• Home Page
  • Mark Twain's Irony: The Lowest Animal

Mark Twain's Irony: The Lowest Animal

Decent Essays
Show More
Mireya Barrera
Ms. Ambrose
AP Language/P.1
January 21, 2016 In Mark Twain’s ironic “The Lowest Animal” essay, the author employs satire and juxtaposition to compare the human beings to animals. Phrases such as “man is the cruel animal”(Twain), Twain uses juxtaposition to refer to human beings as cruel and immoral. The author is fallacious due to listing humans poor qualities, and not those who make humans righteous. Furthermore, Twain believes that people kill their own and animals do not abuse of their prey which comes across as inaccurate because animals abuse of their prey before devouring. Additionally, “the cat plays with the frightened mouse; but she has this excuse, that she does not know that the mouse is suffering”(Twain), Twain

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Irony In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Irony In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    Through Lennie’s physical power he is often incapable of controlling himself resulting in disasters for instance the unintentional killing of animals such as the mouse. Slim’s puppy is a symbol, which embodies the triumph of the strong over the weak. Lennie kills the puppy accidentally by ‘petting it too hard’ equally in the way that he ‘petted the mouse too hard’; however he fails to acknowledge his own strength. Even though no one is stronger than Lennie, he can be portrayed as a harmless animal as he is unconscious of the vicious powers that surround him. The author has used irony to show that no matter what mental state you are, you can still own a certain degree of an alternative form of power.…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    The Use Of Humor In Mark Twain's Stories
    • 152 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The Use Of Humor In Mark Twain's Stories

    Both stories are regionalist fiction because they both use dialect in the character’s dialogue. What makes the stories different is how they express their writing style. In Mark Twain's story he uses humor in different ways. One example of it is yarn and the other is hyperbole. Hamlin Garland's story uses local colors.…

    • 152 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    Mark Twain's Advice Analysis
    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Mark Twain's Advice Analysis

    I agree with Mark Twain’s advice. Mark Twain’s advice is “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the harbor.” This quote can be abridged to “have no regrets.”…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    Stephen Crane's Use Of Irony In Literature
    • 126 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Stephen Crane's Use Of Irony In Literature

    This passage, from the beginning of section VI, serves as a preface to the correspondent’s epiphany that the sea is a formless, voiceless phenomenon that lacks the consciousness he requires to validate his own existence. Until this point, the correspondent has thought of the sea, nature, and the universe as part of a higher power that intelligently governs the cosmos, a higher power against which he can define himself and through which find meaning in his own life. Instead, the correspondent finds out that he is nothing to the universe or God, who remains as distant and cryptic as “a high cold star.” In the absence of this power, the correspondent loses his identity. Crane creates a sense of irony by having the narrator personify…

    • 126 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    How Does Mark Twain Use Irony In The War Prayer
    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How Does Mark Twain Use Irony In The War Prayer

    During war times, citizens of any nation partaking in the war begin to develop vigorous pride and faith in their country; though, author and humorist, Mark Twain, was not one of these citizens. Mark Twain wrote numerous pieces of satire that represent his idea of wartime emotions. An example of one of these satirical pieces is Twain’s The War Prayer. In Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer,” he uses various satirical devices, such as hyperbole and irony, in order to convey his opinion on the connection between religion and war.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis: Comparing Humans To Lower Animals
    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis: Comparing Humans To Lower Animals

    “This is a beautiful example of the reality that conscious, awake and aware humans have always been here.” (Gardner) Mark Twain has placed everything very straight forward and clear way about what humans do to other humans. I think the major idea in this piece was telling people how these so-called lower animals can leave together when they are totally different species, but humans being the same species can not leave together or to help each other out just for the sake of doing it. Mark Twain uses a lot of rhetorical situations to compare humans to lower animals.…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Anti Intellectualism And Anti-Intellectualism By Mark Twain
    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Anti Intellectualism And Anti-Intellectualism By Mark Twain

    Anti-intellectualism was first proposed in an American historian Hofstadter Richard's book "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life". As Anti-intellectualism has different forms in different countries, he did not give a precise definition for "anti-intellectualism". However, he mentioned a rough definition for it: Anti-intellectualism is hostility to and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectualism commonly expressed as deprecation of education and philosophy, and the dismissal of art, literature, and science as impractical and even contemptible human pursuits. Anti-intellectuals present themselves and are perceived as champions of common folk-populists against political and academic elitism-and tend to see educated people as a status…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Mark Twain's The Lowest Animal
    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mark Twain's The Lowest Animal

    In Mark Twain’s “The Lowest Animal” he successfully compares how humans descended and degenerated to be the lowest animal on the planet. His assumption is that the Higher Animal is not humans, but animals as a superior species. First, Twain compares a buffalo hunt were people killed much more than was needed just for sport, to an anaconda cage where the reptile killed for food. His assumption was that humans kill for cruelty whereas the anaconda showed no signs of cruelty and left the remaining calves alone.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    To Kill A Mockingbird Irony Analysis
    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages

    To Kill A Mockingbird Irony Analysis

    “To Kill A Mockingbird” is a novel written by Harper Lee and is one the most well known american novels in the world. The story is written in perspective of a young girl named Scout who throughout the story loses her innocence as she sees the reality of the world. Scout lives in a small town called Maycomb. Maycomb is flawed in several ways and to distinguish some of these flaws Harper Lee uses irony. Some of these flaws include education, racism and social classes.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Irony: A Short Story
    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Irony: A Short Story

    his ears are ringing , sight equivalent to that one shitty slide an eye doctor gives you on the WHICH IS BETTER part of an eye exam . lucky for him , the suit had taken much of the damage , but inside he was thrown around like a rag doll . he’s in no condition to move , alec is RIGHT , but the black ranger isn’t known for making the best decisions . despite the words , he attempts to stand and nearly topples over . what stops him from meeting the ground helmet first ( again ) is the strong grip of his fellow ranger .…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Descent Of Man From The Higher Animals By Mark Twain Analysis
    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Descent Of Man From The Higher Animals By Mark Twain Analysis

    In the relatively short history of the United States, this great nation has been involved in a conflict 93 percent of its existence (Washington 's Blog). The fact that man is quick to destroy their own is a key component of Mark Twain’s argument of the, “Descent of Man from the Higher Animals” (Twain, 1) in his work titled, The Damned Human Race. Mr. Twain’s work uses sarcasm to justify his findings that humans have devolved from the higher animal to the lowest. While most would agree with his argument, if the essay is critically evaluated, “holes” in his argument are found. Mr. Twain uses emotions to lead the reader to an illogical conclusion with hasty generalizations of the human race.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Situational Irony In Frederick Douglass
    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Situational Irony In Frederick Douglass

    Douglass used descriptions of events and circumstances to illustrate the dehumanization of African Americans by slave owners. However, Douglass utilized literary devices to create art and humanize himself and, by extension, all African Americans. Douglass often wrote analogies in his work. Douglass stated that physical violence “was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery,” thereby comparing physical violence to a gateway into slavery, which was like Hell. Hell is known to be a terrible place that nobody desires to go to.…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    How Does Twain Use Satire In Victorian Literature
    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Does Twain Use Satire In Victorian Literature

    Huck’s stay at the Grangerfords represents another instance of Twain poking fun at American tastes and at the conceits of romantic literature. For Huck, who has never really had a home aside from the Widow Douglas’s rather spartan house, the Grangerford house looks like a palace. Huck’s admiration is genuine but naïve, for the Grangerfords and their place are somewhat absurd. In the figure of deceased Emmeline Grangerford, Twain pokes fun at Victorian literature’s propensity for mourning and melancholy. Indeed, Emmeline’s hilariously awful artwork and poems mock popular works of the time.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    How Does Twain Use Satire In Huck Finn
    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages

    How Does Twain Use Satire In Huck Finn

    Throughout "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", Huck an Jim encounter many different groups of people as they travel down the Mississippi River. Mark Twain uses these encounters as opportunities to point out various flaws in society and poke fun of many of the social institutions that the pair find. Twain does this through a method called satire, which uses humor to point out the flaws of a person or a group of people. One of the social groups that Twain does this to are Christians, or the entire idea of how people practice religion in general. Also, Twain pokes fun at royalty, or people in royalty such as kings and dukes.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Figurative Language In Mark Twain's Two Views Of The Mississippi
    • 2111 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Figurative Language In Mark Twain's Two Views Of The Mississippi

    Mark Twain 's writing "Two Views of the Mississippi" is the epitome of an author loading his words in such a way that the reader can form vivid images of both what Twain actually saw and experienced, but also what the reader wants to see for themselves. The great thing about this piece is that every single one of us readers will see something completely different, every word will strike a different bell in our minds. Twain achieves this effect by using copious amounts of figurative language throughout the piece. This forces us to use our senses to pick up on both the direct meaning of the language and the deeper meaning expressed by Twain through this figurative language. Without the use of this rhetorical device we simply would not understand…

    • 2111 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings