Words: 371
Reading/Writing Assignment #3 “Luck” 1. In Greek Mythology, King Midas was a Phrygian king. He was given the ability to turn everything he touched into gold by Dionysus. The Midas touch can be interpreted as the ability to make money or the ability to make success. Mark Twain applies this in the story “Luck” by comparing Scoresby with King Midas. Because every blunder Scoresby made turned into something worth praising about, it seemed like he had the Midas touch. 2. A close reading is a detailed analyzing of a specific passage or poem.
It is like using a magnifying glass to zoom in to see the details. It is used to explain characters, situations, ideas, word selections and etc. 3. By analyzing the two paragraphs in depth, the reader gets a better understanding of the style of Twain’s writing. In the essay, the vocabulary is examined in detail and the choice of words is compared to the situations and the settings. Based on these examinations, the essay explains how they are directly relevant to Twain’s comical sense.
When reading the whole story, the reader does not get the comedy in his writing. However, when in depth, it comes out. 4. According to Dictionary. com, a sketch is a brief usually descriptive and informal essay or other literary composition. A sketch may have very little or no plot at all. Twain’s “Luck” is more of a sketch than a short story because it didn’t have that much of a plot. It focused mainly on the impression and thought of the reverend on Scoresby. 5. I have never experienced a situation similar to the one in “Luck”.
I might have, but I just do not remember. However, I can relate to the reverend’s situation if I put myself into the story. For example, if I happened to be working at a mid-level office job and one of my co-workers had gotten promoted because of a blunder, I would be furious. I would feel even worse if I had helped him out. He would not know what to do in the upper-level job and he might make even more mistakes and ruin everything! Hopefully I never have to experience this in real life.