A True Story

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1874

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Story Analysis

Character Analysis

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Essay Topics

Content Warning: This section references racism and enslavement.

Misto C at one point restates his initial question, “[H]ow is it that you’ve never had any trouble?” (591), reframing it as, “[Y]ou can’t have had any trouble?” (591). What about Aunt Rachel makes Misto C doubt his first assumption?

Mark Twain offers few details on Misto C and his family. With family a major note of Aunt Rachel’s story, why might Twain omit details of Misto C’s own family?

Ernest Hemingway famously said that all American literature comes from one book: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Written nearly 20 years prior to that novel, “A True Story” features a similar setting and voice. What details of this story feel distinctly American and a precursor to Twain’s most famous work?