A CURIOUS DREAM: CONTAINING A MORAL

A CHAT WITH A SKELETON ABOUT DILAPIDATED CEMETERIES.

Mark Twain

Contents

Biography

Plot Summary

Reflection

Samuel Langhorne Clemens Pen Name: Mark Twain “Greatest American humorist of his

age" “The father of American literature". a riverboat pilot, journalist,

lecturer, entrepreneur and inventor The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain as his pen name Mississippi riverboats Twain: an archaic

term of two “According to the

mark [on the line], [the depth is] two [fathoms]”, which means “the water is safe to pass”

His Writing Style Observes and reports images of the

romantic‚ the real‚ the strengths and weaknesses of a rapidly changing world

Full of Humor Written in colloquial style Focuses on human greed‚ cruelty and

questioned the humanity of the human race.

Background A two-part nightmare story lamenting the

neglect of cemeteries 1870, Buffalo A parody of “A Ghost Story”. Not exactly a Gothic fiction A public issue

the woeful neglect of local cemeteries

Main Characters “I”

the fictionalized version of Twain himself

The skeleton John Baxter

Copmanhurst

“Yes, sir, thirty years ago I laid me down there, and was happy. For it was out in the country then – out in the breezy, flowery, grand old woods, and the lazy winds gossiped with the leaves, and the squirrels capered over us and around us, and the creeping things visited us, and the birds filled the tranquil solitude with music. Ah, it was worth ten years of a man’s life to be dead then!”

“Good-by, friend, I must be going. I may have a good way to go to-night –don’t know. I only know one thing for certain, and that is that I am on the emigrant trail now, and I’ll never sleep in that crazy old cemetery again.”

Writing techniques “…and the time of night appeared to be about

twelve or one o’clock. The weather was balmy and delicious. There was no human sound in the air, not even a footstep. There was no sound of any kind to emphasize the dead stillness, except the occasional hollow barking of a dog in the distance and the fainter answer of a further dog.”

Writing techniques “In a minute more a tall

skeleton, hooded, and half clad in a tattered and moldy shroud, whose shreds were flapping about the ribby latticework of its person…He had two-thirds of a coffin on his shoulder, and some foot and head boards under his arm.”

The Neglect of Posterity “it was worth ten

years of a man’s life to be dead then!”

“My grandson lives in a stately house built with money made by these old hands of mine, and I sleep in a neglected grave with invading vermin that gnaw my shroud to build them nests withal!”

Thirty Years Later…

Reflection encourage people living in Buffalo making local

improvement and inspired national reform movements to cemeteries. mocks the materialism at the Gilded Age sentimental about confronting and overcoming the death 饮水思源 ? which means we always have to bear in mind our

forebears’ contribution and show our respect towards them.

THANK YOU