Dear students,
Here is the detailed analysis of the story
“A True Story, Repeated Word For Word As I Heard It” ~ Mark Twain
😊 About Author:
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910) known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) the latter often called "The Great American Novel". He is also known for his vernacular writing.
☺ Storyline:
☻Why Choose This Story?
"A True Story" connects the history that children learn in school to interesting story about slavery. This story has a strong illustration of a mother's love for her children. "A True Story" allows people to understand how strong some people can be and what makes them have this wall over their emotions. This story shows the hard times in are country's history and what the people of those days had to deal with.
“A True Story” by Mark Twain is a short story that was posted in the Atlantic newspaper in 1874, after the Civil War. After the Civil War many African-Americans became servants instead of slaves. They still did not necessarily have rights as humans but they were no longer just considered “property”. African-Americans did not fully gain Civil Rights until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed segregation and began the long and continuing process of unifying African Americans with the rest of America.
The story starts off with the narrator, Mister-C. He is describing the setting and describing his servant, Aunt Rachel. He describes Aunt Rachel as a “cheerful, hearty soul”. He then proceeded to ask her about how she hasn’t had any “trouble”. Aunt Rachel responds with a story about her lost son. She had several young children who were sold right in front of her. She went on with her life, because she had no choice in the matter. Years later right after the Civil War, she is a cook for a group of Union soldiers. When a platoon of black Union soldiers come in she recognizes one of the faces. It is one of her children she saw get sold at auction. She is reunited with her son Henry, the only child she has seen since they were all sold. The story ends with her saying “Oh, no, Misto C-, I hain’t had no trouble. An’ no joy!” My question is why would Mark Twain end the story with the line “Oh, no, Misto C-, I hain’t had no trouble. An’ no joy!”? Is there a deeper meaning behind that line then what it sounds like?
It would have to say in a opinion there is a lot going on in this wrong line. It is a double irony to Mister C’s question saying she doesn’t have any trouble but she isn’t happy either. Going deeper into the text Mister C obviously doesn’t know Aunt Rachel at all. It feels like he thinks he does but he doesn’t know her on a personal level. In the beginning narration before Aunt Rachel tells her story Mister C is describing her in detail. He first tells about the setting in which he says that Aunt Rachel is “sitting respectfully below our level”. One can believe Mark Twain did this to juxtapose between class, race, and gender to set a tone of how the two characters interact with one another. They are not friends because of the skin tone but she isn’t just a piece of property to Mister C. Going into further detail Mister C describes Aunt Rachel as “undimmed”, full of laughter, and just enjoying life. We think Mister C actually just doesn’t know Aunt Rachel like he thinks he does. He thinks she is this joyful spirit full of life but in reality she has had a hard life. She covers her sorrows with a smile to forget her past. Mister C has no idea what she has encountered in life and never will. That is why the dynamics between the two characters is so interesting.
☺Real-Life Connection:
The book “A True Story” connects to real life. This book is about slavery auctions and families being separated from each other. This is obviously a connection back then with slavery because this happened all the time. What about today? There is still slavery in many countries like Sudan and India. Now what about America? We do lose children. Many poor people lose their child/children to foster care and don’t see them again until they’re older (if they’re lucky). This is what slaves had to go through; they would lose their loved ones.
☺Literary Devices:
Some literary devices Mark Twain uses in this story are tone and flashback. Twain used tone by giving Aunt Rachel an upbeat attitude and personality. She always remained happy no matter what the situation was. Tone can help the reader understand the story more. Mark Twain also used flashback by Aunt Rachel telling the story about her family being auctioned off. Rachel had a flashback of every event that happened during the story.
To conclude,
One can believe this was a very powerful piece in the sense of what Mark twain was showing. He showed the contrasting sides between two very different characters. A servant and former slave and a white slave owner. Mister C could never understand Aunt Rachel or her struggle through life. Watching all of her children get sold, only ever seeing one of them ever again, and now struggling with being a free slave but still not being human to most people. Mister C is one of the more understand white men but he still doesn’t get it.
Enjoy learning.
Thank you.
