In The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses exaggerated diction and highlighted
literary devices in order to emphasize the hypocrisy of society, addressing
adult topics through immature prose.
Twain harnessed his diction to demonstrate the
differences between society now and as it was before as he describes Tom stepping
forward to recite his speech “with conceited confidence and soared into the
unquenchable and indestructible” (Twain 195). The speech was no longer just
words droning out of yet another student’s mouth, it was a weighty act, exaggerated
to the point of heroism. The word “soared” implies larger-than-life action, and
the words “unquenchable” and “indestructible” seem almost sarcastic in Twain’s
writing as he hyperbolizes the feat with words that would be used to describe a
legendary battle, not a schoolboy’s recitation. Mark Twain juxtaposes the
important with the unimportant - the girl’s shallow attempts at speeches with
Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech – to indicate how irrationally
society is spending their time.
The author also employs alliteration and metaphors,
amplifying the description to the exaggerated level of Tom Sawyer’s and
Huckleberry Finn’s fantasies, while subtly criticizing the social order’s
disorder. He describes a fellow classmate’s reading, “…accompanying himself
with the painfully exact and spasmodic gestures which a machine might have used
– supposing the machine to be a trifle out of order” (Twain 195). By comparing
the boy to an out-of-order machine, Twain satirically describes the
presentations the students were forced to make in the school, perhaps emulating
what society is trying to turn their children into. He describes the institute
itself, “…the schoolhouse was brilliantly lighted, and adorned with wreaths and
festoons of foliage and flowers” (Twain 194). Not only does the alliteration
extenuate the decoration and amplify the splendor, it also incorporates their
American schoolboy, Mississippi River dialect through the word “lighted.”
Grammatically, the sentence should read “the schoolhouse was brilliantly lit,”
but the boys slang alters this sentence into their own vernacular and makes the
sentence their own, instead of just the author’s third person perspective. Ironically,
society has spent all this time and effort decorating the school to celebrate
the education of their children, but the sentence itself shows how effective
their “throned” schoolmaster is (Twain 194).
Twain may appear to just address the entertaining,
vivacious lives of the two boys, but he satirically takes on the subject of
society’s hypocritical behavior throughout the pieces. Even if though it’s
through the lens of an adventurous boy’s world, Twain is able to convey the
injustice and insincerity of their culture, criticizing their reaction to the
guilty, their “orderly” disorder, and their perception of right and wrong.
Megan Drake: http://sivilizedwritingapenglish2014.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteEven though the prose passage for this reflection may be missing, I can still through what you were trying to say about Mark Twain’s writing style and how it creates meaning. Throughout your presentation though, you only brushed on the topic of how Twain uses hyperboles, alliteration and metaphors to create meaning, which you don’t really talk a whole lot about in this prose analysis. Throughout your presentation, you mentioned that Twain uses both Horatian and Juvenalian satire to criticize the social problems that occurred during Twain’s time period. I do think however you could have included how other literary devices, such as hyperboles and tie it in to how Twain criticized the social norms at the time.
Throughout your presentation, you also mentioned that Twain used an abundance of biblical allusions and symbols throughout his works such as water being a symbol for cleansing or washing away the evils that we as humans commit. Throughout your essay, you could have also mentioned or went into more detail on how the meanings that Twain’s literary devices created, as you did in your presentation. Overall, your analysis of Twain’s writing style and how he uses his literary devices in the book was done very tremendously, and it adds to the analysis that was in your presentation.
Found on: Mark Twain - Close Reading Essay #1
Overall, it is a very well thought out essay. The themes of your novels are very similar to mine. In Twain’s novels we see a use of satire to poke fun at society, but like how Irving satirically attacks the wrongs in modern society. I only wish that your essay also had the prose passage with it! Other than that, you do a fairly good job at analyzing the literary devices Twain uses. Your thesis could a have been a more specific though. Instead of just saying, "Mark Twain uses exaggerated diction and highlighted literary devices..." (Drake 1), you could have mentioned the specific devices to create a less vague thesis statement. You mention juxtaposition, but don't really go into the concept. Further exploration of this topic could give your essay a higher score. In your presentation you discussed the idea's of Horatian and Juvenalian satire. If you added these concepts into this prose passage, it would really add to the analysis of the text. In your thesis statement you discuss the hypocritical behavior of society, yet in your presentation you didn't really discuss this concept. I think this is an interesting theory, and you could have further explained this in your presentation.
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