Divay Bhasin

Dr. Lauren McGuire

English 102 – 11:00 am

November 1, 2019

“Advice to Youth”

Journal/Response

Mark Twain offers his view in an essay appropriately titled “Advice to Youth”. Expectedly, the

essay reflects Twain’s sense of humor and is best summed up as question authority and be a kid.

Written almost as a guidebook, Twain starts off by telling his audience to always obey their

parents when they are watching. Parents think they know better than you, and it is wise to humor

them while in their presence. Further on authority, he instructs to respect it, especially with

strangers. Basic respect should be given to everyone, though, if someone is to wrong you, you

should wait for your opportunity and hit them with a brick. “Leave dynamite to the low and

unrefined.” Lying is a careful art, one that must not be used until the liar has perfected their

skills, Mark warns. You must be good at it before you attempt it, otherwise you will get caught

and can never again be “in the eyes of the good and pure, what you were before.” Twain goes on

to point out the irony behind the largest lie of all: “Truth is mighty and will prevail.” He uses the

example of the man who supposedly invented anesthesia; there is a monument to him in Boston.

The man portrayed in the statue is not anesthesia’s true inventor, rather he is the man who

formulated the clever lie to give himself the credit. These are the type of lies Mark Twain urges

his readers to work for, “a truth is not hard to kill, and a lie told well is immortal.” Twain

encourages the readers to have fun, use their imaginations, and pretend despite the disapproval of
others. He uses the example of kids playing with unloaded firearms and describing the outcry of

such acts and ridiculous views in a large drawn out sarcastic manner. The essay ends with Twain

asking the reader to heed his words and to apply them to their life. In the last sentence though, he

seems to contradict himself and ask the reader to completely disregard everything he has just told

them. “You will be surprised and gratified to see how nicely and sharply it (the reader’s

character) resembles everybody else’s.” He almost appears to be encouraging the reader to never

take things such as this wholeheartedly, and instead blaze their own trail. I enjoyed the essay; it

was quite in character of Mark Twain. Though it is listed in a book of essays, it is rather a

speech, or it was at least originally written as one. It is easy to imagine Twain reading it with the

pauses in the right places, I could start to see his wit and dry humor leaking through the lines.

With the ending statement, the essay takes the form of less than actual advice and rather

something to make you think, smile a little, and go about your life while pondering it in the back

of your head. He challenges the cliché that had originally been put forth by the “Advice to

youth” sort of genre and rather give off the tone of “have fun and be free”.