Hyperbole In A Presidential Candidate

Mark Twain in his essay “A Presidential Candidate” uses hyperbole, irony, and diction to accost politicians and show their faults to the well-read voters. Twain’s use of hyperbole, which is seen through his past stories such as the incident involving his grandfather, establishes an exaggerated sense of himself as a candidate which creates the image of a forthright yet malicious man running for office. He also uses reductio ad absurdum to show the ridiculousness of the politicians running for office and how they are deceitful about small things while he is willing to tell how he killed his grandfather for snoring. Twain’s diction as seen through such phrases as “prowl”, “heartless brutality”, and “Napoleonic” set up a sarcastic tone that was

crucial to the pieces’ point of proving politicians as untrustworthy. He describes congress as “prowling” for hidden truths to uncover on politicians, which shows the inhuman qualities politicians have and how they are not the people we want running the country. The irony which Twain employs throughout his essay such as “I wanted my country saved…get over the fence and go home” shows the glaring truth about politicians, how they are spineless miscreants parading in a nice suit. Another glaring example of irony in the essay is the stories Twain tells of killing his grandfather, burying his great aunt, and running away from the civil war; all of this things are seen as dastardly yet since he is running for office it is amazing that he was so forthcoming with his faults but if said by anyone else it is seen as purely negative, this shows the negative outlook on politicians and their look expectations. The truth of politicians being two sided individuals is brought to the light with each new statement on Twain’s campaign stand and shows the lack of qualification of most political candidates.