SOPHS: Mark Twain post by Tuesday 3-25
Follow this link to read "The Story of the Bad Little Boy," a Mark Twain parody of a Sunday school story.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Sunday School stories were moral tales written for the little boys and girls who learned the difference between right and wrong at their local churches in Sunday School.
These stories always ended with a good dose of poetic justice. The good boys and girls were rewarded; the not-so-good boys and girls were summarily punished, learned the error of their ways, and turned out to be model boys and girls themselves.
Mark Twain pokes fun at these stories in "The Story of the Bad Little Boy."
Assignment
Read the story and then answer these questions:
1. "The Story of the Bad Little Boy" is a parody of the stories in Sunday School books. Define a parody.
2. What details contribute to the humor of The Story of the Bad Little Boy? List at least five.
3. What storytelling "tricks" does Twain use to make the story entertaining, if not humorous? By tricks, I specifically mean his rhetoric (clever words and phrases, figures of speech, sound devices, or rhetorical structures). List at least five.
4. How does the penultimate (better look up this word) paragraph contribute to the sarcasm of the story?
5. For what serious reason did Twain write this story?
posted by JTF @ 8:54 AM
69 comments
69 Comments:
1) The story is a parody because it makes a mockery of Sunday school stories. A parody is an imitation designed to show comic flaws in something.
2)The humor comes from parody, sarcasm, direct quotes, shockingly realistic details, and mockery.
3)Twain uses paradox, plot twists, unexpected lack of morals, metaphors, parallelism to Sunday school stories.
4)The second to last paragraph contributes sarcasm because it suggest that well respected people often are crooks. It jokes that well seeming people are actually crooks were misbehaving little kids.
5)Twain wrote the story to show the unrealistic qualities of stories told to children. He suggests that these stories are not accurate portrayals of the real world.
1. A parody is an imitation of a certain work created to mock or exaggerate the original work for a satiric or ironic effect.
2. The story is a parody of Sunday School books and ironically shows how Jim is just like a bad James but is able to escape the situation with luck without receiving punishment. Twain uses this to instill a humorous tone to his story. Mark Twain uses this irony in Jim’s experiences with his mother, stealing apples, stealing a pocket knife, going boating on a Sunday, and becoming an alcoholic.
3. Mark Twain uses irony as a literary device to make an entertaining and humorous story. He also uses allusions to the Bible to show the humor of Jim’s charmed life. He uses rhetorical questions when Jim examines his conscience when he steals the jam from his mother. He uses the simile “as drunk as a piper,” to illustrate the irony and humor of his situation. Lastly, Twain uses negative verbs by placing words such as “not,” in front of the verbs in sentences that seem to contradict normal thought.
4. In Twain’s penultimate paragraph he attributes one of the greatest sins with fame, fortune, and ironically a powerful position in the government.
5. Twain wrote the story in order to criticize the ignorance of many ‘pious’ and religious teachers and people with power whom are oblivious to the way that a ‘bad James’ actually lives in the actual world and in society. He also suggests that we need to be careful when judging someone’s character because how their life appears on the outside may not correlate with the way the truly live their lives.
1. A parody is an imitation of a story or piece of writing.
2. Some details that make this story humorous are that the boy Jim never gets caught for anything. Jim thinks that he can get away with anything, such as stealing. Jim is compared to James, even though they are complete opposites. Jim never feels guilty about anything wrong he does. Jim is not like the typical Sunday boy the story refers to.
3. Twain uses tricks such as alliteration, themes, irony, hyperbole, and characterization.
4. “And he grew up and married, and raised a large family, and brained them all with an axe one night, and got wealthy by all manner of cheating and rascality; and now he is the infernalist wickedest scoundrel in his native village, and is universally respected, and belongs to the Legislature.” This contributes to the sarcasm of the story because Jim should never be respected for cheating his way through life.
5. Twain wrote this story to make known that cheating your way through life will eventually have its consequences, and that making the right decisions is very important.
A parody is something that imitates another work of art, often mimicking or commenting its message, the creator, or its effect. The story is humorous in that it mocks how “Sunday school stories” often unfold. Instead of being called James, the bad boy is Jim. His mother was not sick and did not care much about Jim, unlike the mothers in traditional church stories. His bad deeds, such as stealing from others, lying, and boating are also not punished from anything or anyone. Twain uses the words“strange” and “curious” to denote that Jim’s doings are contrary to the traditional Sunday story, and often speaks in first person to emphasize this. George Wilson is the typical stock character of a good boy, contrasting with Jim, who is the stereotypically bad boy. He does not attribute certain sayings to his characters, whom instead do otherwise. Giving an elephant tobacco alludes to elephants holding grudges and attacking the humans who gave them the stuff. Ultimately, Twain’s sarcasm throughout the story is especially apparent in his second to last paragraph, which states how Jim had a family whom he subsequently killed off, and became a respected rascal in his community. Twain wrote this short story to mimic how the Sunday stories were not realistic and that bad deeds can go unpunished.
1. A parody is a story that makes fun of a popular story by following along a similar plot and changing certain parts to be funny.
2. Several details contribute to the humor of this story. The first is that the boy is named Jim which is short for James who is the usual bad little boy. The next is that his mother is perfectly fine and is not going to die and has no hope in her son. The next is that the boy is often very clever and skillful in evading detection. The fourth is that it is said that he lived a charmed life and described how. The last is that the boy never gets in trouble and often gets rewards by being bad.
3. Twain uses exaggerated imagery to create humor. He talks about men with “swallow-tailed coats and bell-crowned hats”, pants that are too short, and women who wear their dresses up to their armpits. He also uses metaphors such as “drunk as a piper”. He also uses pathos by saying how his mother didn’t love him. Twain used logos as well when he explains how nothing bad could happen to Jim because he is bad. There is also an implied parallelism between the boy who gets punished and the boy who gets away with it.
4. Twain tells how he killed his family and made lots of money in horrible ways but is now on the Legislature and is well respected. This contributes to the sarcastic tone because it is usually very rare that someone who does so many bad things would benefit so profusely.
5. Twain wrote this story to show that life is always going to be fair and that sometimes the culprit gets away clean every time while the good people get punished or feel the consequences.
1. Parody - an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
2. Details that make the story funny are how Jim is almost never caught in the stories, how the story said bad boys always have the name James in Sunday school books and his mane is Jim, how Jim lived a charmed life even though he was bad and cheated through life, how Jim often did horrible things on Sunday, and how each event was similar to a Sunday school story, but the outcome was always different.
3. Twain uses story telling tricks, like repeating how different Jim was from the Sunday school book stories, most paragraphs start with the word “once”, the use of words like “oh no!” and “ah!”, the phrase, “and now he is the infernalist wickedest scoundrel in his native village, and is universally respected, and belongs to the Legislature.”, and the use of sensory adjectives to describe Jim throughout the story.
4. The penultimate paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story by showing how Jim went from doing petty things as a child, to doing serious crimes as an adult, like braining his family with an ax and cheating to get money. This paragraph is added at the end and almost slipped in to be not as serious as it is. This shows how serious Jim’s faults become as he grows up.
5. Twain wrote this story to show that sometimes people just lucky throughout life and get away with horrible things. But eventually the luck runs out and all those times Jim did something horrible will catch up to him and it won’t be pretty.
1. A parody is a humorous imitation of a piece of literature or writing.
2. Jim did not get struck by lightning
Jim did not drown went fishing on the Sabbath
Jim did not get blamed for stealing the pen
Jim turned out to be wealthy
Jim did not get punished for his bad actions
3. He uses “once” to start his paragraphs throughout
He asks rhetorical questions
The “B” sound
He used metaphors
He used the “s” sound
4. The penultimate paragraph tells us that he married and became a wealthy and respected person even though he cheated and was bad.
5. Twain wrote this story to show that you don’t have to be perfect to be successful.
Parody- a composition that imitates or misrepresent somebody’s style, usually in a humorous way. In this story, I would say that Mark Twain is being witty rather than humorous. He uses sarcasm and he puts a negative connotation on everything to give it a different vibe. He references church books and the differences between right and wrong. In the story Jim gets away with everything and receives no reprimanding. Mark Twain uses the second to last paragraph to relate to not keeping the Sabbath and it’s punishments. In this paragraph he shows that not only does he not get punished by his parents, but he also doesn’t get punished by God, who sees everything.
1. A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect. It can also be an imitation or a version of something that falls far short of the real thing.
2. The humor of The Story of the Bad Little Boy is that Jim gets away with doing bad things without any repercussions. One detail that contributes to this humor is that the Sunday school stories usually portray a bad boy who climbs a tree to steal some apples, but then he falls because the limb breaks. The boy will then fall in to the vicious attack of the guard dog. Afterwards, he repents in the hospital. The humor in this particular story is the fact that Jim climbed an apple tree, stole a bunch of apples, and beat the guard dog. He did not get hurt and he did not repent. Many other things happen like this that bring humor to the story, for example Jim goes boating on a Sunday and does not drown. He also goes fishing on a Sunday during storm and does not get struck by lightning. Back in the day, it was considered wrong to do things on Sunday besides praying and going to Church, if you did other things something bad would happen to you. Nothing bad happens to Jim though. Another thing that the Sunday school stories showed is how the bad boys always have sick and loving mothers. The mother would usually cry for her bad son, but Jims mother expects him to do a bad thing, and then whips him. Lastly, Jim put a penknife of some sort into a good boys belonging. Instead of Jim getting caught, the good boy gets blamed and gets scolded while Jim is “innocent.”
3. Mark Twain makes this story quite interesting to read by using “storytelling” tricks. One of the things Twain does is that he repeatedly mocks Sunday School stories. For example, after the story of Jim stealing apples and not falling and not repenting, Twain remarks, “Nothing like it in any of the Sunday-school books.” Another example of one of Twain’s humorous phrases is something he wrote at the very end of the story, which was, “This Jim bore a charmed life - that must have been the way of it.” He seems to be mocking repercussions of the Sunday school stories that are supposed to happen to bad boys. The phrase, “and now he is the infernalist wickedest scoundrel in his native village” contains assonance. There is a metaphor in the last lines explaining how he should’ve come home, “drunk as a piper.” Lastly, the whole structure of the story is showing the irony of Jim’s actions.
4. The penultimate paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story because it tells us that Jim grows up, he gets married! Instead of living a long life with his new family, he kills them with an axe! Does he get caught and jailed for the rest of his life? No. He gets rich instead! He gets wealthy by cheating and with “rascality.” Does he get caught in stealing all this acclaimed wealth? No. After this, he becomes the worst scoundrel in his native village and yet he is also a very respected man of the legislative. The second to last paragraph is basically restating the theme that Jim never gets caught; he never has to pay for all the bad things he has done. He just continues to do these awful crimes with no one telling him that it’s wrong.
5. Mark Twain wrote this story to show that some people can never change from their bad habits. Sometimes bad people get away with doing bad things. Not everyone that is born is or can become a morally good person.
1. A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect. It can also be an imitation or a version of something that falls far short of the real thing.
2. The humor of The Story of the Bad Little Boy is that Jim gets away with doing bad things without any repercussions. One detail that contributes to this humor is that the Sunday school stories usually portray a bad boy who climbs a tree to steal some apples, but then he falls because the limb breaks. The boy will then fall in to the vicious attack of the guard dog. Afterwards, he repents in the hospital. The humor in this particular story is the fact that Jim climbed an apple tree, stole a bunch of apples, and beat the guard dog. He did not get hurt and he did not repent. Many other things happen like this that bring humor to the story, for example Jim goes boating on a Sunday and does not drown. He also goes fishing on a Sunday during storm and does not get struck by lightning. Back in the day, it was considered wrong to do things on Sunday besides praying and going to Church, if you did other things something bad would happen to you. Nothing bad happens to Jim though. Another thing that the Sunday school stories showed is how the bad boys always have sick and loving mothers. The mother would usually cry for her bad son, but Jims mother expects him to do a bad thing, and then whips him. Lastly, Jim put a penknife of some sort into a good boys belonging. Instead of Jim getting caught, the good boy gets blamed and gets scolded while Jim is “innocent.”
3. Mark Twain makes this story quite interesting to read by using “storytelling” tricks. One of the things Twain does is that he repeatedly mocks Sunday School stories. For example, after the story of Jim stealing apples and not falling and not repenting, Twain remarks, “Nothing like it in any of the Sunday-school books.” Another example of one of Twain’s humorous phrases is something he wrote at the very end of the story, which was, “This Jim bore a charmed life - that must have been the way of it.” He seems to be mocking repercussions of the Sunday school stories that are supposed to happen to bad boys. The phrase, “and now he is the infernalist wickedest scoundrel in his native village” contains assonance. There is a metaphor in the last lines explaining how he should’ve come home, “drunk as a piper.” Lastly, the whole structure of the story is showing the irony of Jim’s actions.
4. The penultimate paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story because it tells us that Jim grows up, he gets married! Instead of living a long life with his new family, he kills them with an axe! Does he get caught and jailed for the rest of his life? No. He gets rich instead! He gets wealthy by cheating and with “rascality.” Does he get caught in stealing all this acclaimed wealth? No. After this, he becomes the worst scoundrel in his native village and yet he is also a very respected man of the legislative. The second to last paragraph is basically restating the theme that Jim never gets caught; he never has to pay for all the bad things he has done. He just continues to do these awful crimes with no one telling him that it’s wrong.
5. Mark Twain wrote this story to show that some people can never change from their bad habits. Sometimes bad people get away with doing bad things. Not everyone that is born is or can become a morally good person.
1. A parody is a story that is made to mock a popular style or opinion at the time it is written, and to expose the flaws in the popular thing it is a parody of.
2. The main humor of the story is how Twain makes a point to talk about all of the clichés of Sunday School stories, and how in his story they don’t happen. Examples of this are: “bad little boys are nearly always called James… this one was called Jim, “He didn’t have a sick mother,” “everything turned out differently with him from the way it does to the bad James in the books,” “and the limb didn’t break, he didn’t fall and break his arm,” he stole as many apples as he wanted and came down all right.”
3. He is always very sarcastic in how he makes notes of what should happen to the boy, but it doesn’t. every time Jim does something bad it is rewarded. He uses parallel structure by telling little stories about james that always sound similar
4. It contributes to the sarcasm by telling about how Jim never grew out of his bad habits, and as he grew up his luck never ran out, being bad paid off his whole life.
5. He wrote it to critique the cliché and widely believed Sunday-school stories during his day, it was an entertaining and lighthearted way for him to speak his mind.
1. A parody is a playoff of another piece of art with a similar structure-- a plot in books or melody in songs-- but a very different ending.
2. One thing that I found funny in this story was the almost sarcastic tone of Mark Twain which pokes fun at how all bad Sunday School characters were the same even down to their name. Another thing I found humorous was how Twain went into such detail over Jim's "crimes" stating how Jim got into the pantry, what he stole, and how he covered up the evidence which leads you to believe Twain himself had acted similarly. Another point I found humorous was how Twain makes Jim look like a horrible person over things as small as eating an apple off of a tree and not returning a pen. One more humorous thing was how Twain makes the good, little boy, George, feel guilty and accepting of crimes that he knew he had not committed. The final thing I found to be funny was how bad children were expected to be smitten down for all of the wrong they have done no matter how severe.
3. Twain uses many rhetorical tricks to make the story more interesting. One thing that he does is putting in his own input and thoughts about little Jim when he says, " It was strange, but still it was true that this one was called Jim." Another thing he does is he starts to use a cliche expression like, "...but all at once a terrible feeling came over him," but instead changes it to, "...but all at once a terrible feeling didn't come over him." Twain also uses alliteration well when saying, "...bad boys in the books," as seen about halfway down in the third paragraph. Another thing I found funny was how Twain seemed to contradict himself. For instance, he said how had coarse language and was a neglected boy but at the ending Twain said Jim had the charmed life. Lastly, it was entertaining how specific Twain was when saying what should have gone wrong in Jim's crimes but did not.
4. The penultimate, Or second-to-last, paragraph contributed to the sarcasm because it showed how Jim did some of the worst things imaginable like killing his own family and cheating yet still was an admired respected man of the Legislature.
5. Twain may have written this story to express how in the real world, there is not always justice brought upon the wrongdoers and that even the noblest and most regarded of men can have a filthy past.
1. A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
2. One detail of the story that contributes to the humor of the story is that this bad little boy’s name was Jim instead of the commonly used name, James, in the other tales. Another detail is that his mom was not a sweet mother like in the other stories, in fact, she was harsh towards Jim. A third detail is that Jim stole the jam from the pantry and oppose to how the other bad little boys acted, he did not listen to his conscience and stole the jam and ate it. A fourth detail is that when he climbed the tree to steal apples from Farmer Acorn, the tree did not break; whereas, in the other tales the tree limb did break. Another detail is that Jim stole his teacher’s knife and hid it in another good little boy’s cap, and when the teacher discovered it, Jim did not confess like the other bad little boys would.
3. Twain gave quotes of what Jim was thinking in a couple of paragraphs which made the story humorous because what Jim was thinking was funny. Twain also uses irony in this story. He writes about how ironic it is that Jim was a bad little boy, but he grew up to be a successful and respected man. He also uses hyperbole in the lines, “the good little boy of the village, who always obeyed his mother, and never told an untruth, and was fond of his lessons, and infatuated with Sunday-school.” In this line Twain exaggerates how good this boy is. Twain also uses alliteration in the lines, “Boats with bad boys-“. He also uses parallelism through the repetition of “bad little boy” throughout the entire story.
4. In the penultimate paragraph, Twain writes about how although Jim was a bad little boy, he became a father and a husband later in life and he was respected as an adult.
5. Twain wrote this story to prove to the authors writing about bad little boys that not all bad little boys are bad later on in life and that one does not need to be an angel as a child to become successful as an adult.
1. A parody is a funny imitation of something serious.
2. Some thing that contribute to its humor are: the boy never repents for his action like they bad boys in the sunday school stories, the boy never gets in trouble for his actions, it makes fun of how radical the stories are like if fish on sunday you will be struck by lightning, the whole thing is told as a real story, the boy ends up on top of the community.
3. He writes in first person, he mocks the sunday school stories, he uses irony in the end when the boy becomes successful, he lists everything that would happen in the stories, he also plays off what actually happens very casually.
4. He is being sarcastic and saying that lying and cheating will help you succeed in life.
5. To show that good things happen to bad people and that even if you are a good person your life can still end up being bad.
1) A parody is a humorous imitation of a serious piece of literature.
2) - Jim went boating on a Sunday, and he didn’t drown, but in a Sunday-school story he would have
- Jim was fishing on a Sunday and he got caught in the middle of a storm, but he didn’t get struck by lightning, but in a Sunday-school story he would have
- Jim stole a teacher’s knife, and when he got scared he put it his classmates backpack, and the classmate got blamed for it; in a Sunday-school story, someone would have snitched on Jim and he would have been punished
- Jim stole apples from a farm and had no consequences, but in a Sunday-school story the branch of the tree would have broken and the dog would have torn him up
- Jim replaced the jam in a jar with tar and had no consequences; in a Sunday-school story he would have been whipped
3) - “drunk as a pipe” (metaphor)
- the constant use of “didn’t” when comparing Jim’s life to Sunday-school stories (parallelism)
- “happy heart” (alliteration)
- “swallow-tailed coats and bell-crowned hats” (parallelism)
- “Widow-Wilson’s son” (alliteration)
4) The second to last paragraph contributes to the sarcasm because the beginning goes on a little more about naughty deeds Jim did and didn’t get punished for, but then it goes in to how Jim went off to sea, and when he came home, he was drunk. In a Sunday-story, he would have come home to no one that loved him or wanted him there, but when he came home, the first place he went was the station-house.
5) Twain wrote this story because he clearly saw the craziness of the idea of “karma” where if person does good things, good things will happen, and if a person does bad things, bad things will happen. That isn’t the case in real life; people who do bad things, such as cheating and lying, tend to get ahead in life, and that’s not necessarily the moral action to do, but it’s true. Sometimes, nice guys do finish last, and Twain may have believed that it was poor fiction to always have good things happening to good people and bad things happening to bad people.
1. A Paroday is a storythat resembles another in the intent to make fun of the original.
2. Jim has good luck when doing the wrong thing like stealing the key to the pantry,stealing apples from the farmer's tree,stealing the teacher's pen-knife,going boating on Sunday, and killing his family, but he ultimately bcame successful in life.
3.He continually refrences typical unday school stories and how Jim was the complete opposite of the usual "James" character.
4. The paragraph gives very extreme scenarios that Jim goes through that should end badly for him, but of course, go just fine.
5. I believe that Twain wrote this story to show that life may not always go how you beleive it should, but we must live on through any situation we may face in life.
1. A parody is a musical, literary, or other composition that mimics the style of another composer or author in a hilarious or satirical way.
2. Details that contribute to the humor are:
- His name is Jim instead of James.
- Jim was granted with the charmed life.
- In most bad boy stories the mother is very affectionate, but instead she whipped him and boxed his ears.
- The setting helps the setup for all the bad things to happen
- Every time Jim does something bad and you think he gets punished, he doesn't.
3. Some tricks Twain uses in his story to make it entertaining is
- "Jim hated moral boys," Hyperbole
- "The good little boy who always obeyed his mother, and never told an untruth, and who was infatuated with Sunday school," Alliteration
- Point of View Third person omniscient is used in this story.
- "He did the crying himself," Jim vs Society
- "Is it right to disobey my mother?” rhetorical questions keeps the reader linked to the story to see what is going to come next
4. The second to last paragraph contributes to the sarcasm by
Jim does many of bad things throughout the story, even killing his family, his tricks, and his stealing leads him to no punishment. He started stealing things and giving his responsibilities to others, then he began to abuse his mother and sister. After he went to drinking, raising a family and then to killing them all. This paragraph shows that he actually just punished himself in reality because he's left with nothing.
5. Twain wrote this story to show that sometimes the worst people in the world get granted with a great life, while the most sincere and caring people sometimes get stuck with a very unfair and miserable life.
1. A parody is making fun of the style of a writer or artist. It is mainly made for humor and entertainment.
2. Things that contribute to the humor of the story are how Twain keeps emphasizing that the bad little boy’s name is Jim not James like in the books. Another is how before telling every story it says what happened in the bible stories and how that did not happen at all to Jim. A third way is that at the end of the story it says how he has such a lucky streak. The story says that he grew up and got married and raised a family, this adds to the humor because such a bad boy grew up and got married instead of coming back to his childhood house decayed. The last thing that adds to the humor of the story is the way Mark Twain describes all the stories and the wording that he chooses.
3. Some storytelling tricks that Twain uses to help tell the story are, he makes an allusion to a childhood prayer by saying “now I lay me down”. He also uses sound devices like alliteration, for example, “bad little boys” and “bad boys who go boating.” He uses very descriptive words to help understand the story, “wickedest scoundrel” and “a sick mother who was pious” are examples of this. Twain uses figures of speech, he says “he fills the vessel up with tar” comparing the jar of jam to a ship, this is a metaphor.
4. The second to last paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story because it keeps showing how he keeps doing all these bad things and doesn’t have a happy and forgiving ending like the rest of the stories, it shows how he does these things and life just moves on.
5. The serious reason behind Twain writing this story is to show that not every time someone does something bad do they go and beg for forgiveness and everything gets better, it shows that sometimes when these things happen, life just moves on.
1. A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
2. When it says that all bad boys in Sunday school books are named James, when Jim ate the jam and didn’t care that he had done something wrong, it said a tree limb didn’t break like you’d expect and Jim made it down safely, Jim didn’t drown when he went boating like stories commonly say, and an elephant didn’t step on Jim’s head like you would expect in a story. The humor of this story is everything you’d expect to happen, doesn’t. All these things have happened in other stories repeatedly, and Mark Twain wanted to switch it up.
3. Jim had a lucky life instead of a miserable life, there’s only a narrator, Jim never feels bad about what he has done but instead he thinks highly of himself, the Sunday school book stories are constantly being compared to Jim’s life, sarcasm is used throughout the story to teach lessons.
4. The penultimate paragraph contributes to the sarcasm because it’s saying that even though this boy lied, cheated, and stole his way through life, he stilled turned out successful. This has a sarcastic tone because no one can go through life like that, become successful, and take full credit for all the work.
5. Mark Twain’s serious reason for writing this was that you can’t go through life unpunished. You have to take responsibility and own up to your mistakes. If you don’t, then you can’t be as successful as you want to be because you won’t have the experience with mistakes and failure and how you can learn from those mistakes.
1. A parody is a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing.
2. Five details that contribute humor are:
• The boy is seen as protagonist not an antagonist
• He knocked the dog endways with a brick
• Jim’s actions would always contradict his thoughts
• “Down on them milksops”
• The last line of the story
3. Storytelling tricks:
• There is hardly any dialogue just a narrator
• He struck his little sister on the temple with his fist when he was angry, and she didn't linger in pain through long summer days, and die with sweet words of forgiveness upon her lips that redoubled the anguish of his breaking heart. No; she got over it.
• Instead of being a bad boy and having a miserable life, Jim has a great and lucky life.
• What would happen in other stories keeps being brought up as the complete opposite happens in this story.
• Jim never feels guilty
4. The penultimate paragraph contributes to the sarcasm because it shows the Jim never outgrew the immature stage of his life. He became even more wicked when he grew up, and eventually became part of the government. Although Jim is respected by the rest of the world the ones who know Jim personally, such as the ones from another village, see him for his true colors.
5. The purpose of Mark Twain writing this story was to show that not everyone gets what they deserve. Life isn’t always how it seems in a book there is such thing as reality. In reality some of the worst people have the best lives because they never get caught.
1. Parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
2. Details that make the story funny are how Jim is almost never caught in the stories, how the story said bad boys always have the name James in Sunday school books, how Jim lived a charmed life even though he was bad, how Jim often did bad things on the Sabbath, and how each event was somewhat like a Sunday school story, but the outcome was always a better one.
3. Twain uses story telling tricks, like repeating how different Jim was from the Sunday school book stories, most paragraphs start with the word “once”, the use of words like “oh no!” and “ah!”, the phrase, “and now he is the infernalist wickedest scoundrel in his native village, and is universally respected, and belongs to the Legislature.”, and the use of descriptive adjectives to describe Jim throughout the story.
4. The penultimate paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story by showing how Jim went from doing small things as a child, to doing large crimes as an adult, like braining his family with an ax and cheating to get money.
5. Twain wrote this story to show that sometimes people just lucky in life and get away with bad things. Eventually the luck runs out and all those times Jim did something horrible will catch up to him and it will greatly affect his life.
1. A parody is a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing.
2. - Little bad boys are almost always named James… as in James Distefano.
- Jim was beaten by his mom
- Jim stole apples and a knife
- Jim went fishing on the Sabbath
- Jim became an alcoholic
3. - Parallelism - In three paragraphs, Twain starts off with once and then explains the boy’s misbehavior.
- Alliteration: Sunday-school, Widow Wilson, bad boy
- Archaic diction – menagerie
- Assonance – get whipped, he slipped
- Simile – drunk as a piper
4. The penultimate paragraph states that Jim continues his bad habits, and he still does not meet an infallible doom, unlike bad boys in Sunday-school books.
5. Mark Twain wrote “The Story of the Little Bad Boy” to tell people that just because someone is bad, doesn’t mean that they will be punished.
1. A parody is a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing.
2. - Little bad boys are almost always named James… as in James Distefano.
- Jim was beaten by his mom
- Jim stole apples and a knife
- Jim went fishing on the Sabbath
- Jim became an alcoholic
3. - Parallelism - In three paragraphs, Twain starts off with once and then explains the boy’s misbehavior.
- Alliteration: Sunday-school, Widow Wilson, bad boy
- Archaic diction – menagerie
- Assonance – get whipped, he slipped
- Simile – drunk as a piper
4. The penultimate paragraph states that Jim continues his bad habits, and he still does not meet an infallible doom, unlike bad boys in Sunday-school books.
5. Mark Twain wrote “The Story of the Little Bad Boy” to tell people that just because someone is bad, doesn’t mean that they will be punished.
1.A parody is a retelling of a story or a song that is similar to the original yet makes fun of the original. It follows along closely to the original yet sometimes makes a slight mockery of the original. Haunted House by the Wayne brothers is a parody of the Paranormal Activity movies.
2.–Mark Twain lists what Jim doesn’t do and what doesn’t happen to him rather than saying what actually does.
-His name is Jim not James
-His mom is mean not sweet
-He grows up and has a good life
-He put tar in the jam jar
3. – As he ate the jam he said it was wrong but did it anyway
- As he put the tar in the jam jar he said it was wrong but still continued to do it
- The description of the pictures of the characters in the Sunday school books
-It’s strange that he didn’t die while fishing on Sunday
- “Ah! No.”
-“Drunk as a piper”
4. The penultimate paragraph is about how bad Jim is; yet nothing bad happens to him in return. Despite being so bad Jim still manages to live a charmed life.
5. To show that some people are bad and still live good lives. To prove that justice isn’t always served and that life isn’t fair.
1. A parody is an imitation of something, such as a writer or a movie, with an intentional exaggeration for a comic effect.
2. One detail that contributes to the humor of this story is the reference back to the typical “Sunday-school book” story and how Jim is not punished like the boy in that story would be. Another is some of the bad things he did, such as eat all of the jam then fill the jar up with tar to make it unnoticeable. Jim’s mother’s careless reactions could also contribute to the humor of the story.
3. Mark Twain writes “oh no” or “no” in almost all of his paragraphs after explaining what would happen to the typical bad boy, which is not what happens to Jim. He also starts most of his paragraphs with “once this” or “once he.” Twain uses irony throughout the story because whenever Jim does something bad, the readers expect for him to be punished, but he isn’t. The story is written in third person with insight into Jim’s and a few other character’s thoughts.
4. The penultimate paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story because its explaining how Jim grew up, married, killed his family, and was seen as the most evil person in his village. He then goes on to be apart of the Legislature and universally respected. No one would be apart of the Legislature and respected if they previously killed their family; therefore, Twain is mimicking the idea of Jim succeeding.
5. Mark Twain could have written this story for the serious reason that there are some bad children out there that do behave like this and do not get punished for their actions.
1. A parody is a humorous imitation of a writer, with exaggeration for hilarity.
2. -The names Jim and James is what separates evil
-Jim gave an elephant a "plug of tobacco"
-The exaggeration of what Jim does makes this comical
-George Wilson being wrongly accused of stealing the teacher's penknife was humorous
-The carelessness of Jim makes the story funny
3. -Twain uses the word, "He" alot.
-The sarcastic, "Oh! No!"
-The dashes that come after describing Jim's actions that come with a sarcastic tone.
-"No;" is used repeatedly.
-Twain seperates Jim's actions into small paragraphs.
4. It explains how even though Jim was a bad child he grew up, and was happily married.
5. The serious reason was to show that some children are very disobedient, but can still lead good lives as adults.
1.A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
2.One detail that contributes to the humor in the Story of the Bad little Boy is the fact Jim never got whipped when he took the jam and filled it with tar. Another is when he stole the apples, the limb never broke. The third detail is when he stole the teachers knife and put it in George Wilson’s carp, he never got caught. Then while boating, he never was struck by lightning. The last detail was that when Jim gave the elephant tobacco, his head didn’t get knocked off.
3.One story telling trick that Twain used was he used the words pious, vulgar and infatuated. Twain also uses rhetorical questions for example, “Is it right to disobey my mother? Isn’t it sinful to do this?”. He also uses anaphora because he started each paragraph with the word “once”. Another story telling trick Twain used was he made allusions to the Bible. The last trick he uses is he used the clever saying “down on them milk-sops”.
4.The penultimate paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story by implying Jim killed his family and became a cheating scoundrel all because he was never caught or disciplined as a child.
5.Twain wrote this story to prove that life isn’t always like a story. It’ll be different in tons of ways and not to live your life like story books because they aren’t always true.
A parody is a humorous satirical work that intends to poke fun at or mock a different original work. Mark Twain's “The Story of a Bad Little Boy” is a parody of Sunday school moral tales. He starts off by humorously stereotyping all Sunday school moral tales to have a bad boy named James. In the next paragraph, Twain talks about Jim's mother again stereotyping that all the “James'” in the moral tales have sick mothers, and then goes on to say that Jim's mother is perfectly healthy. Jim's antics in the story contribute to the humor, such as when he ate all the jam and replaced the jam with tar. Twain writes with sarcasm that the most surprising thing was when Jim went on a boat and didn't drown. The irony in the situation is that, contrary to what Twain writes, when you are on boat you are not expected to drown. Finally, the most humorous part was in the end, where it would be expected that Jim's would have his luck run out and he learn his lesson, he goes on to live a happy life. Twain uses similes, parallelism, a surprise ending, archaic language, and a tone heavy with sarcasm and irony to make the story continuously entertaining. The second to last paragraph of the story contributes to the irony in how it reveals that Jim continues to behave badly and still grows up to be successful and has no negative consequences for his sins. Twain wrote the satire to make fun of Sunday school stories and show how ridiculous their plots and messages are and also to write an entertaining story.
1)A parody is an imitative work created to mock an original work, its subject, author, and or its style.
2)Some details that contribute to the humor of the story is that in most Sunday school stories the bad little boys are named James but in this one he is named Jim, which is just another name for James, Mark Twain continues to say what isn't going to happen right before he says what actually happens, also the boy rarely seems to get in trouble for all of the bad things he does, he is just lucky and somehow other people take the blame for his wrongdoings. It is humorous how Jim never seems to feel guilty and just loves being bad.
3)Five "tricks" Twain used were sound devices, clever words and parses, and rhetorical structures. Two sounds were "Widow Wilson" and "cowering culprit." Two clever words or phrases were "bully" and "didn't get drowned." The rhetorical device Twain used was parallelism. He would start a paragraph with "Once he..." and would start the concluding sentence of a paragraph with "Oh! No;" or "No."
4)The penultimate, second to last, paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story because even with all of the bad things he had done he became wealthy and respected and belonged to the Legislature and no one ever saw him as guilty for the terrible things he did.
5)The serious reason Twain wrote this story was to bring to light the evils of this world and how someone could do such heinous things and feel no remorse.
1. A parody is a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing.
2. Jim didn’t get whipped when he stole the jam, the tree limb didn’t break when he stole the apples, he didn’t get caught for stealing the teacher’s knife, he didn’t get struck by lightning on the boat, and the elephant didn’t knock his head off.
3. Twain uses clever words such as infatuated and pious, he uses rhetorical questions, also allusions to the Bible, Twain uses anaphora, and he uses clever phrases such as “down on them milk-sops”.
4. The penultimate paragraph says he achieved all his success because he was never punished for is wrongdoings as a kid.
5. Mark Twain wrote this story to tell people not to live your life based on stories of fairytales cause they are not always true.
1. A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
2. The fact that Jim always gets away with what he does is humorous. No matter what he does, he never gets caught unlike other “bad boy” stories. Examples would be like when he stole the key from for the panty and ate all the jam, when he climbed up in Farmer Acorn’s apple tree and stole all his apples, when he stole the teacher’s pen knife, when he did not get struck by lightening, and when he stole his father’s gun. He did not get punished for anything that he did.
3. He uses a lot of irony in this story. Clever words that he uses are Oh! and Ah!
4. This paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the whole story because it starts off saying how he has a family and then it goes to how he killed them. It is very funny.
5. Mark Twain wanted to show that if you are bad when you are young, unless you turn your life around, you will be bad as an older person.
1. A parody is a remake of something that pokes fun at the original, and is mainly for entertainment.
2. - The humorous contradictions between the cliche stories and this one
- The fact that Twain states the differences
- How the so called "Good Guy" loses
-That I can relate to a misbehaving James (DiStefano)
-That Twain can write about exactly what is not the "norm" and still have a good story.
3.-Talking to the reader about what a cliche story would do
- More colloquial speech
- The reoccurring use of "once" and then a story about the boy
-Metaphor- "Boxed his ears"
-Simile- "Drunk as a Piper"
4. The penultimate paragraph, or second to last, states that James continued his misbehavior all throughout his life and did not get the so-called "karma" he had coming to him, like what would of happened in any old Sunday-School book.
5. Twain wrote this story to get across the message that sometimes trying to be the perfect person, doesn't always pay off, and you should be yourself.
A parody is a humorous imitation of a serious piece of literature. Twain uses many details referring to the text of the Sunday-school books that contribute to the humor of the story. In one instance, he does not consider the possibilities of his actions being sinful and continues with what he finds humorous. Jim is also not blamed for stealing the teacher’s pen-knife when he is guilty of the crime. Other times, Jim is not struck by lightning for fishing on the Sabbath or drowned for going boating. He took his Father’s gun for hunting on the Sabbath and he did not lose any fingers like the Sunday-school books had stated. Also, calling the boy Jim instead of James, which is usually used for bad boys in Sunday-school books, contributes to the humor of the story. Although Sunday-school books said that Jim would be punished for all of his actions, no harm was ever done to him. Twain writes the story of Jim to prove that those stories are not always true. He uses different devices to make the story entertaining. Such devices are his “didn’t” phrases, the repetition of “Oh no” sounds, and the calling of Jim having a “charmed life.” Each paragraph explains all of what Jim “didn’t” do and what he actually does follows. It follows a parallel structure throughout the story. He also references the Sunday- school books on numerous occasions to add to the humor of his story. The penultimate paragraph shows that even though Jim cheated and lied through his life, he was never punished and became very successful. His life was completely contradictory of the poetic justice from the Sunday-school stories. Twain wrote this story to show that God does not punish for every wrong decision one makes. Boys and girls should not be frightened into doing what is right instead of wrong. They should be taught a lesson but not ones that involve death for mistreating the Sabbath.
1. A parody is an imitation or a likeness of someone else’s story or writing style such as Mark Twain did in “The Story of The Bad Little Boy.”
2. An example of humor in Twain’s story is when he writes that if the mother broke the boy’s neck it wouldn’t be much of a loss. Another example is when Twain wrote that the mother always spanked Jimmy to sleep instead of kissing him. Also Twain gives examples of pranks Jimmy does that are amusing. Jimmy also knocks a dog out with a brick while escaping with some apples he stole (Twain seems to have a violent sense of humor). In one instance, instead of telling about a prank Jimmy pulled on someone, Twain wrote that Jimmy made it back safely after being in a boat all day. He says that bad boys never make it back from a storm without drowning or getting struck by lightning. The story takes kind of a dark turn at that point.
3. Twain uses “once” to start most of the paragraphs in the story. When you see once at the beginning of a paragraph you know it’s a story about Jimmy. Twain also writes like he’s talking directly to you. He uses a lot of emotion and sarcasm in his writing, which I found entertaining due to my sarcastic humor. Throughout the story the mood is very lighthearted until the very end. The last two paragraphs really turn the story around. Twain wrote that the little jokester Jimmy grows up and has a wife and kids, BUT ends up murdering them with an axe one night.
4. The second to last paragraph completely drops the sarcasm from the rest of the story and twists the story around from a positive and funny story to a sad and almost scary one.
5. Twain wrote this story not just for the comedic value, but also to make a point that poorly raised children can end up being terrible people. They can go from jokesters as little boys to cheaters and crooks as men.
1. A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
2. -Mark Twain retells what would really happen in the Sunday School books with different outcomes
-Whenever you think that Jim is going to learn a lesson he gets away with it by luck
-No one finds out about all the sins Jim committed
-The good boy gets punished for what he didn’t do, and Jim gets away with stealing the knife
-Jim gets the “fairytale” ending for his life with no punishment for anything he did when he
was younger
3. -“Widow Wilson’s” (alliteration)
-“happy heart” (alliteration & personification)
-“drunk as a piper” (metaphor)
-“swallow-tailed coats and bell-crowned hats” (clever words and parallelism)
-“vine-embowered home” (imagery)
4. The second to last paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story because it starts off stating the positive points in Jim’s life: “And he grew up and married, and raised a large family.” The paragraph then turns, stating a completely unexpected point: “brained them all with an axe one night.”
5. Mark Twain wrote this story to teach the serious message that the world is not fair and bad actions will not be punished all the time.
1. A parody is the style of a particular writer or artist that imitates and exaggerates for comic effect. It can also be defined as an imitation or a version of something that falls far short of the real thing.
2. The details that contribute the to humor of “The Story of the Bad Little Boy” are the way Mark Twain compares Jim to the average boy.
Jim's mother would beat him before he went to bed instead of trying to help him change is bad behavior. She never kissed him and he had no way of knowing that he was loved.
Jim also stole apples from the farmer's tree and never got caught unlike any other average boy.
Jim stole the teachers pocket knife and hid it in another kid's hat and was never questioned about it.
He also went boating during a storm and never got struck by lightning or hurt in any way.
Jim also raised a large family and killed them all. Jim went through his entire life with no consequences and he never was taught what not to do. If this was any other person there would be terrible consequences for their actions.
3. The storytelling “tricks” that Mark Twain uses are:
There is alliteration in the line “...and be blessed by her with tears of pride and thankfulness in her eyes.”
There is also alliteration in the line “ No, that is the way with all other bad boys in the books...”
There is also parallelism in the line “He ate that jam, and said it was bully, in his sinful, vulgar way; and he put in the tar, and said that was bully also and laughed, and observed...”
There is parallelism in the line “...and the limb didn't break, and he didn't fall and break his arm, and get torn by the farmer's great dog, and then languish on a sick be for weeks, and repent and become good.”
There is personification in the line “He even gave the elephant in the menagerie a plug of tobacco, and the elephant didn't knock the top of his head off with his trunk.
4. The penultimate contributes to the sarcasm of the story because it shows the reader how someone like Jim ends up when they do not have and values or consequences. It basically ends the story with worst ending of how someones life could end up.
5. Mark Twain wrote this story to show the the perspective of two totally different lifestyles that can lead someone in two different directions. Jim's life is used as an example of all the wrong things to do in life.
1. A parody is something that mocks a serious writing or work.
2. The sarcasm contributes to the humor. The mockery of the bible contributes to the humor. Jim replacing the jam with tar contributes to the humor.
3. Twain uses parallelism to make the story entertaining. He uses sarcasm to make it entertaining. Twain uses alliteration when he repeats the phrase "bad boys".
4. it contributes to the sarcasm because it states that even though he was evil, he made it through life.
5. Twain wrote this for the realism of it.
1. A parody is someone or something that imitates someone or something else; it is used to poke fun at something’s subject, style, or music.
2. In the beginning paragraph, Twain said that “most bad little boys are named James, but not this one, he was named Jim” mocking most other Sunday school stories, He also continued to go on about how unordinary Jim was, such as not having a sick mother, or not feeling bad about replacing the jam with tar. He can do anything that goes against the rules and get out of it without having a consequence.
3. Twain uses sarcasm throughout the story making it humorous, and he used irony to add to the sarcasm. He would lead you to believe one thing but then end the sentence with the complete opposite of what he led you to believe. Twain also would refer to the “Sunday School Books” constantly and remind us that Jim was nothing like the characters in those books.
4. The penultimate of this story adds to the humor because you would expect someone like Jim, always doing the wrong thing and breaking the rules, to be both lonely and depressed, or locked up in jail somewhere, but instead he lives a happy life married and rich.
5. I believe that the main reason Twain wrote this story was to tell people that life is not always like the books, there are people that will be different and stand out, and that we are not just all stock characters from a book.
1. A parody is a work of literature, art, or music that makes a mockery of another work of literature, art, or music.
2. Mark Twain’s sarcastic attitude throughout the story greatly adds to the humorous and mocking tone of the story. However, specific humorous instances in the story include:
• The fact that the boy in the story is named Jim, a nickname for James which Twain states is the usual name for Sunday-school story bad boys
• The fact that Jim does not have a conversion from evil to good after he does a bad deed, unlike other Sunday-school stories
• The outlandish consequences Twain says happen to the other boys in the Sunday-school stories
• The fact that Jim’s misdeeds do not bear negative consequences towards himself
• When Twain states that Jim grows up to be a part of the Legislature
3. Some “tricks” Twain uses to make his storytelling more interesting include:
• “bad little boy” – alliteration
• Parallelism used throughout the story when describing most of the “bad little boys” from other Sunday-school stories
• The way that Twain describes the outcomes of Jim’s actions as “strange” or “curious”
• “Widow Wilson” – alliteration
• The way Twain uses rhetoric to compare Jim to typical Sunday-school story boys
4. The final paragraph contributes to the sarcastic mood of the story because it describes how Jim, this bad boy, grew up to become a swindling, rich man and a respected member of the Legislature. It is much the opposite of what would be expected of such a mischievous boy.
5. Twain wrote the story to point out how unrealistic Sunday-school stories were becoming and that, eventually, the children of the Sunday-school would realize that nothing catastrophic would happen if they did a bad deed and, therefore, their Christian values would slowly deteriorate because they used simple reason to see how false these stories were.
1.A parody is a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing.
2.Bad little boys are usually call James in Sunday-school books, but in this story the boy’s name was Jim. He acted like a typical bad boy; however, Jim never was caught or accused for his actions. One time Jim stole apples from a tree without falling and without anyone noticing. Also, he stole a pocket knife from his teacher, and he put it in a boy’s hair. Jim went boating during a storm and didn’t get struck by lightning or drown.
3.Twain uses a “trick” when he explains what would happen to a boy named James then says “oh” or “Oh no”, and then explains how Jim’s story would go. Twain compares the story of Jim to a typical story found in Sunday-school books. He wants the reader to contemplate on what will happen to the little boy.
4.The penultimate paragraph shows the sarcasm of the story because Jim murders his whole family and as a result, becomes wealthy. Jim was looked up to by many people after murdering his family. It doesn’t make sense and shows the sarcasm of the story.
5.Twain wrote this story to show that some boys will never change and they will not learn from their actions. The story explains that if a boy did something wrong and didn’t get in trouble for it, then why would he stop doing bad things.
1. A parody is a comical imitation of something.
2.
-Jim is compared to the stereotypical James.
-The moral people are punished for Jim's actions.
-It is not formal in mood, it is comical.
-It is nearly opposite of a Sunday School story.
-The mother is very aggressive, unlike others at the time.
3.
-Allusion: alludes to "James" of real Sunday stories
-Well known phrases: "poor Widow Wilson's son"
-Rhetoric: Jim asks himself rhetorical questions
-Sound devices: Consonance
-Figures of speech: Hyperbole for emphasis
4. It talks about his "charmed" life. He pulled of several immoral stunts, without being punished once, which is unrealistic.
5. He is talking about how Sunday-school stories are too idealistic and unrealistic. Even the most wicked people can get away with it without worldly consequences.
1. A parody is a comical retelling, reenactment, or farce of something (such as a book, movie, etc.),
2. Several details add to the humor of the story. Little comments such as the mothers reaction to James, like her weeping and saying "Now i lay me down", his description of his mother as the "Old woman would get up and snort", his preparation in stealing some apples by distracting the dog, his calling of moral boys "milk sops", And his uncanny luck out boating all convey the humor of the narrative.
3. The story uses run on sentences to add oddity and some form of quaintness to the piece. Frequent sarcastic phrases of darker themes alleviate their severity. And all in all the story is kind of twisted in a way.
4. James's life wasn't as charming and odd as his childhood led us to assume, he was a drunkard and he was locked up in jail!
5. Twain probably wrote this to convey the result of child neglect and poor upbringing by showing all the bad things children can do when not instructed as moral children.
1. A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, genre, or work with deliberate exaggeration for humorous effect.
2. Things that contribute to the humor of the story.
a) The boy’s name is Jim not James even though Jim is usually short for James so he is just a little bit different from the boys in the Sunday School Stories
b) Jim does whatever he wants and never gets punished because of his extreme luck.
c) Twain mocks the typical Church theme of Divine Intervention in their stories
d) Mocks and retells every typical Sunday School Story and gives the opposite result.
e) The sarcastic attitude and tone Twain uses to suggest that Sunday shouldn’t be a holy day
3. Things that make the story rhetorically powerful:
a) The moral of Woodrow Wilson and his son. ( irony and allusion)
b) “happy heart” is an alliteration and personification.
c) “infernalist wickedest scoundrel” uses clever words and has consonance of the “ist” sound.
d) “drunk as a piper” is a simile.
e) vine-embowered home is an example of imagery.
4. The second to last paragraph is very sarcastic because it starts off with great things like married and big family, and it makes the reader assume he is above his past. However, it ends with murder and cheating, but he still luckily ends up being a much respected man in the Legislature.
5. The serious theme of the story is that life is unfair and the world is full of bad people who may or may not end up with great outcomes and success.
1. A parody is when an author imitates or copies a serious paper, writing, speech, or other work of writing. They are often sarcastic and humorous.
2. Five details that make the story humorous are sarcasm, using intense or bold language freely (shock value), describing bad acts in vivid detail, mocking Sunday school and churchgoers, and an unexpected ending.
3. Twain named a character "Widow Wilson," which has alliteration that makes the story sound better. He also used the phrase "boxed his ears" which is interesting language as compared to saying "hit him." Twain also uses exaggeratedly formal speech when quoting characters, such as the justice of the peace. He also used interesting language when he described several series of events that didn't happen, rather than focusing on what did happen. He also used clever language in comparing Jim's life to Sunday-school books.
4. The penultimate (next-to-last) paragraph, contributes to the sarcasm of the story by describing how a sinful person can become successful in life without ever repenting or becoming a good person, which goes against what all the Sunday-school books said. Nobody expected this message to be taught, so it contributed to the mocking and irony of the story.
5. Twain wrote this story to contradict what the Church taught children, in that not all bad people get punished. He was calling attention to the fact that maybe people should pay attention to the actions of people that appear to be good, rather than focusing on whether or not they publicly repent for what they have done. Then, it becomes obvious that not everyone is as good as they seem to be.
1) A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
2) The details that contribute to the humor of the Story of the Bad little Boy are the fact that the little boy’s name is Jim and in most of the other stories the bad little boy’s name is James. The fact that the little boy’s mom is perfectly fine when normally the bad little boy’s mother is near death in most other stories. The fact that when he does something bad he does not get hurt or punished and then have to repent for what he has done and becomes a better person. Everything turns out differently for him then it does for bad James in the books. Jim never gets meddled for the bad things he does like bad James normally does in the books. Lastly, Jim always gets away with everything that he does. Even when he hits his sister, he seems to get away without even being yelled at.
3) The storytelling tricks that twain uses to make the story more entertaining are he sets the story up so that there is a comparison between Jim and bad James. He uses parallelism at the beginning of almost every paragraph. Twain uses “once” to begin the majority of his paragraphs. Twain builds up the character of Jim throughout the story. At the beginning he just starts off with that he is a bad boy named Jim instead of James, but as the story continues you find out more about Jim. He makes a lot of references to the Sunday school books. Twain ends many of his paragraphs by referencing them. When Twain says “Jim with a charmed life” he is using that in a more mocking way because Jim did have a charmed life, but the way he decided to go about doing thing in his life were not charmed.
4) The penultimate, or second to last paragraph, of the story contributes to the sarcasm of the story because in the paragraph it says all of the wrongdoings he did and how none of them affected him or caused him any harm or remorse in the slightest bit.
5) The serious reason that Twain wrote the story was to show his readers that even though Jim got away with all of the bad things he did, it doesn’t mean that you will get away with them too. You may end up like James and get punished.
1. A parody is a literary work that closely resembles another work, but it is altered in ways that criticize or make fun of the original work.
2. – How Jim gets away with what he does –How the author acts surprised an act of God does not strike Jim down – How Jim prospered better than any noble boy- How Jim seems invincible from danger that occurs to other bad boys in stories- How unrealistic some of the events that happened to other bad boys are.
3. –Sarcasm in wondering how Jim is unpunished –Twain always says what would happen to other bad boys before saying Jim gets away –Twain says Jim bore a, “charmed life” and that nothing could hurt him as if it is surprising he get away –Ironically the good kids are punished and the bad are not –Pokes fun of people who are good and calls them names like, “old-clam” and, “milk-sops”
4. The penultimate paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story by wondering why Jim is never struck down by an act of God. Also Jim seems to get away with all the things he does that most bad boys wouldn’t.
5. Mark Twain addresses that cheaters will not be punished by a random act of God or a random passerby, and children should not be taught that that is the case.
1.) A parody is a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing.
2.) Twain's dry humor, Twain's facetious tone, contrast to the common Sunday-school story, the twist ending of Jim being successful, the cliche` experiences of a young boy
3.) alliteration in "bad boy", change of name from James to Jim, the mother does not resemble a normal caring mother, oxymoron of "cowering culprit", Farmer Acorn has an apple tree
4.) The second to last paragraph portrays a man who is psychotic for killing his family, but he a respect member of the community. This shows the paradox of being an affluent person in society.
5.) Twain writes this short story to point out the error in what is taught in Sunday-school: that not all the bad people and punished and have a metanoia.
1. A parody imitates the serious manner and characteristic features of a particular literary work in order to make fun of those same features. The humorist achieves parody by exaggerating certain traits common to the work, much as a caricaturist creates a humorous depiction of a person by magnifying and calling attention to the person's most noticeable features.
2. –The fact that Mark Twain took the time to clearly point out that the little boy’s name is Jim not James.
-Jim only got punished once for the least destructive “crime” he committed.
-As time went on and his crimes got worse, he felt less guilty for them.
-Jim’s luck that no bad Sunday school boy would have
-People respect him in the same town he grew up in.
3. – “He even gave the elephant in the menagerie a plug of tobacco, and the elephant didn't knock the top of his head off with his trunk.”
-“ Boats with bad boys in them always upset on Sunday.”
-“ Jim said he was ‘down on them milk-sops.’”
-“ nothing like it ever happened in those mild little books with marbled backs, and with pictures in them of men with swallow-tailed coats and bell-crowned hats, and pantaloons that are short in the legs, and women with the waists of their dresses under their arms, and no hoops on.”
-“ then tell him to come and make his home with him, and sweep out the office, and make fires, and run errands, and chop wood, and study law, and help his wife to do household labors, and have all the balance of the time to play, and get forty cents a month, and be happy.”
4. The paragraph started as if he turned his life around but he ended up killing his family. Then, the narrator said Jim was respected throughout town and was part of the Legislature. A bad boy like him should not be respected let alone be trusted at a high position. He should be punished but never was.
5. Mark Twain is pointing out that one does not know another person’s past and should not expect what they assume. Also, Twain is trying to show the conformity of bad boys in short stories.
1. A parody is defined as a humorous imitation that purposely copies another work in a comical way.
2. The details that contribute to the humor in the Story of the Bad Little Boy are that the little boy in the story’s name is Jim, but in most other stories the bad little boy’s name is James. Usually in other stories, the bad little boy’s mother is ill and in this story the boy’s mother is perfectly fine and healthy. Jim’s mother is also unloving and seems to not care about her son. The boy in this story is not severely punished when he does something bad and then has to repent and think about what he did. There is a contract between Jimmy and James. Everything works out for Jim but it doesn’t for James in the books. Jim doesn’t get punished for the bad things he does, but James always gets punished. Jim also gets away with almost everything he does, including hurting his little sister.
3. Twain uses many storytelling tricks such as the stark contrast between Jim and James. In the beginning of every paragraph, Twain displays parallelism with the use of the word “once.” Twain uses alliteration in the paragraph about Jim going boating: “storm,” “Sunday,” and “struck.” He makes many allusions to the usually Sunday school books. He also builds the character of Jim throughout the story. Twain uses “Jim with a charmed life” in a sarcastic way because even though Jim did have somewhat of a charmed life, but what he decided to do with his life was not charmed.
4. Penultimate is the second to last: second to last in a series or sequence. This refers to the second to last paragraph of the story in which Jim thinks of all the bad things he did and has no remorse. \
5. Twain wrote The Story Of The Bad Little Boy because he wanted to show that not all bad school boys are like the ones in the stories.
1. A parody is defined as a piece of writing, music, etc., that imitates the style of someone or something else in an amusing way.
2. Five details that contribute to the humor of this story are: his name is Jim instead of James, how he felt no guilt while eating his mother’s jam and he didn’t have a change of heart or conscience after replacing it with tar, he survived stealing apples from the farmer, he laughed when the good boy got in trouble for a knife that Jim stole, he didn’t drown while boating on a Sunday. All of these actions he doesn’t get in serious trouble for, contribute to the humor of the story because everyone expects him to die while doing these bad things.
3. Twain makes this somewhat macabre story entertaining through a plethora of “tricks” including: the repetition of the word “no” to show that what you expected to happen to Jim, didn’t. There are many rhetorical questions, contradictory sentences that compare what would happen in normal Sunday school story and what actually happened. Twain often uses parallelism and even assonance to emphasize certain words and stress how wicked of a child Jim is.
4. The second to last paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story by showing how awful of a person Jim turned out to be, but also how successful. He becomes rich and powerful which pokes fun at how the bad children in Sunday school stories don’t always die or become good.
5. Twain wrote this story to bring attention to the fact that not all wicked people are punished in real life. The Sunday school stories being told to these children aren’t realistic, sometimes evil prevails and horrible people become successful.
1.A parody is an imitation of a certain person or work that is usually humorous.
2.The details that contribute to the story’s humor are the fact that the little boy’s name is Jim. Usually the bad little boys in stories are named James. Another detail is that his mother is not ill nor is she anxious for Jim like mothers in other stories. Jim also does not have the guilty conscience that other little boys seem to have in other stories. Jim also never seems to be punished for the things he does as opposed to James. In addition Jim does not apologize for his actions and ask for forgiveness; he simply does not care.
3.Twain uses storytelling tricks such as parallelism by using “once at the beginning of every paragraph. He also frequently refers back to the Sunday-school story books making allusions to them. Twain makes a contrast between Jim and James throughout the story. Twain also uses sarcasm and alliteration many times throughout the story.
4.The penultimate paragraph contributes to the sarcasm of the story by using the expression “charmed life’ to describes Jim’s life. Although Jim got away with the awful things he did his actions were not charmed.
5.Twain seriously wrote this story to show that not all bad is punished with bad and not all good is rewarded with good as i should be. Twain also wrote it to teach a lesson that although a life like Jim’s may seem charmed it is the actions of the life that truly make i charmed.
1. A parody is a mockery or imitation of a certain original work in humor.
2. Everything that usually happened in the Sunday School stories didn't with Jim. He did not have a sick mother, he did consider his wrongdoings and not do them such as with the jam, he was not hurt when he stole apples, they did not find out that he stole the penknife, and he went boating on Sunday and didn't drown.
3. Twain compares and contrasts the differences between the other stories and Jim's. He uses metaphors to create humor which makes the story better such as his elephant metaphor. He uses alliteration in sentences like Widow Wilson's son. He uses parallelism numerous times and cleverly names and describes things.
4. What Jim does is not normal and is unusual just as everything else he did was.
5. Twain wrote the story to disprove the stereotypes of what actually happens to people realistically. Jim was bad but nothing happened to him.
1. A parody is an imitation of a certain writing style that on many occasions pokes fun at the writing style or a particulars author of that writing style.
2. Jim never gets hurt or in trouble no matter what he does. You would expect him to get into trouble at some point in the story but he never does. It's humorous that Twain constantly calls your attention to the ways in which Jim is not like the James in all the other Sunday school stories. His mother is not sick and she treats Jim badly but the story makes very light of it which is humorous. It's funny that when you think something is going to happen to Jim, the outcome is never what you expect.
3. The story is very easy to read as if it were written for small children which makes it light and entertaining to read. Twain repeats information such as the fact that his name is Jim not James and his mother is not sick. It's funny that he talks about vulgar and morbid topics such as death in a childlike manner. He uses parallel structure when talking about Jim's actions and comparing him to all the Jameses.
4. The penultimate paragraph, the second to last paragraph, lists ridiculous and what seem to be very exaggerated stunts that Jim has pulled that you would expect him to receiver dire consequences for but he doesn't so much as get reprimanded or a slap on the wrist for them.
5. I think Twain wrote this story purely for entertainment purposes but also to make fun of Sunday school stories and how they are all written the same way and about the same thing.
1. A parody is a work which imitates an original work in a mocking or joking manner.
2. The ways that contribute humor to the story are, first of all, how the good boy gets in trouble for something he didn’t do while Jim flees. Also, when Jim seems that he’s going to finally get punished, he gets lucky and gets away. Another is how Twain describes what would usually happen in the Sunday School books and how they contradict the story. A final detail is the reaction from Jimmy when called James.
3. Some tricks used by Twain are the way he says what would happen in the Sunday School books versus the story. He also makes it suspenseful because you wonder if the boy will get punished. He made much unexpected endings to all the stories. His comparisons, parallel structure, creativity, and irony all contribute.
4. It contributes to the sarcasm because it describes successful things gained followed by the bad ways they were made.
5. I believe Twain wrote this story to explain real life. He tries showing that sometimes those who earn things in the wrong way may achieve what they want but that does not mean it’s the right way to do it. This was the serious aspect of his story.
1. A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
2. - All bad Sunday-school boys named James have sick mothers
- Jim became a part of legislature
- Jim always got away with anything he did
- Jim is "universally respected"
- The conflict of how Jim "bore a charmed life" but also "is the infernalist wickedest scoundrel in his native village."
3. - "Boats with bad boys and books in them always upset a Sunday" (Alliteration)
- The entire story is ironic because Jim should have learned his lesson as the other boys did, but instead got away with everything and continued his wicked ways and became a respected man
- "The good little boy who always obeyed his mother,and never told an untruth,and who was infatuated with Sunday-school" (Hyperbole)
- The tone of the story is very cold, as shown in the second to last line with the words "infernalist wickedest scoundrel"
- The conflict of Jim vs Himself such as in "He did the crying himself" and the conflict of Jim vs Society as in "Jim hated moral boys"
4. The second to last paragraph states that Jim grew up, got married, had children, axed his family to death, got away with it, became wealthy, is universally respected and became a member of Legislature. This is sarcastic because Jim was the most wicked little boy yet was charmed. His life is a contradiction because he should have died or been seriously injured by all of the terrible things he did, but instead he grew up and became a highly respected man in his village.
5. The meaning behind this story is to show that good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people to teach them lessons. This is the same message that is found in Psalm 73. The author of Psalm 73 writes in verses 1-3, "Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." This narrator states that he thinks God is good to all who are pure in heart, but he envies the prosperity of the wicked. I think that the bad things that happen to good people teach them lessons and discourage them from asserting themselves completely. This in turn limits the "good people's" ability to prosper. The message found in "The Story Of The Bad Little Boy" is the same inherent message found in Billy Joel's song "Only The Good Die Young."
1.A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect
2.There are many details that contribute to the humor of the story of the Bad Little Boy. The bad little boy does not get caught for any of his actions and the “good boy” is even punished instead. Mark Twain compares the traditional Sunday Stories with the plot of his story. He is poking fun and highlighting the possibilities of the bad boys not always learning their lessons in the Sunday Stories. Jim never gets caught for any of his sins and ends up with a happy, fairytale ending. The bad boy never regretted his sins and instead came home “as drunk as a piper.” Lastly, Mark Twain pokes fun at the Sunday Stories’ clique of having the name “James” opposed to the name “Jim.”
3.Mark Twain uses multiple rhetorical devices to make his story entertaining and humorous. He uses alliteration when stating, “boats with bad boys.” This is also an example of consonance with the repeating “b.” Mark Twain uses parallel structure when starting lines with “bad boys…” Twain uses the word “infernalist.” This word relates to the devil and Twains use of it successfully shows how Jim is like the devil. Twains uses the line, “drunk as a piper,” to show how pleased Jim is with himself and how he feels no regret for his transgressions.
4.The penultimate paragraph contributed to the sarcasm of the story because despite possible assumptions that the bad boy would repent for his sins, he lives a charmed and happy life, contrary to the pain that he inflicted on others.
5.I believe Mark Twain wrote this story to show that not every person is going to do the right thing and that not doing the right thing does not always mean you live a terrible life. I think he is trying to convey the message that life goes on. Also in the story he writes about how the boy was neglected. I think he might be conveying that sometimes children act out, not because they need to learn a lesson, but because they want to be noticed.
1. A parody is an imitation of something serious in a humorous, almost satirical manner.
2. Mark Twain uses sarcasm throughout The Story of the Bad Little Boy to make it humorous. Twain also compares the boy in his story to bad little boys in Sunday-school books and points out the frankness of Jim’s situation without sugar-coating it, so to speak. Twain is also making fun of the typical Sunday-school books by constantly referencing them in comparison to his bad little boy story. The harshness used in Mark Twain’s story could also be humorous in that the readers would not expect such things to happen and the thought of them happening is silly. The author also presents humorous details when he mentions that Jim becomes part of the Legislature but is also a wicked scoundrel, which is him making fun of the Legislature at the time, the government.
3. In The Story of the Bad Little Boy, the author frequently alludes to Sunday-school books and directly contradicts Jim’s story with theirs in order to show the distinction between the two. Twain also uses brief, simple phrasing to get straight to the point and give the work a sort of levity. Mark Twain references well known tales such as a boy going out in a storm on the Sabbath and being struck by lightning to make the piece familiar to his audience and show the difference between Jim and his story from the stereotypical “bad little boy” tales of the time. Using phrases such as “oh no,” and “How this Jim ever escaped is a mystery to me,” gives the story a more personable tone that’s easier for the reader to relate to and become interested in. Twain also produces an unexpected ending in saying that the little bad boy ended up being widely accepted and full of luck to interest the reader in this most peculiar story.
4. The penultimate (second to last) paragraph sarcastically explains how the boy, although a wicked scoundrel, still became widely respected and a part of the powerful Legislature. This lightly and sarcastically insults the current government in the author’s time and is humorous to the reader who feels similarly.
5. Twain wrote this story to break away from the typical Sunday-school story and tell a humorous, sarcastic story about a bad little boy who never learned to be good from a central moral or theme of the story. Mark Twain was also indirectly challenging his readers to not just jump on the bandwagon, so to speak, and to do what you as an individual want to do, just as he wrote contradicting against the tales of “bad little boys” that were so common in this time.
1) Parody is usually a remake of a song, movie, or anything that was created by and artists or writer. But the remake is intended to insult, imitate the person, or make into a funny version of the original piece.
2) The details that contribute to the humor of the story is that it compares how the story should actually be and how the story actually is. Also whenever you think Jim is going to learn a lesson he gets away with plain luck. Also it shows Jim as this untouchable person because he never gets caught with doing any bad deeds. Also another humorous thing is that everything that happens to Jim doesn’t happen to him, but he also a bad boy. And Twain in the beginning would tell his audience what would really happen at Sunday school then he would tell his actual story.
3) Some tricks Twain used that he would make the Sunday School Books into a parody. Twain also used a lot of irony in the writing. Another trick is that he would lists thing that should happen then say the things that did happen. Twain also uses comparison. And also his story was comparative.
4) The penultimate paragraph contribute to the sarcasm of the story because it says he grew up and married, and raised large family, this stuff is what you typically here in a happy fairy tale; a big family with a white picket fence. But then Twain changed it up and said Jim got rich from doing sinful things.
5) Twian didn’t really write the story for seriousness, Twain was best known for satires.
1) A parody is something created to mock or make fun of something
2) -He is slightly abused rather than loved
-God speaks to him
- He got whipped
-he doesn't get punished for many of the bad things he does.
3)- Widow Wilson
-Irony
-Sunday School
-Archaic language
4) Penultimate means "next to last"
That paragraph is showing that his bad deeds got him a good life
5) It shows that people can sometimes get away with the things that they shouldnt, and that not all people are good.
1. A parody is an imitation of a literary work that is exaggerated to produce a comical effect. This funny effect is achieved by imitating noticeable/ constant features in a famous piece of literature.
2. Many details contribute to the humor of this story. For one, Jim is a mischievous boy who gets away with all the wrongs he commits. Secondly, the story is very unrealistic. Jim does strange out of the ordinary things that are funny although harmful. This story is also funny because it is a parody of other books who deal with morality.
3. Twain uses strange archaic diction such as pantaloons and other outdated words. He uses alliteration of the 'b' as in bad little boy. Also, Twain uses metaphors such as justice of the peace and parallelism.Twain writes what Jim specifically doesn't do, and then follows with his actions. The story is comprised of many hyperboles too.
4. The penultimate paragraph or second to last paragraph contributes to the sarcasm because it gives more examples of how everything goes well for Jim, even though he sins horribly.
5. I think twain wrote this story to make fun of repitious children books who taught about morality.
1. A parody is a satirical imitation of a story of some kind.
2. Mark Twain uses specific details that imitate the Sunday School stories to make the story funny such as: his name is Jim not James; He laughs when the good boy gets in trouble for Jim stealing the knife; he felt no remorse or guilt for eating his mother’s jam and replacing it with tar; nothing bad happened to him when he stole the apples from the farm; he didn’t drown when he went out boating on Sunday.
3. Mark Twain uses rhetorical questions like in paragraph three to show that Jim literally has no second thoughts or doubts about doing the wrong thing. He also uses contradictions between what would ordinarily happen versus what actually happens. In doing that he also uses the word “no” often to flat out show that Jim had the complete opposite happen to him. The language Twain uses throughout the whole story makes it sound sarcastic and therefore funny.
4. The next to last paragraph shows the sarcasm and irony of the story by showing how even though Jim was a horrible person, he turned out to be rich and successful. It contradicts the result of the standard Sunday School stories in which the bad children occasionally die or undergo a complete overhaul and become good people.
5. Twain wrote the story to convey the message that bad things don’t always happen to bad people, they can get away with it, which is why they don’t always act in a moral manner.
1. A parody is an imitative work created to mock, an original work by means of satiric or ironic imitation
2. 1) The comparissons to the sterotypical bad little boy, James; 2) Jim's various misdeeds that are contrasted to the deeds of James; 3) the conversational style of the story; 4) the way Jim's life has played out, that he has no reason to be as bad as he is; and 5) Jim's great luck despite his terrible behavior.
3. 1) The story is written in a way that involves the audience through it's almost converational tone; 2) the blunt way that the narrator describes other characters, for example, Jim's mother; 3) the very discriptive and expressive language; 4) he uses a tongue-in-cheek kind of humor; and 5) continual contrast with the sterotypical bad little boy named James.
4. It takes a darker turn in the story with how Jim went on to be rotten in his adult life, and then makes a joke about how he went on to the legislature.
5. Probably as a tale about how some people are just plain wicked, and they don't always get what they deserve. That a lot of times these sinful people get important jobs and go on to be in charge of important things, and that It cannot be allowed.
1. A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
2. The fact that Twain talks directly to the audience, as in, "you will notice," contributes to the humor and mocking tone of the story. Another humorous detail of the story is that the little boy's name is Jim, not James, which is just a nickname from James, but it shows that he is not like all the other bad little boys. Also, because Jim's mother is not sick and on her deathbed, it becomes a humorous factor because Twain mocks this detail as always being part of Sunday school stories. Another detail that makes "The Story of the Bad Little Boy" funny is that Twain states that Jim hates moral boys, which is exactly the opposite of what the Sunday schools want to teach. A final humorous detail is that in the end, Jim grows up to be extremely successful with a great life, despite his bad-boy habits as a child, and he never was chided to become a good boy.
3. One entertaining trick Twain uses is parallelism, specifically anaphoras, at the beginning of each paragraph with the word "once." Another storytelling trick used by Twain is the constant run-on sentences, with a ton of uses of "and." Twain also uses personification as a storytelling trick in the cases of calling jam and tar bullies. A fourth entertaining trick used in the story is the use of strange language such as, "Jim said he was 'down on them milk-sops,'" or getting "torn" by the farmer's dog. A final humorous trick Twain uses is that he keeps referring to Jim as having a "charmed" life despite being a bad boy, when he is supposed to be having a life full of repercussions and consequences.
4. The penultimate paragraph contributes to the overall sarcasm of the story because is describes how Jim never truly was fixed of his sinful ways, but he still became successful and famous. This completely goes against every story the Sunday schools wanted to teach about how bad boys and girls must repent and become good boys and girls to be successful.
5. Twain wrote this story to mock the usual Sunday school tales and their stereotypical events and details. Twain is expressing that not everybody has to be the perfect, ideal little boy or girl to turn out well and have a bright future.
1. A parody is a comedic imitation or retelling of a story.
2. Everything you thought would happen to Jim didn’t happen, he was bad but nobody cared, he murdered his family and then became a respected member of the legislature, he got rich from cheating and lying, and his mother did the opposite of what most mothers would do.
3. Twain uses sarcasm, alliteration, irony, metaphors, and personification.
4. The penultimate paragraph contributed to the sarcasm because it listed something Jim did, then what would have happened in a “Sunday school book”, then told what actually happened, which would be the opposite of the Sunday school outcome of the action.
5. The serious reason that Twain wrote this is that it tells people the truth that bad people don’t always “get what’s coming to them” in real life.
1. A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist or genre with intentional exaggeration for comic effect.
2. Mark Twain uses things like irony and sarcasm to contribute to the humor of this parody The Bad Little Boy. It is ironic that that Jim and James are equally bad little kids but Jim is able to escape the situation without any reprimand or consequences. The Irony and sarcasm come to together with the fact that Jim grows up to be wealthy and ends up living a great life. What is sarcastic about this is that although Jim never is reprimanded and never gets caught he still turns out to be wealthy and we all know that in reality for some one like Jim their luck will eventually run out and all their bad deeds will catch up to them.
3. Mark Twain uses parallelism quite often in this story, along with the use of metaphors and an occasional paradox. Twain also uses the fact that every situation Jim skates by and never gets caught. Jim is that lucky kid that it seems like is always in the right place at the right time. In a way you could also add the fact that Jim literally has no morals at all and is still never reprimanded sort of humorous.
4. In Twain’s penultimate, or second to last paragraph, it uses the element of sarcasm when ironically with all of the horrible wrongdoings that Jim has done not one ever comes back and bites him in the butt. He is never affected by them and never has any consequences for his actions.
5. The lesson that we can learn from this and is most likely the reason Twain wrote this story was to present to his readers the idea that even though Jim gets away with everything that is not the case with everyone so be yourself and don’t try to be like a Jim if you aren’t Jim because you will end up like James and be punished.
1. A parody is an imitation designed to show comic flaws in something.
2. Nothing could hurt him.
How this Jim ever escaped is a mystery to me.
Once he climbed up in Farmer Acorn's apple-tree to steal apples, and the limb didn't break,
and he didn't fall and break his arm,
and get torn by the farmer's great dog
3. Irony, you expect unfortunate things to happen to Jim but instead he always seems to get away.
4. It shows how an ordinary man is not always who he seems to be
5. He wrote to show politicians and even just the ordinary man can be corrupt
1. A parody is a story that is similar to a story, song, or movie that it is paralleling but changes the most prominent parts of the story to usually get humor by making fun of its source.
2. Jim blames another boy for stealing the teacher’s knife pen, he replaces jam with tar, he steals apples from Mr. Acorn’s orchard, he punches his sister, everytime he makes trouble, the story parallels it to what a Sunday School story would be like.
3. He makes the boy think about what would happen if he got caught putting tar in the jam jar (rhetorical question), the fact that Jim simply didn’t care if he got caught, “and brained them all with an axe one night,” gives the story humor, how it always refers to the Sunday School books, and Twain constantly uses the theme of Sunday in his story.
4. It shows that nothing bad ever happened to him and you’d think that something bad would happen at least at the end.
5. To show that the Sunday School lessons were purely for instructing on moral goodness and not everything in them will happen.
1.) A parody is an copycat piece of work that usually satirizes and mocks the original.
2.) The story satirizes Sunday School novels by allowing Jim to escape being bad with no punishments. The irony with Jim’s mother, going boating on a Sunday, becoming an alcoholic, stealing a pocket knife, and stealing apples all as further humor for the parody.
3.) Mark Twain repeatedly mocks Sunday School books in his story. One phrase he uses that adds humor is, “This Jim bore a charmed life - that must have been the way of it.” Again he is mocking Sunday School stories. There is assonance in the story with the phrase, “and now he is the infernalist wickedest scoundrel in his native village.” The metaphor “drunk as a piper” is used. The structure of the story shows the iron of Jim’s actions as a whole.
4.) The second to last paragraph or penultimate paragraph continues the progression of Jim’s story. It shows him getting married and having a family, then killing them. Does he get in trouble…of course not. He becomes extremely wealthy by stealing riches; he doesn't get caught. The theme of this paragraph holds true throughout the whole story. Jim never gets punished for his actions, no matter how terrible they are.
5.) The purpose of the story is to mock traditional Sunday School stories and to even show how in reality, there is no steadfast “poetic justice”.
1.) A parody is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
2.) The name of the farmer adds to the comedy. The farmer's name is "Farmer Acorn."
The fact that Jim belongs to the Legislature in the end of the story is funny.
The stock character George was amusing. He is the good boy who does everything honorably, but in the end he is blamed with the theft of the pocket knife.
The tone that Twain uses at the end of paragraph six was amusing. He wrote, "How this Jim ever escaped is a mystery to me." He pretends to be amazed, but he isn't.
I was amused by the reference to aqua fortis. One can only imagine the results of drinking aqua fortis.
3.) Twain uses anaphora (Once).
Twain uses irony all throughout the story.
Twain uses rhetorical questions a few times.
Twain uses sarcasm.
I noticed that Twain writes "No;" quite a few times.
4.)The penultimate story is kind of a parody of the "and they lived happily ever after" that one reads in Disney tales. The paragraph (or sentence?) is exaggerating the lack of morals in the story.
5.) Twain wrote this story to mock people who think that life always rewards the good and always punishes the evil. Sometimes the reverse is true. He writes to mock.
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