Throughout Mark Twain’s chapter “ Dreams Dissipated,” Twain refers to a loaded topic, “the great earthquake” in San Francisco, where he uses connotative diction to discuss the elite’s reaction to the earthquake. By using connotative diction associated with immoral behavior, Twain mocks society’s behavior on idolizing the wealthy and holding the elite in high moral standards. Twain uses diction often associated with grotesque behavior or unflattering qualities such as, “fat”, “raid on their husbands’ purses”, “growled”, and “sprawling” to illustrate the wealthy’s animal-like behavior during San Francisco’s “great” earthquake. By utilizing the words “growled” and “sprawling” he portrays the elite as behaving like animals, he does this to show
