Grant+Wigfield

The theme of this essay is how Mark Twain's use of local color improved his writing.


 * 1) Huckleberry as a character uses bad grammar and colloquialisms
 * 2) Huckleberry as a narrator has improved his grammar and uses less colloquialisms
 * 3) This shows that Huck has learned more
 * 4) This also suggests that educated people tend to have better grammar
 * 5) Jim is a slave
 * 6) Because of this, Jim is uneducated
 * 7) Jim doesn't have very good grammar and lots of colloquialisms when he talks
 * 8) This shows Jim's lack of education
 * 9) Huck often refers to Jim as a negative racial phrase that I'm not sure that I should mention here
 * 10) Other characters do this as well
 * 11) This novel takes place in the South before the Civil War
 * 12) Slavery was common there back then
 * 13) Many people there in that time were racist
 * 14) The use of this phrase is representative of the place, time, and backgrounds of the characters
 * 15) When confronted with adults, the children of both __Tom Sawyer__ and __Huckleberry Finn__ refer to them as "sir" or "ma'am"
 * 16) Children then were more quiet and obedient to their elders then then they are now
 * 17) This is also representative of the time
 * 18) It is also represntative of the character's background
 * 19) Many character speak in __t__he aforementioned novel speak with colloquialisms
 * 20) They also use improper grammar from time to time
 * 21) This is more commonly used by the children than the adults
 * 22) This shows that the children aren't as well educated as the adults
 * 23) Some people see some of these colloquialisms as part of a stereotypical Southern accent
 * 24) Since this novel takes place in the South, this is somewhat representative of the character's backgrounds and the setting
 * 25) In both novels, Huckleberry Finn seems to uses more improper grammar than Tom Sawyer
 * 26) Tom Sawyer, while still pretty bad, is better in school and even attends more
 * 27) This shows that Tom Sawyer is more educated than Huckleberry Finn
 * 28) In __The Prince and the Pauper,__ the setting is Victorian England
 * 29) There, they use a different kind of English then the kind that they use today
 * 30) This is representative of the time
 * 31) In __The Prince and the Pauper,__ there are many different social classes
 * 32) The prince is at the top, while the pauper is at the bottom
 * 33) The pauper speaks more modern English than the prince
 * 34) In fact, most lower class speak more modern English than upper classes
 * 35) Bottom class people in this novel are very uneducated
 * 36) Top class people in this novel have a very high education
 * 37) Because of the way that they talk, it is suggested that the upper classmen are better educated than those below them
 * 38) This is also representative of the time
 * 39) In Mark Twain's short stories, most character talk just like the narrator
 * 40) The narrator always is in the modern time
 * 41) This suggests that the story takes place recently
 * 42) The characters also speak with better grammar than those in __Tom Sawyer__ or __Huckleberry Finn.__
 * 43) Better grammar usuage is commonly used by those with a good understanding of grammar
 * 44) Most people have a better understanding of grammar when they go to school
 * 45) Because of this, it is suggested that these people have a better education than people in the time of the two aforementioned novels
 * 46) In __The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn__, Huck meets the King and the Duke
 * 47) These people claim to be royalty, though Huck doesn't believe them
 * 48) These characters tend to talk in a more sophisticated manner than Huck or Jim
 * 49) However, they don't talk too sophisticated
 * 50) As said earlier, upper class people tend to be better educated
 * 51) This also suggests that educated people talk differently than uneducated people
 * 52) However, since they are not really royalty, they do not have the kind of education they have
 * 53) Because of this, Mark Twain made them not speak as if they are royalty
 * 54) Mark Twain wrote another novel called __A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court__
 * 55) Most of this novel takes place in 513
 * 56) Because of this many characters do not talk in modern English
 * 57) However, the narrator does
 * 58) The characters who speak in old English are representative of their time
 * 59) The narrator, too, represents his time
 * 60) Mark Twain wrote another piece of work called __1601__
 * 61) It obviously takes place in 1601
 * 62) Here, many characters talk in old English
 * 63) This is representative of the time
 * 64) Most of the characters are also of upper cls
 * 65) This also suggests that upper class people speak differently
 * 66) It may also suggest that they are better educated
 * 67) The narrator also talks in a similar English
 * 68) The author is also a character in the book
 * 69) This means that the narrator tells the story not long after the events
 * 70) Yet another book was __Old Times on the Mississippi__
 * 71) A couple of characters speak with a little bad grammar and a few colliquialisms
 * 72) However, the narrator does not
 * 73) It seems that these words are used to make a Southern accent within the dialogue
 * 74) The characters also seem more educated than those in __Tom Sawyer__ and __Huckleberry Finn__
 * 75) And yet another book was __The Innocents Abroad__
 * 76) This book is about the Pilgrims, so it takes place in the late 1600s
 * 77) Because of this, they speak in a mix of old and new English
 * 78) This is representative of the time
 * 79) It is also representative of where the Pilgrims came from
 * 80) It might also represent their amount of education

Hurt, Matthew. "Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." //The Explicator// 64.1 (2005): 41+. //Student Edition//. Web. 3 Dec. 2010.

Twain, Mark. __The Adventures of Tom Sawyer__. New York, New York: Scholastic Inc., 1999.

Twain, Mark. __The Prince and the Pauper__.

__What was the Tudor Dynasty?__. WiseGeek. 6 Dec. 2010 [].

Twain, Mark. __Short Stories__.

Twain, Mark. __A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court__. Google Books. 7 Dec. 2010 [].

Twain, Mark. __1601 by Mark Twain- Full Text Free Book__. 7 Dec. 2010 [].

Twain, Mark. __Twain, Mark, 1835-1910. "Old Times on the Mississippi"__. The University of North Carolina. 7 Dec. 2010 [].

Twain, Mark. __The innocents abroad: or, The new... - Google Books__. Google Books. 7 Dec. 2010 [].