1. Mark Twain v. Bill Bryson
Comparing Humor
Mark Twain v. Bill Bryson

2. Key Ideas and Details
What specific regional elements of place and time does Twain bring to light in Life on the Mississippi?
Twain evokes small-town life along the Mississippi River in decades before the Civil War.
What specific place and time does Bryson bring to life?
Bryson evokes family life in an Iowa household during the 1950’s.
What do boys in these two different setting have in common?
Both boys are observant of the details of their settings; both seem to have happy childhoods.

3. Key Ideas and Details
Identify a human foible, or flaw, that is emphasized in Bryson’s memoir.
Eccentric food preferences
Identify a foible Twain spotlights in one of his works.
Smiley’s compulsion to bet on anything
For which foible do you have greater sympathy? Why?

4. Key Ideas and Details
Note one example each of hyperbole and incongruity in Bryson’s memoir.
Hyperbole: The fruitcake dates to the colonial period.
Incongruity: The father prefers burned food.
Identify one example of each of these devices in Twain’s story “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”
Twain’s father can hang anyone that offends him.
The town boys envy the boy on the boat for scrubbing rusty bolt.
Which examples do you find funny? Explain.