“Advice to Youth” is an essay written by Mark Twain in 1882.
As evidenced by the title, the main aim of the essay was to enlighten the young
people in America and advice them on good conduct. This was Mark Twain’s 70th
birthday. His two books “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn”
were the most popular readings for the youth at the time (Canfield, 2011). In
order to determine the primary audience, it is imperative to take a look at
some of the words that Twain uses in his speech. He heralds the speech by the
statement “I will say to you my young
friends” signifying that he was talking to a group of young people
(Clemens, 1882). He also addresses the people in second person, which shows
that he was addressing them in person. He tells the audience that “most parents think they know better than
you do,” which shows that the young people in the audience were not
accompanied by their parents.
Mark Twain uses several styles to address the youth in his
speech. He uses humor that the young people can identify with. He explains his
situation in his first birthday as compared to his old age. “I hadn’t any hair, I hadn’t any teeth, I
hadn’t any clothes, I had to go to my first banquet just like that”
(Clemens 1882). He uses simple language and grammar and styles that young
people at low education level can understand. He uses irony, exaggeration and
understatements. Mark Twain addresses six main issues that affect young people.
He tells them to obey their parents selectively, respect their superiors, go to
bed and rise early, advice on lying, handling firearms and reading widely and
good books (Canfield, 2011). This gives proof to the thesis statement that Mark
Twain wrote the speech for the American youth, probably between the ages of 10
and 18.
Clemens, Samuel. Advice to Youth. Text of a lecture given
by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) in 1882. Print
Canfield, John.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Personal Stories and Advice to Today’s Youth. McGraw
Hill, 2011. Print.
Ahmed, You have some good work here, but I feel there is more you can amuse about the audience aside from they were American youth based on this text. Do pay attention to your citations, these are in APA, not MLA. Remember that for this class all citations need to be MLA.
ReplyDeleteAhmad I really liked the way you analyzed Twains essay and who his audience is. We both had the same idea with his audience being the youth of America. His title was the first main key that showed his audience was the youth. The second point that I noticed and that you pointed out that you noticed was his simply grammar to make it easy to understand for the youth that he is trying to reach out to. The third way you analyzed that he was trying to reach out to the youth was with humor. I did not notice that until you pointed it out. Good job I really enjoyed reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteYou marked the point of what Twain was trying to convey to his audience, which you also covered as well. You did well with the quotes and your additional sources having used them to prove your points. The only thing that stood out to me, is that you seem to be noting down everything as a detail in each sentence. What I advise is to make lead ins to your sentences, so that they don't seem repetitive.
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