What Is The Difference Between Mark Twain And Jack London

Nature is ruthless. It burns, smokes, destroys. Not all nature is as forgiving as one might think. Mark Twain’s and Jack London’s writings regarding the San Francisco earthquakes each highlight the destruction and disintegration of the city in a matter of seconds. When describing the citizen’s behavior, Twain’s use of active voice, satire, and imagery conveys the ignorance of high class individuals in times of mayhem; whereas, London’s personification of San Francisco relayed in passive voice, along with varied sentence lengths, express the severity and ruthlessness of nature. The point of view greatly differs between the two pieces. Twain establishes a perspective based on the citizens of San Francisco, whereas London personifies the city
f higher class and importance, to claim that people cannot function in times of mayhem, as exemplified when he narrates, “A prominent editor flew downstairs, in the principal hotel...and exclaimed: ‘Oh what shall I
Twain’s use of active voice was necessary in depicting the actions of the citizens, as he writes, “...every time she appeared in anything new or extraordinary, the ladies in the vicinity made a raid on their husbands’ purses…” in this case Twain presents active voice to directly show that the woman is doing the appearing and raiding, which draws emphasis to the action being done. Adversely, London waited until the middle to transition to passive voice as he says, “All the cunning adjustments of a twentieth century city had been smashed by the earthquake.” London points out that the advancements in society are devious, and if man had not contributed a city, there would be no destruction. Then who is to blame? Man or nature? London also uses passive voice at the end as he writes, “Time and again successful stands were made by the fire fighters, and every time the flames flanked around on either side, or came up from the rear, and turned to defeat the hard-won victory.” Along with the passive voice, London changes subjects from the firefighters to the flames. London points out how each effort that the firefighters made was destroyed by the fire, reflecting the ruthlessness of nature, and how the hard-won victory was for nature not for