How to Tell a Story Flashcards
by Mark Twain — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: How to Tell a Story
According to Twain, what makes the humorous story uniquely American?
Its effect depends entirely on the manner of telling rather than the content itself, and the art of oral humorous storytelling was created in America.
What are the three types of stories Twain identifies at the start of the essay?
The humorous story (American), the comic story (English), and the witty story (French).
How does Twain contrast the structure of humorous stories with comic and witty stories?
The humorous story may be spun out at great length and arrive nowhere in particular, while comic and witty stories must be brief and end with a clear point.
What metaphor does Twain use to describe the different pacing of these story types?
The humorous story 'bubbles gently along,' while the comic and witty stories 'burst.'
Why does Twain call the humorous story 'strictly a work of art'?
Because it requires 'high and delicate art' and only a skilled artist can tell it, whereas anyone can tell a comic or witty story since those depend only on content.
How should the teller of a humorous story deliver it, according to Twain?
Gravely, concealing any suspicion that there is anything funny about it, as if entirely unaware of the humor.
What does the teller of a comic story do that Twain finds 'pathetic'?
He announces the joke beforehand, tells it with eager delight, laughs first, then repeats the punchline while collecting applause.
What is the 'nub' in Twain's terminology?
The punchline, snapper, or point of a story -- the key moment that delivers the humor.
How does a humorous storyteller handle the nub differently from a comic storyteller?
The humorous teller drops it casually and indifferently, pretending not to know it is the punchline, while the comic teller shouts it at the audience every time.
What four specific techniques define the American art of humorous storytelling?
(1) Stringing incongruities together while seeming unaware they are absurd, (2) slurring the point, (3) dropping a studied remark as if thinking aloud, and (4) the pause.
Who is Artemus Ward, and which techniques did he specialize in?
A celebrated American humorist who specialized in the 'studied remark dropped as if thinking aloud' and the pause -- techniques three and four.
What is the Artemus Ward example Twain provides about the man from New Zealand?
Ward would say excitedly, 'I once knew a man in New Zealand who hadn't a tooth in his head,' pause reflectively, then add dreamily, 'and yet that man could beat a drum better than any man I ever saw.'
How does James Whitcomb Riley retell 'The Wounded Soldier' to humorous effect?
He performs it as a dull-witted old farmer who cannot remember the story, wandering through tedious digressions, corrections, and forgotten details for ten minutes while the audience laughs itself to exhaustion.
What qualities of Riley's farmer character make the performance 'thoroughly charming'?
His perfectly simulated simplicity, innocence, sincerity, and unconsciousness -- he is happy and pleased with himself, quaking with interior chuckles he tries to suppress.
What is 'The Wounded Soldier' anecdote about?
A soldier carrying a legless comrade to the rear doesn't notice a cannonball takes the man's head off, and insists 'he told me it was his leg' when corrected by an officer.
Why does Twain present 'The Wounded Soldier' in its comic form first?
To demonstrate the comic method's flaws -- shouting the punchline, capitalizing it, adding exclamation points -- as a contrast to how the same material becomes art in humorous form.
What typographical choices does Twain mock in the comic story version of 'The Wounded Soldier'?
Italicizing the punchline, adding 'whopping exclamation-points,' and sometimes explaining the joke in a parenthesis.
Why does Twain call the pause 'uncertain and treacherous'?
Because it must be exactly the right length -- too short and the audience anticipates the surprise; too long and the moment passes. There is no formula for getting it right.
What is 'The Golden Arm' and what role does it play in the essay?
A ghost story told in African American dialect that Twain used on the lecture platform to demonstrate how the pause works in humorous oral storytelling.
What happens at the climax of 'The Golden Arm'?
After building suspense with the repeated question 'Who got my golden arm?', the teller pauses, then suddenly jumps at a girl in the audience and yells 'YOU'VE got it!' to startle her.
What specific audience reaction was Twain 'after' when telling 'The Golden Arm'?
Making an impressionable girl deliver a startled little yelp and jump out of her seat.
What does 'slurring the point' mean in Twain's framework?
Downplaying or gliding past the punchline rather than emphasizing it, so the audience must catch it themselves rather than having it thrust upon them.
What does Twain mean by 'dropping a studied remark apparently without knowing it'?
Delivering a carefully prepared comic line as if thinking aloud, making it seem spontaneous and accidental rather than intentional.
What narrative voice and genre does Twain use in this essay?
First-person authoritative voice in the genre of literary criticism and craft essay, drawing on his decades of experience as a platform lecturer.
Who are Dan Setchell and Bill Nye in the context of this essay?
Fellow American humorists Twain cites as practitioners of the technique of casually dropping the nub -- Setchell before Artemus Ward, Nye as a contemporary.
What is the central irony of 'The Wounded Soldier' punchline?
The soldier carrying the body is oblivious to the far more catastrophic injury (decapitation), insisting the wounded man 'told me it was his leg' as if that settles the matter.
How does Twain use 'The Golden Arm' to make the essay itself a performance?
He includes stage directions in parentheses -- when to pause, shiver, wail, stare, and jump -- turning the reader into a potential performer and the essay into a how-to demonstration.
What does 'momsus mean' mean in the dialect of 'The Golden Arm'?
Monstrous mean -- extremely cruel or greedy. It describes the husband who digs up his wife's body to steal her golden arm.