Throughout the decades, the work of Mark Twain acquired fame and popularity through its ability to entertain the audience. Twains most popular works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and the sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, never fail to live up to their reputation. Twain uses a certain style of writing in order to achieve his desired mood. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, the themes of rural society, freedom and adventure gain representation through literary elements such as irony, and, more evident, satire.
             Throughout the story, Twain consistently uses the literary element of satire to portray the rural Missouri lifestyle. The most evident use of satire appears on nearly every page of the story through the dialect of the characters. One page ninety -seven, Huckleberry says such things as "T'aint thunder... they done that last summer!" At the same time, Tom responds with "somebody's drownded!" This dialect shows the characters lack of education and sophistication. On page thirty -seven, Tom attempts answer a question about the names of the first two disciples. Tom responds with confidence "DAVID AND GOLIATH!" This situation demonstrates the ignorance of the characters as well as any other example in the entire story. On page forty -seven, Huck and Tom show their ignorance again along with a satirical example of rural society. Tom says, "What's that you got?" Huck responds, "dead cat." The conversation continues with an argument over whether dead cats or "spunk water" cure warts better. Satirical examples such as these throughout the story exemplify the lifestyle of rural Missouri.
             Twain also uses another literary element, irony, to represent adventure and freedom. Like satire, irony occurs on nearly every page of the book. On page twenty -three, Tom Sawyer cons other boys into performing his chores. When Tom tells his Aunt Polly that he completed his chores, Aunt Polly becomes overwhelme...