I always loved reading Mark Twin stories when I was younger, it holds a lot of memories for me. My aunts, who were my grandpa's sisters would always have his books in their house among others, but I was drawn to his because I loved the characters of Tom Sawyer and especially Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain writes with common sense, he pokes fun at the way people behave when he doesn't agree with their beliefs, but he always makes sense. Even as a young kid I could read his stories, they were entertaining back then, but reading them as an adult now I get much more meaning out of them. You truly see how Mark felt about slavery, and about how people thought they were better than others just because of their social class. I remember watching the movies that brought these characters to life for me, it was a much simpler place and time.
Kellie, I love Mark Twain as a writer for similar reasons. He has a great talent in making you connect with his characters; he makes them very personable. The ironic and satirical manner in which he writes makes you wonder what it would have been like to carry on a conversation with him. I feel like he would have me so confused and flustered because I would never know what what sarcasm and what wasn't! Sometimes I wonder if it actually was a simpler time and place to live. I'm sure they had so many struggles and issues themselves that we don't even realize and they probably looked back at times past and thought the same thing. Or maybe they thought people in the future would have it easy. Every time period seems to have its troubles but it does make you wonder exactly what it would have been like to live during that time.
ReplyDeleteWhile I enjoy the novels, I am a big fan of his short stories. Jumping Frog, Luck, The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg---all favorites. I do like The Prince and the Pauper and Pudd'Nhead Wilson - novels- also.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever visited Hannibal, MO? If you are ever close, it is worth a side trip to see his boyhood home, the white0washed fence, and the cave Tom and Huck supposedly explored. Plus watching the boats on the Mississippi River is enough to put you into the time frame from which he wrote.