A Presidential Candidate is a man which everyone believes to be honest and trustworthy. He displays himself as being the ideal person but usually the press usually can dig up junk on him. In "A Presidential Candidate," Twain evokes a sarcastic tone in order to mock Presidential Candidates by using diction, selection of detail, and irony.
             Twain uses diction to mock the presidential candidate. Twain states how the Congressional committee "prowl" around his biography in hope of discovering any dirt on Twain. Twain is mocking how even though a Presidential Candidate looks clean, there is always people waiting to dig up dirt on him. When Twain shoots his grandfather, he states he did it with "heartless brutality". This is a statement about how even though all the Presidential Candidates seem courteous towards people, deep inside they all want to win with a feeling of heartless brutality. Twain compares the Presidential candidates fight with a "Napoleonic" grandeur. Napoleon was a bold yet foolish man who was a violent man who always believed that he can win. On the same level, The Presidential Candidates are bold yet they are foolish at times and believe they are invincible, yet with this dogged attitude, they will all eventually face their own Waterloo. Twain uses diction well to mock the presidential candidates.
             Twain uses selection to emphasize the type of person the presidential candidates are. Twain first admits shooting his "rheumatic grandfather." This is a very sinful deed with really a tragic yet comical ending. Twain mocks the Presidential candidates being soulless subhuman beings who will destroy anything that gets in there way even something small like a still person. When Twain admits burying his dead aunt under grape vies he comically stated that the "vine needed fertilizing." Twain mocks the Presidential Candidates on how they will give out any stupid excuse
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