Games of Thrones Part 2 & Mark Twain Notes

            Not only did George R.R. Martin incorporate an ingenious structure in A Game of Thrones, he also uses popular words in their literal meaning instead of their societal meaning. Martin uses words that have drastically different connotations and denotations. In the beginning of the book, the word bastard is used frequently to describe John Snow. At first, I did not understand what Martin was trying to get across when he used the word. I thought the word meant John Snow was not an unpleasant person, however this was not the original intent of bastard in A Game of Thrones. In this novel, bastard means a child that is born out of wedlock or a relationship: a child that is a product of lust.

This word is a crucial piece to the plot of A Game of Thrones because it defines John Snow’s thoughts and actions. Snow feels like an outsider. He is not a true Stark. His outsider status is highlighted through Catelyn’s thoughts about John because she despises Snow—he is a product of Ned’s lust, and she cannot even bear to look at him. This makes him feel unloved, and thus leads to his decision to join The Watch at The Wall. As you can see, the word bastard is essential to the understanding of A Game of Thrones, and I was misconstrued about the meaning of the word until I used context clues to decipher the meaning. Once I was able to figure bastard did not mean an unlikeable person, but a shameful child, everything made sense. This is a perfect example of Martin’s interesting word selection. It forced me to rethink meanings of words as I have to come to understand them in today’s world, such as bastard.

Mark Twain Notes

Mark Twain’s real name is Samuel Clemens

·      Was born in Missouri

·      Was in the Confederate Army for awhile

·      He was a boat master

·      Mark twain was actually a command to check if the water was deep enough to pass through

·      He would travel a lot and write about it

·      Became an expert o regionalism

·      Knew all of the different accents and dialects

·      Colloquialism is when you talk to your peeps—a standard way of speaking

·      Known for aphromism, which is short, witty, sayings

·      Was a realist

o   Wrote about things that were real

o   The environment

o   The language

o   Twain wanted to stay true to region

Structure of Huckleberry Finn

·      Picaresque novel

o   Means it is episodic, and is a journey through different episodes

·      Satire

o   Criticism of human vice using irony, wit, parody

o   Satire illuminates the dark things about being human (vice)

o   Satire is an original work, while a parody is based off another work

·      Sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

·      A southern man’s novel

·      Huckleberry Finn is a poor boy

·      Very witty

·      Satire has 4 techniques

o   Exaggeration

o   Incongruity

o   Parody

o   Reversal

Characters

·      Finn is a very superstitious person

·      Sawyer is educated, middle class person

·      Sawyer is a frivolous person, and is always wanting an adventure

·      Finn is an intelligent person, but is not educated