In 1895, Mark Twain wrote down his formula for telling a humorous story. The speaker must know how and when to deliver the punchline, learn to be seemingly indifferent to their own humor, and demonstrate mastery of the pause. A few years later, in his autobiography, Twain explained how he had to learn to follow his own advice. He was perplexed because the version of the story “His Grandfather's Old Ram” published in Roughing It “could not be read aloud” (Autobiography, 177). In order to remedy this, Twain made changes to the story allowing the same enjoyment and humor that a reader got from the Roughing It version to be shared by an audience who heard the story come out of the Twain's mouth. In his autobiography, Twain "recites" the modified oral version, so that the reader "may compare it with the story of Roughing It, if he wishes, and note how different the spoken version is from the written version and printed” (Auto, 177). This essay examines the two versions paying particular attention to their similarities and highlights their differences. It attempts to answer the question of why one can be recited effectively before an audience, while the other cannot – a question that Twain said even though he was "unable to explain clearly and definitively" (Self, 181). Say no to plagiarism. . Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The respective versions differ significantly in how they begin the story. Echoing his story of Jim Smiley and his Jumping Frog in the settings of that someone, Twain stands up to hear a story that goes nowhere, the Roughing It version focuses much more on Twain explaining how it is come to hear the story, while the oral description tells why he now chooses to share it with us. In the written account, Twain sets the scene somewhat literally in introducing the scene. All reporting questions are answered in the first paragraph. Who told the story? “Jim Blaine.” What is it about? “His grandfather’s old ram.” When did he say it? “One evening. . . [when] he was quietly, serenely, symmetrically drunk. Where was the storyteller? “He was sitting on an empty powder magazine.” And finally, why was the story told to Twain? Because “his curiosity was keen to hear it” (RI, 287). In the introduction to the oral history, less attention is given to how Twain came to hear the story than to the lesson that can be learned from it. I hear it said now. “The idea of ​​the story,” Twain said, “is to show certain bad effects of a good memory: the kind of memory that is too good, that remembers everything and forgets nothing” (Auto, 177). The historian (Twain does not call him Jim Blaine in the later version) is described as having this type of memory, and the audience is told that this can be seen in his often begun, but never finished, story of his son's ram. grandfather. The memory of the historian, on which the whole joke is based, is not addressed at all in the setting up of the written version. The historian is described a lot about his physical appearance: his round, red face, his disheveled hair and his bare throat, but nothing is said about his storytelling technique which would indicate what is going to happen. For all we know, we're going to hear a funny story about an old ram. This is a significant difference between the two versions because in the oral narrative the audience is essentially prepared for what is to come. They are informed of the joke beforethe punchline is not spoken. This audience information is one of the main reasons why the Autobiography version works well when recited, while the Roughing It version does not. A story is much more effective for an audience if they can play along with the speaker. In the written version, the reader is just as confused as Twain initially was by Blaine's divergent ramblings. We don't really know what's going on and are wondering when the ram is going to come back into the story. But in the oral version, the audience was told what was going to happen. They know that the ram will disappear from focus, which only makes this event even more humorous. Twain wastes no time pushing the ram out of the spotlight in the Roughing It version. In fact, one of the most notable differences between the written version and the oral version is the simple fact that in the former, the word "ram", which is apparently the central point of the story, only appears 'only once. In Roughing It, the second sentence of Jim Blain's story, "there never was a more tyrannical old ram than he," is the first, and especially the last, the reader hears of the ram (RI, 288 ). In direct contrast to this, the spoken version uses the word "ram" seven times and is referenced in the pronominal forms "he" or "him" an additional ten times. The audience knows, thanks to Twain's introduction, that the story of the RAM will ultimately become the story of everything. But because of this knowledge, the fact that the ram remains in the spoken version only creates suspense about its imminent departure. Twain knowingly plays with this when he has the historian make his first diversion in which he attempts to determine Smith's true identity, only to return to the ram moments later. The audience, in a sense, here begins to support the historian as if his inner monologues are begging him: "Come on buddy, you're back on the right track." Don't lose it now. But of course he does, and by the time he makes his second detour to Smith, we know he's not coming back. The ram is gone for good. It is this teasing suspense that Twain builds in the spoken version, making it more appropriate for a recital. Twain also makes several changes in the language of the play that contribute to the Autobiography version being read aloud with greater effect. The sequences, using the term loosely in this case, are much smoother in the spoken version. This fluidity reduces the jerky effect produced when reading the Roughing It version out loud. This can be seen by comparing the two narratives of the woman who lends her glass eye (Miss Jefferson in Roughing It and Mariar Whitaker in the Autobiography), beginning with her initial gradual entry, through to her gradual withdrawal. Oral version (from the Autobiography, 178) Why look here, one of them married a Whitaker! I think this gives you an idea of ​​the type of society in which the Sacramento Smiths might socialize; there is no better blood than Whitaker's; I think anyone will tell you that. Look at Mariar Whitaker, there was a girl for you! Little? Why yes, she was small, but what about? Look, his heart had a heart like an ox – as good as the day is long; if she had something and you wanted it, you could have it and welcome it; why Mariar Whitaker couldn't have something, and another person needed it and didn't get it, got it and welcomed it. She had a glass eye and she lent it to Flora Ann Baxter who didn't have one. Written version (from Roughing It, 288) Old Deacon Furgesongot up and passed it through the window and lit the head of old Miss Jefferson, poor old filly. She was a good soul, she had a glass eye and she lent it to old Miss Wagner, who didn't have one. It is obvious that we spend a lot more time moving through the oral version than in the written version. Mariar Whitaker's kind heart is described in detail. At Miss Jefferson's, not at all. In the written version, Miss Jefferson is just a dot between two points, while in the oral account, Whitaker is a character in the story. She has a role to play. This shift from transitional pawn to vital role is characteristic of almost all parallel character stories in both versions. In the spoken version, the transitions from person to person, while retaining their ridiculous lightness, flow with greater ease. This increase in fluidity transforms the mood of the audience from frustration with Jim Blaine's ever-changing storytelling technique, to the entertainment of the historian whose "memory has defeated all his attempts to make a horse walk straight" (Auto, 177). It is largely due to this change that the Autobiography version is better interpreted by audiences when read aloud. A large part of the reason why this oral version is performed more effectively than Roughing's story. It lies in the fact that the language of the first place more emphasis is placed on showing rather than telling. In Roughing It, for example, Twain must tell the reader how other people reacted to the grotesquerie of Miss Wagner's rotating glass eye in order to make his point. “The adults didn't pay attention to it, but it almost always made the children cry, it was so frightening” (RI, 288). In this version we read how others reacted to the event and from there we form our opinion. Compare this to the oral version. "As soon as she was excited, this handmade eye would spin, then spin and spin faster and faster, and flashed first blue, then blue, then blue, then screaming, and when it was whistling and blinking like that, the oldest man in the world couldn't follow the expression on that side of his face” (Auto, 179). We no longer just hear what is happening, we see it. We become the frightened child who must turn away. The oral version of Glass Eye's story is an excellent example of how the language of the play. lends itself to spoken performance. The onomatopoetic nature of the words "Whizzing" and "a-whirlin", coupled with the heavy use of alliteration, makes this version quite suitable for spoken discourse. Twain also uses polysyndeton in this. phrase to make it more likely to be recited than read. The excessive use of "and" makes the speaker "edgy" and excited when reciting this line, making his speaking performance even more entertaining. This is evidence of the importance that Twain emphasized in his later essay How to Tell a Story, on the manner of telling being more important than the subject itself. The way Twain then told the story is an obvious explanation for why the Autobiography version read aloud well while the Roughing It version did not. Twain speaks of the many “changes on the platform” that history has made over time, the modern comic equivalent of “mob work” (Auto, 177). Many of these changes in delivery are visible. There are other punchlines, or points as Twain calls them, in the spoken version, which one might expect would elicit laughter from the audience. For example, commenting that the eye of.