Twain Study Questions

1.  Satire is a literary form that blends criticism with humor to the end that human institutions or humanity may be improved.

1.  It is written so that people can see their weaknesses and adjust them to avoid being like the characters in the work.
2.  It is ironic and can be sarcastic.
3.  All humor is based on irony.

A.  What is Twain satirizing in this story?
B.  What is the reputation for Hadleyburg when the story opens and why?
C.  How is the above attitude hypocritical?
D.  In what ways are we still like Hadleyburg?
E.  What is the corrupter’s plot and how does it work?
F.  Would you be tempted? 
G. What sins does the plot tempt people into and how?
H.  Does Twain condemn greed?
I.  How are the Richards treated by Twain?
J.  Twain says on p. 1042, “a sin takes on new and real terrors when there seems a chance that it is going to be found out.  Is a sin a sin if no one else knows about it?
K.  How does this story reflect realism?

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