Mark twain 2

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorHigh School, 11th grade February 2008

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Samuel Clemens better known as Mark Twain speaks best about the American experience through is unique literary voice, and through his classic writing techniques. His humorous writing tone, accomplished by over exaggeration, brought him to be one of the finest American fiction writers of his time. Regional dialect and slang were just a few of his techniques used in capturing the local color of the United States, and they helped win his way into the hearts of thousands.

Twain, from a river town called Hannibal, was no stranger to the ways of the country and river. Quite often his stories were based on his own experiences in this setting. The use of a regional dialect like in "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", was more pleasing for the public to read and was also more towards their standards of reading. His knowledge and use of local dialect, and his life experiences in the heart of America helped make his literature be "American" and helped create the American experience.

Twains humor in his stories was used partly because it was his way of writing but also because during those times America was going through great tribulation and was in need of relief from the Civil war. Through humor he eased the pains of America and also made himself a popular literary figure of the time. In the story "Life on the Mississippi" he writes of the life in a small town on the Mississippi where steamboats passed and little boys dreamed. Written about a small average American town, yet there is so much truth revealed within it and how it is the American experience. He traveled through out America experiencing much of the country, the life and the people, and writing things down as he went along. He...