Mark Twain, a great novelist and teller of tales, once said, "Write what you know about." Twain, using humor to express his views, told fables about men, society, and his love of nature. His writings and stories are as relevant today as they were while he was living.
Twain argued that humor "must not professedly teach and it must not professedly preach, but it must do both if it would live forever. By forever I mean 30 years." Little did Twain realize that his writings and stories would still be predominant in the literary world not just 30 years later, but even 130 years later. He made a point saying that "mere humor" cannot survive. Humor must be directed at a target, and Twain's targets tell us something about his own views on life. Nevertheless, one can engage in social criticism, and still not say anything funny. Who knew that the story of a fourteen-year old boy floating down the Mississippi River with an escaped Negro slave would revolutionize American literature? Yet humor combined with literary maturity and reflection can be devastating, and such a combination of technique will last much longer than 30 years, as Twain's writings have demonstrated. .
Twain was very opinionated when it came to the workings of society and man. Making jokes to prove a point was something that he did well. Many of Twain's jokes helped to prove the theory that half of all jokes are truths. Twain was constantly commenting on Congress referring to them as "that grand old benevolent national asylum for the helpless." I have to agree with the statement that Twain made by saying if Congress would've been there when God said, "Let there be light," we would be living in darkness. Today Congress spends much of their time on petty, trivial matters. Twain says that they have "tongues so handy with information so uncertain." Mark Twain's comment, "The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter they are an entire banquet," leads me to believe that Twain would have had a field day with the Clinton administration.
