Browse by
SystemArcade Dreamcast GameBoy Advance GameBoy Color GameCube Nintendo 64 PC PlayStation PlayStation2 SNES Xbox -More Systems- |
| GameFAQs Message Boards: Action - Atari 2600 |
| Chuck Norris
Superkicks |
| Message
Board Game Info | Reviews |
| Mark Twain |
| Scum (32): Board List | Topic List | Post New Message | Log Out | FAQ |
| From: Qax | Posted: 11/21/2001 1:02:35 AM | Message Detail |
| Mark Twain was a pilot, a comic lecturer, a
humorist, a short story writer, and a novelist, to name a few of his
many accomplishments. On November 30, 1835, Samuel Langhorne
Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain, became the first man of any
importance ever to be born west of the Mississippi River. He has
become an icon as the American writer. This is because his way of
writing cannot be simulated by Europeans or anyone else, it is all
because the western part of America is very much different from the
others. Mark Twain is a classic American writer that acquired fame by using spoof, writing with single-minded use of words, and by writing the way that most people think and speak. Twain writes with single-minded use of words, which is understood to be plain and simple, yet still intelligent, which enhances American literature. He writes what comes into his mind without fear. This is an example from Huckleberry Finn: ... "then comes a h-wack! bum! bum! bumble-umble-um-bum-bum-bum-bum - and the thunder would go rumbling and grumbling away" ... This enriches American literature, because it is a clever way, and the only way to make the reader actually seem to hear and feel the sounds the writer is trying to pass on. This is an example from Tom Sawyer : "Set her back on the stabboard! Ting-a-ling-ling! chow! ch-chow-wow! chow!". This talk can be explained as a familiar speech spoken around us all the time. It is the speech of the illiterate, the preliterate, the children, and the poor people. This is actually a very intelligent style of writing, for it is difficult for an author to write in a different level of dialect than they actually speak. The reader can tell that this dialect isn’t Twain’s own, since he doesn’t write with it in every part of the book. Huckleberry Finn is supposed to be written from Huck’s point of view. The story is written as he would speak it, so mistakes inevitably appear. However, this single- minded dialect was worked, composed, and written by Twain. It was not done messily. American literature would not be the same if not for Twain’s ideas for ways of writing in a way that spectacularly conveys the feelings of touch, sound, and sight by the use of single-minded words. --- I dont have a signature today, maybe tomorrow |
| From: Qax | Posted: 11/21/2001 1:04:25 AM | Message Detail |
| Another way that Mark Twain enriches the
heritage of American literature is by his style of writing in the
lingo, which means to write the way that people think and speak. The
vernacular portrays the word in the purest sense of its original
meaning. The vernacular symbolizes American writing because nobody
else on earth would talk in that way besides the early American
settlers. An example from Huckleberry Finn is : " I reck’n I could
eat a hoss. I think I could. How long you b’en on de islan’ ?". This
style is done by writing without worrying about spelling or context,
and rather just writing the way that the speech sounds. This style
of writing is uniquely American, because the famous European authors
did not write that way since the people of Europe didn’t speak that
way. Another example from this book is: " Say, who is you? Whar is
you? Dog my cats ef I didn’t hear sumf’n." . Europeans had never
spoken like this or heard of it before Mark Twain. The vernacular
enhances American writing solely because it is uniquely early
American. It also gives a face to American writing, distinguishing
it from writing in other parts of the world. The vernacular also
shows the rural, uneducated portion of America. These are two
examples from Tom Sawyer : " Can’t, Mars Tom. Ole missis, she tole
me I got to go an’ git dis water an’ not stop foolin’ roun’ wid
anybody. She say she spec’ Mars Tom gwine to ax me to whitewash, an’
so she tole me to go ‘long an’ ‘tend to my own business - she ‘lowed
she’d tend to de whitewashin’". Another example is: " Look at him,
Jim! He’s a-going up there. Say-look! He’s a-going to shake hands
with him...". This shows how they are uneducated, because of the
sloppy sentence structure, and it hints at the fact of them being
rural by mentioning whitewashing the fence. This enriches American literature by showing a point of view from the poor, which is welcome to those who are tired of hearing about the glamour of rich people. Mark Twain’s legacy as a humorist is to use satire, which greatly enhances American literature. Satire is a term for a work that uses ridicule to attack ideas, institutions, people, or other objects taken from real life. The main purpose for using satire is to arouse disdain for its targets. It puts down human weaknesses, using humor as its weapon. Twain doesn’t try to mislead the readers intentionally, for he believes that all humans already misunderstand themselves. One example of satire is in the Grangerford episode of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Here, Twain attempts to make fun of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet by mocking the story line. Both stories include two otherwise intelligent families who destroy each other because of a feud so old, they don’t even know why they’re fighting. The story lines are so similar, everybody knows that he’s mocking Romeo and Juliet, but the subtle twists make it humorous. Another example of satire is in Twain’s first novel, The Gilded Age. This book is filled with a lot of sharp satire that "satirizes almost every aspect of 19th century political and social mores.". The whole idea of this book was focused on satire. Using satire, single-minded words, and writing in the vernacular has all helped Mark Twain to become the classic American icon that he is today. He left behind a legacy of unmatched cleverness to think of sharp, efficient satire in many of his writings. Twain’s use of single-minded words captures the reader’s attention, making them feel almost as if they are in the book themselves. His masterful use of the vernacular portrays the speech of early rural America. Twain’s use of the vernacular let’s the reader read more smoothly since they do not have to pay attention to the structural significance of the word. Since Mark Twain was the first truly great western author to define American writing, he has opened the way for many future authors to come. --- I dont have a signature today, maybe tomorrow |
| From: Qax | Posted: 11/21/2001 1:06:49 AM | Message Detail |
| Due to his regionalistic tendencies, it is
necessary to describe Mark Twain's background. Samuel Langhorne
Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri in 1835. At the age of four,
he moved to a town called Hannibal, a Mississippi river port that
was to become a large influence on his future writing. In perhaps his greatest novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the sections dealing with Huck and his father are most probably connected to this time in Clemens' life. He and his father Marshall were never very close, and never exchanged more than a handshake before going to bed. Twain later remembers how his father left his brother Orion behind when the family moved from Florida to Hannibal. Twain could imagine the "grisly deep silence" that must have fallen upon his brother. His induction into the writing business came in 1851 when he started helping out working for his brother's Hannibal Journal. Granted this job did not entail much freelance writing, but it may have helped set the roots for his career. He worked at multiple other jobs in other states doing the same types of things, until he became a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. This job was interrupted by the Civil War, where he served briefly in the Confederate Cavalry. In 1862, he moved to Nevada where he became a reporter on the Territorial Enterprise. One year later, Samuel Clemens adopted the pseudonym "Mark Twain," a phrase he'd picked up on the Mississippi riverboat meaning "two fathoms deep”. In Nevada, Twain noted how common murders were in Virginia City, and how they were worth hardly more than one or two lines in the newspaper, it was in part this violence that eventually caused him to move out of Nevada. It is also this environment affected by the California Gold Rush of 1849, which affected Twain's creativity. Posted By RKA --- I dont have a signature today, maybe tomorrow |
| From: Interceptor | Posted: 11/24/2001 4:07:03 AM | Message Detail |
| *Wonders why this was posted* Oh well. Now I know more about Mark Twain. |
| From: Qax | Posted: 11/27/2001 10:31:28 AM | Message Detail |
| darn, i got a B --- I dont have a signature today, maybe tomorrow |
| From: RdDragon | Posted: 11/27/2001 10:26:23 PM | Message Detail |
| Strange... --- Any clod can have the facts; having opinions is an art. |
| From: Scum | Posted: 11/28/2001 12:52:15 PM | Message Detail |
| Probably because you didn't have a signature. |
| From: Farmer Jimbo | Posted: 12/15/2001 3:15:46 AM | Message Detail |
| Yup. --- With ignorance and confidence success is sure. ~ Mark Twain |
| From: Interceptor | Posted: 12/24/2001 7:10:27 AM | Message Detail |
| Uh huh. |
| From: Kinnison | Posted: 12/31/2001 4:13:08 PM | Message Detail |
| or perhaps because he spelled "beauty"
wrong. --- |./.|.|\.|.|\.|.|.(¯ .|¯|.|\.| |.\.|.|.\|.|.\|.|. _).|_|.|.\| |
| From: Scum | Posted: 1/4/2002 10:25:30 PM | Message Detail |
| I like my reason better... |
| From: Farmer Jimbo | Posted: 1/24/2002 9:10:56 AM | Message Detail |
| Obviously I agree with scum on this
one. --- With ignorance and confidence success is sure. ~ Mark Twain |
| From: Fiveanto5 | Posted: 1/30/2002 9:29:09 AM | Message Detail |
| Hehe... --- Go ahead, ask me about my sticker album. http://www.geocities.com/five_elite/stickeralbum/ |
| From: Qax | Posted: 2/3/2002 12:16:01 AM | Message Detail |
| *shrugs* i did not spell baeuty wrong...
hrmp! --- http://www.geocities.com/sel14344 - "I dont have a signature today, maybe tomorrow..." ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ |
| From: NinjaMaster | Posted: 2/8/2002 3:58:31 AM | Message Detail |
| I would have given you an "E" for Elephants
Never Forget. --- Anyway, when kids today want to say "That's ok, man" they say: "It's all green beans, diggity dawg!"~Turd ‡FFT UnLegend‡ |
| From: outbreakorn | Posted: 2/28/2002 1:51:40 AM | Message Detail |
| Not I --- Lock the door, kill the light, No one's coming home tonight. It's getting colder. Locked in a place where no one goes~****ing Tool |
| From: Farmer Jimbo | Posted: 3/15/2002 7:27:29 AM | Message Detail |
| Still here, interesting. --- With ignorance and confidence success is sure. ~ Mark Twain |
| From: Scum | Posted: 3/19/2002 5:00:51 PM | Message Detail |
| Interesting, still here. |
| From: Qax | Posted: 4/3/2002 11:09:09 PM | Message Detail |
| la la la lala - la la la
lala --- Never argue with people on the internet, theyll pull you down to their level and beat you with experience. The keyboard wasnt detected, press enter to continue. |
| From: Interceptor | Posted: 4/7/2002 4:47:06 AM | Message Detail |
| la la la lala - la la la lala |
| From: Farmer Jimbo | Posted: 4/14/2002 2:09:24 AM | Message Detail |
| What key is that in? --- With ignorance and confidence success is sure. ~ Mark Twain |
| From: Interceptor | Posted: 4/16/2002 12:29:46 AM | Message Detail |
| C sharp |
| From: FBI Porker | Posted: 4/17/2002 4:37:01 AM | Message Detail |
| Nah D flat. --- |¯ |¯) | . |¯)|¯| |¯) | / |_¯ |¯) |¯ |_) | . |¯ |_| |¯\ | \.|__ |¯\ |
| From: Medea | Posted: 4/22/2002 6:38:41 PM | Message Detail |
| That's the sound the planet
makes. --- "Well, remember what you said, because in a day or two, I'll have a witty and blistering retort! You'll be devastated THEN!" --Calvin |
| From: Qax | Posted: 5/5/2002 1:34:14 AM | Message Detail |
| you guys know the daria show on mtv or something
like that... that was what i was singing... la la la lala - la la la lala --- Never argue with people on the internet, theyll pull you down to their level and beat you with experience. The keyboard wasnt detected, press enter to continue. |
| From: Fiveanto5 | Posted: 5/24/2002 9:27:40 AM | Message Detail |
| Huck Finn :P --- Go ahead, ask me about my Nintendo sticker album. http://www.nintendostickeralbum.cjb.net |
| From: SecretBoardPolice | Posted: 6/3/2002 12:02:07 AM | Message Detail |
| Finn hucks. --- Secret Board Police ™ Steadily enforcing non-existent laws all over the secret boards... |
| From: secretboardhunter | Posted: 6/3/2002 9:54:47 PM | Message Detail |
| I thought it was smurfs for a second
there. --- So that's how it works...and here I was sacrificing muppets in alphabetical order for karma. Who'da thunk it? SBH |
| From: Qax | Posted: 6/21/2002 1:58:16 AM | Message Detail |
| ...wow... seven months and still
counting... --- [This signature was deleted by a GameFAQs moderator for its very offensive nature.] |
| From: Scum | Posted: 7/1/2002 3:51:32 PM | Message Detail |
| Oh sure, this topic lasts forever but my apple topic was closed and purged. Life is fair. |
| From: SecretGameSeeker | Posted: 7/7/2002 6:23:43 PM | Message Detail |
| death is more fair than life |
| From: Qax | Posted: 7/8/2002 11:18:33 AM | Message Detail |
| ... indeed... --- [This signature was deleted by a GameFAQs moderator for its very offensive nature.] |
| From: CKgamedude | Posted: 7/10/2002 9:09:12 PM | Message Detail |
| valid --- Hugs are bunnies and bunnies are nice. |
| From: Interceptor | Posted: 7/16/2002 7:42:23 PM | Message Detail |
| Not so. |
| From: FBI Porker 2 | Posted: 7/23/2002 7:55:32 AM | Message Detail |
| How not so not so? |
| From: Interceptor | Posted: 7/23/2002 5:14:12 PM | Message Detail |
| So no not so, that's how so. |
| From: Qax | Posted: 7/26/2002 4:31:11 PM | Message Detail |
| oh... so? --- [This signature was deleted by a GameFAQs moderator for its very offensive nature.] |
| From: secretboardhunter | Posted: 8/2/2002 8:51:09 PM | Message Detail |
| So whaaaaa? --- Am I tough? I'll have you know I stubbed my toe the other day while watering my spice garden and only cried for 20 minutes. SBSP |
| From: Qax | Posted: 8/3/2002 12:21:11 AM | Message Detail |
| anybody else know anything about Mr.
Twain? --- [This signature was deleted by a GameFAQs moderator for its very offensive nature.] |
| From: Qax | Posted: 8/19/2002 5:54:37 PM | Message Detail |
| aww come on... somebody's gotta know
something --- [This signature was deleted by a GameFAQs moderator for its very offensive nature.] |
| From: Qax | Posted: 9/3/2002 10:55:54 AM | Message Detail |
| hm... i think ill do another biography of
another person... might come in handy... --- [This signature was deleted by a GameFAQs moderator for its very offensive nature.] <32> |
| From: Scum | Posted: 9/13/2002 3:30:14 PM | Message Detail |
| Do a biography on apples. |
Copyright 1995-2002
GameFAQs
Feel free to link to this page, but not directly
to the FAQs.
Why not? Read
this!