A Comparative Study of Lu Xun and Mark Twain in Terms of Humor and Satire

田庆武 刘佳

【Abstract】Lu Xun not only the greatest man of letters in the history of modern literature， but is the master of satire and humor. By his humorous， funny and ironic writing styles， Lu Xun satired the corruption of Chinese feudal institution and its ideological culture， and also revealed deeply the misdeed of imperialism and the darkness of KuoMintang rule. Mark Twain is one of American critical realists at the end of 19th century. He is famous for its American distinction， especially for humor and satire. Mark Twain， the mirror of America， revealed various kinds of crimes of capitalist society and criticized the expansion of imperialism. Lu Xun and Mark Twain share the distinctive humorous and satirical style. In spite of their differences in nationality and chronical environment， Lu Xun and Mark Twain have a lot of similarities. Due to their different cultural backgrounds， Lu Xun and Mark Twain yet have apparent differences in humor and satire.

【Key】words humor satire similarities differences

Ⅰ Similarities between LuXun and Mark Twain in satire and humor

Their silimarities lie in the high degree combination of humor and satire. Twains humor， with his unique style， is a combination of smart ideas with the art of satire. It has a practical significance for us to understand social， institutional and human legacy in19th century and helps to recognize the evils. It is also undeniable that Twain is the only giant who had brought both local colorism and humor to the world fame. Mean while， he once claimed that he was a serious writer and was actively concerned with moral ideas in many ways. However， when he found the darkness， corruption， injustice and the personal tragic encounters， he had to withstand in particular， he became firstly seriousand then bitter ironic. It follows therefore that we should take theseelements into consideration when analyzing Twains writing characteristics as well as the man himself. In short， bothchanging social realityand the unpredictable personal tragedies directly and eventually resulted in his humorous satire.

Ⅱ Differences between Lu Xun and Mark Twain in satire and humor

For the styles of satire of Lu Xun and Mark Twain， we should be familiar with twokey styles， one is direct， and the other is roundabout or indirect. Lu Xun belonged to the former， while， Mark Twain the latter. We couldnt say which one is better or which is worse. The only conclusion we can make is that Lu Xun and Mark Twains styles of satire are different. The direct style of satire criticizes things and persons very seriously， with no space left. But， the roundabout style of satire leaves some space for the reader. The difference between direct and indirect styles is just two kinds of speech， direct speech or indirect speech.

Ⅲ The reasons of differences between Lu Xun and Mark Twain

Lu Xun lives in the Chinese society in the era of domestic trouble and foreign invasion.During that time the Chinese society come through a series of events： Jia Wu war， downfall of Wu Xureform， the Eight-Power Allied forces invaded china.XinHai Revolution broke out. China was still in the semi-feudal semi-colony society， still sunk in darkness， ignorance， unrest， poverty， backward condition. These will no doubt in Lu Xun's memory left a deep imprint.

Mark Twain lives in the United States of America era of great social changes. After the American Civil War， industry， science and technology， the rapid development of educational bloomed .Although he did not find gold in golden mines in the golden rush， he found gold in the literature. Therefore， he early is optimistic about American democracy and optimistic about the future.

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