Samuel Langhorne Clemmons, who wrote under the pen name Mark Twain, was the leader of the literary style of realism, and an American literary icon. Twain was born November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. Later the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri a developing port town. While growing up in Hannibal, Twain was exposed to the Mississippi river, to steamboats, and the people who made their living by working upon them. In several of his stories, he wrote regarding his admiration and respect for the river. Twain’s style of writing entwined themes of social commentary. Hallmarks of Twain’s writing include capturing colloquial speech, he uses metaphors, and similes create vivid depictions of his characters, and show their similarities and differences. …show more content…
The story line of the excerpt begins in childhood with an account of what life was like, and what future the boys he grew up with fantasized about having. Afterwards Twain gives a detailed description of the peaceful town that bustles with life when the steamboat appears, and how the town dies again within ten minutes of its departure. He says, “The town drunk-pours out a human contribution, and all in a twinkling the dead town is alive and moving. Drays, carts, men, boys all go hurrying from many quarters to a common center, the wharf” (Perkins and Perkins 1047-1074). The steamboat itself is portrayed as being an object of beauty, “Assembled there, the people fasten their eyes upon the coming boat as upon a wonder they are seeing for the first time. And the boat is rather a handsome sight, too. She is long and sharp and trim and pretty” (Perkins and Perkins 1047-1074). The images he portrays are complete and as a reader, you can construct in your mind what it must have been like to sit and watch.
He was a master at documenting vernacular dialog, and used it to show the differences in hierarchy within society. An example of this is when he writes how the negro drayman would announce the arrival of a steamboat. He would call out “S-t-e-a-m-boat a-comin’!” (Perkins and Perkins 1047-1074). The drayman doesn’t work on the steamboat, and doesn’t occupy a high social class, consequently …show more content…
The one black person in the excerpt doesn’t work on the steamboat. His job is to drive a flat-bed wagon. The wagon was pulled by a horse, and used to deliver goods. This character uses simple speech and his job and position in society wouldn’t have allowed him a lot of respect. There is little mention of females other than when he tells how the girls couldn’t resist the cub engineer. There is no example of dialogue from a female, which is probably because they were also in a high position in society. Mr. Bixby, a respected pilot of the ship, utilizes a complex language, but it is still colloquial speech. The only person that makes use of proper is English in the excerpt is the landsman. Twain is an American literary icon he weaves a story with a message regarding society and he exercises humor and satire to present the moral in an way that the commentary is present nevertheless it is weaved into his stories