... he "fetch" her a slap side de head dat sont her a" sprawlin". Here Jim is unaware that his daughter's recent scarlet fever has made her deaf. He orders her to get to work one more time, but she still does not respond. Just as he is about to strike her one more ... Aunt Sally hears of a steamboat explosion. "Good gracious! anybody hurt?" she asks. "No"m," comes the answer. "Killed a nigger." "Well, it's lucky, because sometimes people do get hurt." (Twain, 213) Anyone who believes that Mark Twain meant this literally is missing the point. Rather, Twain is using this casual dialogue ironica...

• Word Count: 1716
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School