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1、 Mark Twain:from humor to satireAbstract:Mark Twain, a mastermind of humor and realism, is seen as a giant in world literature. His humor had great impact on the following men of letters; critics also attached significant importance to it and put forward various interpretations. However,humor could
2、no more be found in Twains later works. On the contrary, it was replaced by bitter satire. Why did Twain change his writing style as well his attitude towards life?What was the cause of this sharp conversion? Focusing on these questions, the paper tries to analyze the basic elements which affected T
3、wain from social influence and personal encounters respectively, aiming at offering rational analysis of this shift as well as making Twains works readily understood.I IntroductionMark Twain, the pseudonym of SamuelLanghorne Clemens, is the foreruner andReputed realist in the arena of American liter
4、ature. Because of his remarkable contribution to thenation, literary critics spoke highly of his achievements.For instance, these venerable titles”the Lincoln of American literarure”,”the true father of our nationalliterature ,”Mark Twain mirror of America” areused to highlight his pinnacles in lite
5、rature. His faithfuldisciple, Ernest Heming way, more over, onve put it,“all modern literature comes from one book by MarkTwain ,called Huck lebury Finn.”As far as a literatry giant is concerned, Twain wasremembered by men of letters firstly as a mastermind of hunmor and then as bitter satiric write
6、r. In other words, Twain in his writing career experienced a change from being cheerful and optimistic to despairing and pessimistic But what cause his shift from humor to satir? Personally, both social influence and personal encounters play critical roles in changing his writing from humor to satir
7、e and his attitude toward life as well Social influences Both the American Civil war( happened in 1861 and lasted till1865) and the re-construction after the war greatly affected Twains writing style. Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri, on30 November In 1835,into a lawyer family.With the adven
8、t of the civil war, young Twain in 1856 became a steam- boat pilot, a profession about which he wrote thirty years later in the book Life on the Mississippi. Generally speeking, the American people enjoy regarding war experience as their cherished and valuable forture, and Twain was also no exceptio
9、n. As a pilot he actively participated in the civil war in 1857.The cast of characters set before hin in his profession was rich and varieda cosmos. He took abundantly part in this life, listening to pilothouse talk of feuds, piracies, lynchings,medicine shows, and savage waterside slums, namely, he
10、 made himself very much familiar with all walks of life and each coner of the society.Twain, at the very begainning,was actually optimistic about what he saw and what he did .However,he had to leave the river country in the wake of the end of the civil war after four and a half years in the steamboa
11、t.In other words, the end of civil war put an end to his life as a pilot. Then he tried soldiering once again for two weeks with motley band of confederate guerrillas who diligently avoided contact with the enemy.Twain quit after deciding,”I knew more about retreating than the man that invented retr
12、eating”.After that, he made his mind to estabilish his fame by writing. It was proved that his pen was really mightier than his pickax . In 1861 he became a joumalist and adopted “Mark Twain” as his pen name. Four years later,The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras Coutrywas published “Coleman with
13、 his jumping frog-betstranger$50stranger had no frog, and C got himonein the meantime, stranger filled Cs frog fullof shot and he couldnt jump.The strangers frogwon.”This sucessful story firmly established hisreputation as a humorist and storyteller.In fact, the civil war was a turning-point inTwain
14、s literary career, and it was also a watershedbetween his hunmor and satire.Thus, the war experienceFor him was an epoch-making event and it hadfar-reaching influence upon his writing .We know,Twain fully and diligently embraced into the steamboatpilot on the eve of the civil war . Presumably his orginalpursu
