Twain Essays

Ernst Fischer, a renowned Austrian artist of the 19th century once said that, “In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it for …

Author Mark Twain described the latter half of the nineteenth century as the “Gilded Age,” meaning golden, because of the economic opportunities that America had to offer during these times. However, there were some people who sought success selfishly before attempting to revolutionize the economy. The men who took advantage …

“Tom told me what his plan was, and I see in a minute it was worth fifteen of mine for style, and would make Jim just as free a man as mine would, and maybe get us all killed besides. So I was satisfied, and said we would waltz in …

Why does Macbeth make the wrong decision and Huck the right one? This essay is going to be written from the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and the Play Macbeth by Shakespeare. Natural men are capable of seeing things in the gray area and processes commonsense like Huck, …

The essay, “The Lowest Animal” by Mark Twain fairly sarcastic although it still makes the reader really think about what he’s saying. Throughout the essay, Twain makes several well thought out ideas about mankind. However those ideas are not all ones that everyone would be proud of or agree with. …

Henry David Thoreau was without a doubt one of the most influential authors of American literature. He was a non-fiction writer that wrote many pieces (most of which were essays.) His literature almost always pertained to his own life experiences. In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau explains the reasons behind his disapproval …

1. Mark Twain said of Huck Finn : “it is a novel where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat. The conscience – that unerring monitor—can be trained to any wild thing you want it to approve.” In light of these comments, trace …

The use of irony in “Advice to Youth” by Mark Twain “(born Nov. 30, 1835, Florida, Mo., U.S.—died April 21, 1910, Redding, Conn.) American humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who acquired international fame for his travel narratives, especially The Innocents Abroad (1869), Roughing It (1872), and Life on the Mississippi (1883), …

Regionalism is the tendency to focus on a specific geographical region or locality, re-creating its unique setting. Mark Twain displays regionalism in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through characters, topography, and dialect. Regionalism is displayed through the characters Huckleberry and Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A main character …

To teach or not to teach? This is the question that is presently on many administrators’ minds about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. For those who read the book without grasping the important concepts that Mark Twain gets across “in between the lines”, many problems arise. A …