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Who Is Mark Twain Misunderstood?

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The creation of the American Voice is an ongoing process. Mark Twain- a pioneer of his time- contributed heavily to the making of literature for generations. Even though he was too controversial, Mark Twain added a newly found aspect of humor to the American voice. He did so through his books such as Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and The Prince and the Pauper. However, his reputation is often misunderstood.
Born in the backwoods of Missouri, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, “Spent his boyhood in nearby Hannibal, on the bank of the Mississippi river, observing its busy life, fascinated by its romance, but chilled by the violence and bloodshed it bred (Encyclopedia of World Biography 1).” His childhood spent in this town with an obviously high crime rate forced him to grow up quickly. I believe this is one of the reasons he uses satire so heavily in his works. To overcome the harshness of his young life. Many say “Mark Twain was a poor boy who by reason of native skill rose to wealth and fame (Leary 3)”. His ability to adapt and use his surroundings gave him a leg up in the literary world as well as the real world. “…he began working as an apprentice, then a …show more content…

He was controversial for his time period and highly misunderstood. The writer of the famous book Little Women was opposed to Mr. Twain’s style of writing. As a primarily youth author he described some pretty bold and touchy subjects. Critics often said that children should not be exposed to such vulgarity as Alcott demonstrates here when she says “If Mr. Clemens cannot think of something better to tell our pure minded lads and lasses, he had best stop writing for them (Alcott 1868)”. One critic says: “Perhaps no other American author is so widely misunderstood as Mark Twain (Hearn 4)”. His legacy is widely misinterpreted but is just now coming to light and he is getting the hard earned credit he deserves. While he may be misunderstood, his messages are still quite

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1. Paraphrasing: Paragraph 1: Mark Twain speaks about his encounter with a “… gay and impudent and satirical and delightful young black man…/”, who he believes to have a fine passion and energy. Twain also believed that the black African American was the greatest orator in America. Paragraph 2: Twain speaks about how the African American man would occasionally stop his preaching and begin imitating a bucksaw noise.

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As a slave he got poor education because he was not supposed to be smarter than his white owners. Twain’s work, therefore, should not be banned because of the poor grammar and spelling, which show the historic views in the

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Authors of classic American literature often utilize a character’s development to establish a worldview or opinion. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby, Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald use their narrators, Huck Finn and Nick Carraway, to suggest an argument about American society. Seeking adventure, both characters embark on a journey, but their encounters with society leave them appalled. While they each have personal motives for abandoning their past, both end up interacting with different cultures that lead them to a similar decision about society and their futures. Ultimately, they stray from the dominant culture in order to escape the influence of society.

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What makes a person who they really are? This question has been posed by many for a long time. Mark Twain’s novel, Pudd'nhead Wilson, is a solid analysis of how nature and nurture can greatly affect someone's character. Set in a time where slavery is prevalent, it is set in the perfect time to show how greatly the “nurture”, or environment, of a person can greatly affect their life and their character. In Pudd'nhead Wilson, Twain uses the role of family to show that the environment in which a person is raised in will often dictate what kind of individual they will become.

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Twain's Satire Through The Eyes of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain, the author of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, used satire in order to criticize and unmask certain topics, more specifically American society. In this novel, a young boy named Huckleberry Finn was thrown into a situation where he had to fend for himself but learned a lot on the journey. He went from living with Miss Watson, a widow, to living out on a boat with Jim, the widow's runaway slave, and two frauds who said they were a king and a duke. He faced many problems along the way but never resorted to violence when coming up with a plan or solution.

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Twain, like any author, was a product of his time, but because values are always tied to the time a piece was written, it would be difficult for a teacher to separate the values that could offend a student from the rest of the

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Mark Twain uses satire to portray different issues that were going on during the time period. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author Mark Twain uses Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer to represent romanticism and realism. Doing so formed the characters into two drastically different persons. Mark Twain uses satirical elements to contrast the two main characters in their personalities and views. Tom Sawyer is a child who is blinded with fictional literature and the worlds view on slaves.

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In the world there are amazing regions to explore and see. However, we usually don’t see them in person. Writers use the fact that readers may not know anything about their region, but are able to read or experience the region the writers provide. In fact, Twain uses this to his advantages to talk about his home village near the Mississippi River, as well as, Jewett shows us the wilderness in Maine. Jewett and Twain uses regionalism throughout both of their writings, by creating their own types of settings.

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Mark Twain was seen as famous across the United States creating stories that made people laugh and addressing issues that many were blinded to at the same time. As Mark Twain started spreading this different tone in his publications and many other publishers started to use this mocking or sarcastic tone in their pieces, which allowed American humor to start trending across the states. Many people question where this humor came from in Mark Twain since it

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Mark Twain's Use of Satire in Huckleberry Finn Throughout his pieces of literature, the famous American author Mark Twain portrays his personal views of society using satire and irony in his stories. He makes fun of broken parts in the American society relentlessly and makes sure the readers understand how outrageous some acts were during the early-to-mid 1800s. Twain seems to target specific aspects in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn such as how young people could be conflicted between morality and legality, the loss of self-respect for money, and the effects of herd mentality. He has an interesting approach at giving the reader insight, but his main ideas for the theme shine through and are clearly depicted.

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Samuel L. Clemens who is better known as Mark Twain is an author known for several novels, including two famous American literatures: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri, he died on April 21, 1910, in Redding, Connecticut after living 74 years of age. He was 6 of 7 kids . His father died when Mark was 11 years old. Aside from writing novels Mark was also a journalist, boat pilot, lecturer, entrepreneur and inventor.

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The world has changed much in one hundred years: women are standing up for themselves, children are changing the world, but still the works of three authors stand strong as the writers of some of the most well-known books in history. Mark Twain's style is very distinct because of the stylistic elements he uses. One of the main elements he utilizes is Social Commentary. Social Commentary is when the author gives his or her own insights into the workings of society or the human mind. In Chapter 2 of 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,' Tom is forced to work on painting his aunt's fence while his friends play, but Tom finds a way to swindle them into paying him to do the work for him.

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Not only did he write compelling, professional works, but he also possessed a strong desire to please his readers. As stated in his preface, Twain writes, “Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls… part of my plan has been to try pleasantly to remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked.” It is apparent that Twain wanted to appeal to a mass audience. By incorporating likeable young characters such as the naughty yet responsible Tom Sawyer and the adventurous Huck Finn, Twain made a connection with the children of that generation. While the story takes place in the 1800s, the themes of coming-of-age, finding a niche in society, and survival are timeless and thus relate to children of today.

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Another example of metaphor in the novel is how Mr. Twain depicts the characters to enunciate his views of the bigotry of social norms pushing the reader in a sense to understand what he means. Huckleberry Finn with his innocence and Jim with a thirst for equality metaphorically portray the minorities, Pap the trope of humanity that are corrupted and deprived by those that are uncivilized. “You’re educated, too, they say—can read and write. You think you’re better’n your father, now, don’t you, because he can’t?

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The Life of Mark Twain Called “The Father of American Literature” by William Faulkner, Mark Twain was the one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century and realized the accomplishment of the American Dream that has eluded so many other authors. “He was America 's greatest humorist, yet he ended up mankind 's darkest cynic and most savage critic”(Otfinoski). Mark Twain stands out as one of the most impactful writers of his time and depicted the America that he knew with his literature and with his life. Mark Twain became one of the greatest and wealthiest writers of his time but was originally born under the name Samuel Langhorne Clemens to a poor family in Florida, Missouri. He was born two months premature under the light of Halley’s Comet, a sign of good things to come and was sickly for the first ten years of his life.

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