27 pages • 54 minutes read
Mark TwainA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section references racism and enslavement.
A frame story, as its name suggests, “frames” the main narrative. In “A True Story,” Aunt Rachel’s story of slavery is preceded and introduced by the short narrative of Misto C sitting on his porch and asking Aunt Rachel about her apparently happy life. The frame narrative serves mostly to cue readers as to how to interpret what follows. Misto C has preconceived notions about Aunt Rachel due to racist stereotypes and the cheerful face she presents to the world. Since the readers are assumed to have the same misconceptions, explicitly invoking Misto C’s misunderstanding asks readers to think twice even before Aunt Rachel takes over the narration. The story does not return to the frame at the narrative’s close, allowing Aunt Rachel to have the final word on her story and challenging readers to linger over and reflect on her narrative.
The use of repetition highlights an important character trait of Aunt Rachel. She begins her narrative describing her mother and how she always said “one word” when frustrated: “I want you to understand dat I wa’n’t bawn in de mash to be fool’ by trash! I’s one o’ de ole Blue Hen’s Chickens, I is!” (592).
By Mark Twain
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Mark Twain
Letters from the Earth
Mark Twain
Life on the Mississippi
Mark Twain
Roughing It
Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain
The Autobiography of Mark Twain
Mark Twain
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Mark Twain
The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today
Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner
The Innocents Abroad
Mark Twain
The Invalid's Story
Mark Twain
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
Mark Twain
The Mysterious Stranger
Mark Twain
The Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
Mark Twain
The War Prayer
Mark Twain