Mark Twain: Humor, Vision and Literary Influence

Humor, cleverness, and world changing visions that capture the imagination of readers is what Mark Twain brought to literature. Mark Twain viewed the world in a unique way that shined through in his writing. It is evident that he had a keen sense of humor and a certain outlook on life that was not conveyed the way most writers would have written a story during this time frame. His unique style sets the stage for authors to write literature in opposing views that brought about real life occurrences that people struggled with and faced during this time frame. Twain viewed life as an adventure and he wrote about those explorations in a way that was funny and light hearted that displayed a lesson to be learned. Mark Twain was not a highly educated

Whether it was one of playing by the rules or one of the charterer being dishonest it seems there is always an unwritten lesson to be learned. In the story of the notorious jumping frog Smiley encounters a stranger and he place a bet that his trained frog, Dan’l Webster can out jump any frog in Calaveras County. The strange hesitates to make a bet with Smiley however, Smiley talks the stranger into taking the bet and goes off to fetch the stranger a competing frog. While Smiley is off fetching a frog he live Dan’l Webster with the stranger and the he fills the frog’s mouth with quail shots. When Smiley returns with the frog to compete against Dan’l Webster, he loses the bet because Dan’l Webster did not budge (pg.104 American Literature). We have been through the humor, the differences between people and now it brings us to a life lesson. Twain is always learning from the world around him and I believe that he views the world for lessons he has observed during his lifetime. This portion the story is to provide a few lessons, one if you continue to bet and gamble, you are bound to lose. Two, if you do not play buy the rules you get cheated, and three, you cannot trust everyone that you come in contact with, and not everyone is