary art out of a possible 115." Twain's biting remarks did not end there. He examined almost 15 of the most commonly used literary devices or skills and charged Cooper with violating all of these. He also criticized others who had anything positive to say about Cooper's work. At one point, he mentions Brander Matthews who had said that Cooper's books "reveal an extraordinary fullness of invention." Twain took great offence to this positive comment and made a biting mockery of it: "Bless your heart, Cooper hadn't any more invention than a horse; and I don't mean a high-class horse, either; I mean a clothes-horse. It would be very difficult to find a really clever "situation" in Cooper's books, and still more difficult to find one of any kind which has failed to be rendered absurd by his handling of it."

It is difficult to understand why Twain had displayed such serious animosity against Cooper when others had been sympathetic to his work but Twain does a good job of making a strong case against Cooper's books. He gives examples from Cooper's work to justify his caustic criticism. He finds Cooper lacking in all areas of literary arts including dialogue as Twain writes: "Cooper was certainly not a master in the construction of dialogue. Inaccurate observation defeated him here as it defeated him in so many other enterprises of his life. He even failed to notice that the man who talks corrupt English six days in the week must and will talk it on seventh, and can't help himself. In the Deerslayer story, he lets Deerslayer talk the showiest kind of book-talk sometimes, and at other times the basest of base dialects."

In short Twain was severely displeased with Cooper's work and the entire Romantic tradition. He felt that Cooper's work had no purpose and it ended nowhere. Twain was a respected critic of his times and we can only assume that his criticism of Cooper was based on something more than personal dislike.

Mark Twain talks mostly about the river and his experiences as a steamboat captain, but much of what he says also applies to the rest of life. The lesson about life that he makes has to do with how people see things for the first time and how they see them after they are used to them. When he first saw the river he was amazed by its beauty and everything was new and fascinating to him. After he had to spend a great deal of time on the river as a steamboat captain he ceased to see the wonder and awe in much of the beauty that the river held and eventually he would cease to notice it altogether. Instead, he would only be looking for the problems that might underlie some of the things he noticed about the river and would not see the beauty anymore.
By becoming…...

That sounds like an interesting essay, because Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is so-often held up as the prime example of satire.  Would be a fascinating read, especially if you are arguing that “Huck Finn” offers a more effective use of satire. Here are a few ideas for essay titles.

1. Eat the Poor: The Satirical Approach to Class in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “A Modest Proposal”
2. Less than Human: Race, Class, and Satire
3. Hypocrisy and Piosity: How Swift and Twain Use Satire to Explore Religion
4. The Impact of Realism on Satire
5. Is Subtle Satire or Overt Satire More Effective?  An Examination....

American History is a vast and complex subject that encompasses the struggles, triumphs, and evolution of a nation. From the earliest Native American societies to the present day, the history of America is a story of conflict, growth, and change. In this essay, we will explore key events, figures, and movements that have shaped the course of American history, from the colonial era to the modern age. By examining the challenges and accomplishments of the past, we can gain a deeper understanding of the values and ideals that have defined the American experience. Join us on a journey through time....

Incorporating Humor into Autobiographies: Enhancing Storytelling and Audience Engagement

Autobiographies, by their very nature, invite readers into the personal journeys and experiences of the author. While most autobiographies aim to capture the complexities of life, including both triumphs and challenges, incorporating humorous anecdotes can significantly enhance the storytelling experience. Here's how humor can elevate an autobiography:

1. Breaks Down Barriers and Fosters Connection:

Humor has a disarming effect that can break down barriers between the author and the reader. It establishes a common ground, creating a sense of camaraderie. When readers laugh alongside the author, they feel a deeper connection, making them more....

1. In the realm of literature, the allure of the forbidden has long captivated readers and inspired writers

2."Banned Books Week" serves as a poignant reminder of the enduring power of literature to provoke, challenge, and ignite change

3. Throughout history, controversial literature has ignited fierce debates and challenged societal norms, leaving an indelible mark on our collective consciousness

4. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, remains a poignant example of how banned books can stimulate critical thinking

5. In a world where censorship casts its shadow, banned books offer a beacon of....