How Does Mark Twain Use Satire In Advice To Youth

Mark Twain's "Advice to Youth" is a satirical essay written mainly to give the youth of America a piece of advice by using humor, sarcasm, and irony to gain the attention of his audience. Mark Twain is Samuel Clemens pen name, he was an American writer, publisher, entrepreneur, and humorist. Twain is most famous for his works The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Twain liked to lean more towards the satirical side of stories; this essay is an example of his satire and humor.

In "Advice to Youth" Twain uses satire to give advice to the youth of America. He plays with words to make it humorous and make fun of authority figures. He wants to teach the youth of America how to look "pure" in authorities figure's eyes. Using phrases such as "Always obey your parents, when they are present" (7) shows his joking manner in

writing this essay.

In other words, this is saying to make your parents think that you are everything they expect and hope because, in the long run, it will make your life much easier. Another tip of advice he gives is "You want to be very careful about lying; otherwise you are nearly sure to get caught" (7), instead of telling them not to lie, he says to only lie once they've mastered the "art" of lying; he talks about becoming a "perfect" liar with "confidence, elegance, and precision". Twain talks about several more issues such as obedience, respect, and even violence. On the violence issue, Twain writes about the use of firearms. Twain writes about how the youth of America should not handle firearms because of their carelessness in handling them and for the sorrow and suffering that it brings upon the innocent. He uses an

example about a grandmother and her grandson, the example is pointless because the gun does no harm. He builds up the tension just to say "there wasn't any harm done" (8). After talking about firearms, Twain goes straight into talking about how the youth of America needs to start reading books. He writes "They are a great, an inestimable, and unspeakable means of improvement." (8). Twain believes youth could sit down and read a good book and it would basically solve most societal problems.
The interpretation of "Advice to Youth" could be taken in many ways. I believe Twain meant to write this essay to make fun of advice that the youth hear all the time. The point of this essay is to conform children to survive, though I do not believe this is a reliable source of advice, it is a good way to relate to the youth of America.