"It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger - but I done it, and I warn't very sorry for it afterwards." - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

"A person of some consequence here in the north, sometimes designated father, is literally abolished in slave law and slave practice. It is only once in a while that an exception is found to this statement."

~ "My Bondage and My Freedom

Throughout his novels, Frederick Douglass illustrates a tone of seriousness. Readers should pay close attention and give his works great thought. He writes the truth about the brutality of slavery and does not sugarcoat the torture slaves faced.

"Bright like a sun - my dream. And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, Between me and my dream. Rose until it touched the sky - The wall. Shadow. I am black. I lie in the shadow."

~ "As I Grew Older"

Hughes works have a more disheartening and desolate tone. After reading his works, readers feel sad to think that black peoples couldn't do what white people could do. Hughes shows this, and laments on how he can't live his dream. Dreams are supposed to be free for everyone. But that was not taught to black people. They were limited in everything for all their lives.

Mark Twain

Frederick Douglass

Langston Hughes

Mark Twain was a unique writer of his time. He was one of the first authors to present a more realistic writing style, rather than a romantic tone in his works. Mark Twain, however, was not a serious writer. He used humorous diction to exaggerate and ridicule the behavior of characters and his stories' plots. Mark Twain also expressed humorous diction by using different dialects for each character. Mark Twain was one of the most controversial writers of his time because he humanized African Americans and in many novels, they were the heroes, not whites.

Analysis of the Authors' Works