A Stylistics Analysis of Mark Twain’s A Helpless Situation

Abstract

Stylistics is an interdisciplinary field that bridges literature and linguistics, focusing on the distinctive use of language, characterization, and setting in literary texts. In literary use of language, a writer deviates from common language usage making unique impacts upon the minds of readers. This research work aims to identify how Twain uses language deviations, syntactic patterns, and structural repetition to shape meaning, create humor, and construct character voice. It uses the framework introduced by Leech and Short (2007). The research is qualitative in nature as it takes into consideration text of the story as the primary source. It focuses on textual analysis of the story to highlight types of deviations and their impact to shape meanings in the story. Specifically, the analysis narrows down to content analysis, utilizing a descriptive method to interpret the data. The results of the study shows that Twain uses different types of primary and secondary deviations in the story such as colloquial grammar and spelling, lexical deviations, illogical narrative escalation, parallelism and repetition. The techniques and deviations serve numerous purposes. These rhetorical strategies give rhythm, emphasize meaning, and reveal character traits. The conclusion of the study suggests that Twain’s stylistic techniques such as linguistic deviations, parallelism, and repetition—are not just decorative. They are powerful tools that reflect deeper themes like helplessness, manipulation, moral absurdity, and social hypocrisy.