Growing up my parents taught me the lessons of life, dinner before desert, be yourself, and treat others the way you would like to be treated are just a few. In Mark Twain’s Essay, “Advise to Youth” the dos and don’ts of life are broken down with comedic whit and enlightened charm. Twain contradicts typical wisdom in an interesting way, telling you the realities of life in a more “bread and butter” manner, skipping over deep advice and giving you the authentic truth to how the world works. In this work the reader is left with simplistic, real advice to how the world works but because the morality of it is wrong, you’re left to wonder if Twain has taught you right from wrong simply by telling you the truth.
Twain starts his essay by talking about dealing with parents and your superiors. Rather than telling you to listen because they are wise and know best the way one is typically taught, Twain suggests his readers humor their elders with the idea that they know best. In doing this Twain speaks directly to his teenage audience whom already believes that they know what is best for themselves. Going further into the sarcasm and contradiction throughout the essay, one could suggest Twain was humoring his target reader. By pointing out that humoring adults who believe they know better will get you further to teens who believe they know better, Twain is using his own advice to get through to his reader.
When Mark Twain writes about dealing with people who have offended you he suggests you hit them with a brick when they are unaware. He calls it sufficient and says there is no need to be violent and to leave dynamite to low and unrefined people. Although humorous, Twain is suggesting an immature way of dealing with being offended. The reader enjoys the amusing satire of Twains work while reflecting on themselves and knowing they would never actually hit someone with a