Dexter Mythology

Appearance and reality, with things not being what they seem to be, are often relative to a situation in both life and in American literature after the Civil War. Authors such as Mark Twain, Red Cloud, William Vaughn Moody, George Washington Cable, Zitkala-Sa, Howells, Chopin, and Garland, write about things that may not be what they appear to be. Some things are not always what they appear to be; therefore, people should be cautious in the decisions they make and what they decide to believe. First, the difficulty of appearance and reality is a prominent part of one of the great American novels,Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. There are many examples of facades in the work of Mark Twain. On example is in chapter eleven where Huck Finn poses as Sarah Williams. There he found out information about the rewards put out for him and Jim. The woman soon realizes that Huck is a boy posing as a girl. They are trying to kill a rat by throwing things at it when she asks him what his real name is. She gives him this advice about pretending to be a girl, “Throw stiff-armed from the shoulder, like there was a pivot there for it to turn on, like a girl; not from the wrist and elbow, with your arm out to one side, like a boy.” Another example in this story is in chapter 19 when Huck and Jim meet two men who call themselves Duke and King. These two men are definitely not dukes or kings but they lead Jim and Huck to believe they are. Even though Huck sees through their rouse almost immediately he says nothing. These men were con artists. They lied to the church and got them to take up a collection for them. They also told the town they were going to put on the play “Shakespeare Revival” which turned out to be a sorry excuse for any play. Another example would be.... Next, the complications of appearance and reality are seen in the social issues writing of the time. Red Cloud discusses in his essay “All I Want is Peace and Justice” how many see his people as vicious and