Sarcasm by definition completely changes the way a comment or sometimes an entire event is interpreted, often turning an argument on its head, altering the original obvious meaning and revealing it to be almost the opposite. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain uses sarcasm throughout the text to add humor, change the reader's perspective of events, portray a theme or moral, and even just to express his thoughts on a certain topic. The place of satirical sarcasm in the novel may be more important and more complex than it might at first appear. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In these scenes, one of the main reasons Twain uses sarcasm throughout the story is to add humor. Sarcasm makes the story as a whole much funnier, humor being a quality that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is known for. Without such extraordinarily funny moments, the novel probably would not have become so popular among such a diverse group of readers, especially of younger ages. These ridiculous parts of the novel make the story much more appealing, but they serve another purpose beyond pure entertainment. The heavy sarcasm not only makes the book much more interesting, but also adds a layer of depth. Sarcasm turns the novel into a story in which you can more easily get involved and reflect on certain events. For example, the fact that Tom hides under the bed while the women cry over his death makes the scene very different. The ladies cry for their dead son, who of course is right there under her bed. The line: “I hope Tom gets better wherever he is” (Twain 130). is also said by one of the heartbroken women. The fact that Tom is under the bed makes this statement highly ironic, the scene absurd, the women's speech extremely sarcastic, and their emotions impossible to take seriously. As they mourn, instead of just being two women mourning the death of a child, a not at all funny event, the scene takes on new depth and a hidden idea is revealed. The scene is now hilarious and idiotic, and the women's real pain is histrionic. It is not possible to see the scene as sad and serious due to the extreme sarcasm and black humor present. This satire makes you wonder what makes something dejected in the first place and you wonder if there is always a reason for such pain, as in the case of the two women. Their pain could have been easily avoidable and could have ended if they had just peeked under the bed. Sarcasm especially adds the idea that events are not always as they seem at first glance, causing the reader to open their mind to a deeper evaluation of various parts of life. A single concept that Twain loves to poke fun at in the novel is romance. Twain often uses sarcasm to do this. This is demonstrated by the way he consistently portrays the romance between Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher. As the town prepares for the funeral of the seemingly dead boy, Becky wanders the schoolyard, seemingly depressed. She soon begins to sob, unable to stop thinking about Tom. She says to herself, “Oh, if only I had a brass andiron knob again; I have nothing to remind me of it.”(146). Here the events are made sarcastically funny because this love story pokes fun at the typical love story plot. Tom and Becky are only children and instead of a ring Tom gave Becky a doorknob. “Oh, if he had to do it all over again, I wouldn't say it, but now he's gone and I'll never see him again” (146). Becky cried. Taking it again.
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