Abstract：Mark Twain is the realistic writer of nineteenth century, he is as humorous as witty. It can be said that he is one of the well known people in the United States. He enjoys a high reputation - Lincoln of literary history. The slightest mention of his works brings infinite admiration for his talent. His works are mainly dominated by humor and irony, filled with personal wit and witticism, and there is no lack of profound social insight and analysis. Mark Twain had said that : “The human race has one really effective weapon, that is laughter”.” In Twain’s novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, he incisively and vividly demonstrated the humorous style, and it is a way of description of the real social life in that time.  

As we all know that humor is one of the relatively complicated mechanisms. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom is an orphan who is adapted by Aunt Polly, he usually enjoys running a risk with his friend Joe Huckleberry. Mark Twain depicted the image of Tom Sawyer, a child-image which famous around the literary world. He also reflected the western American people’s life through his masterpiece. The paper analyze the art of Mark Twain’s humor by combining the story happened background, the writing background, the hero Tom’s character, Mark Twain’s humorous plots and figure of speech. My research is also include the function of Mark Twain’s humorous device in characterization and thematic construction. At the end of the paper, I’m going to put up with the meaning of the humor to the old society and the modern days.

Key words: Humor; Irony；Mark Twain; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

CONTENTS

摘要

Abstract

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Introduction of the author-1

1.2 Social background of the work-1

1.3 Gist of the novel -2

1.4 Literary status of the work-3

1.5 Purpose of the research-4

2. Exploration of the art of humor of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer-5

    2.1 Humor Derived from Plots-5

        2.1.1 The humorous plots about Aunt Polly-5

        2.1.2 The humorous plots about Tom-6

2.2Humor Derived from Language ----figures of speech-8             

  2.2.1 Hyperbole-8

        2.2.2 Metaphor-9

        2.2.3 Irony-10

2.3 Function of the Humor-12

    2.3.1 To the society at that time-12

    2.3.2 To modern society-13

3. Conclusion-14

References-15

Acknowledgement-16