Mark Twain : Revised version of the "Adam& Eve's diary"

Mark Twain was one of the more issue-oriented writers of his time. Twain’s stories often deal with special issues that were prominent during his lifetime. With Tom Sawyer, he dealt with the lives of children, especially those of orphans and the poor, soon after the civil war. With Huckleberry Finn, he dealt with the lives of slaves on the run, something that was frequent in his time. These examples show Mark Twain’s affiliations as a realist. But, with the diaries of Adam& Eve, he tries some new attempts.

The two diaries are set in a time and place that no human being at the time –including Twain- could have experienced. Compared to the two adventure stories mentioned above –which are set in environments Twain actually lived in- this is a notable difference. Why might have Twain done this? Was he tired of always depicting realistic settings? Was he turning into a Romantist? To the present day, scholars agree that the answers to the above queries are no. Then, why was Twain seeking out a new style in which he was not limited in writing in the realist’s POV? I suspect Twain tried to do so by experimenting with simply making the characters and the relationship between the characters more realistic. Adam& Eve seem real to the audience despite the unfamiliar environment where they’re in because the two are described as realistic as Twain could.


-Comment-
Hyunseok Lee: Great connection between stories and realism. Good effort trying to analyze the writer in deeper way. However, I’m confused whether you’re supporting or criticizing on the point that Mark Twain had a new attempt on , . It would be better to make your claim clear through topic sentence. Plus, even though you asserted your opinion on the very last point of your essay, it was too short and not explained enough. (I understand the time problem) If you added some examples that Mark Twain tried to describe Adam& Eve realistically, it would be much better essay.