ENGL 224 Lecture 5: ENG Mark Twain
Document Summary
1876-1884: wrote huckleberry finn: decade after civil war. Jim crowe laws (one year after the book was written: separate but equal, military, federal work places, etc. Samuel clements/mark twain: st petersburg= his home town (hannibal, mo, traveled down the ms river as a printer, steamboat navigator until civil war very respected, parents owned two slaves. Went west to avoid being drafted by union navy: wrote satire. Angered people but that contributed to his fame. Realism: more of a documentary style to show truth, characteristics of realism (realistic fiction) Characters that are ordinary and do ordinary things. Story told in point of view of a particular character. Wanted to document old ways before they disappeared completely. Uses vernacular (everyday speech) to still show that it can be a work of art: american romanticism. Romantics were interested in medieval past, the super natural, the mystical and exotic. Imagination is more important that reason and rules.
