Mark Twain is known to be one of the greatest American writers in history. His fifteenth novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is one of the most read, discussed, and taught novels in American culture. Twain's unusual ability to present thoughts and ideas in many different ways played a significant part in the success of this novel. In the second paragraph of Chapter 19 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain uses a colloquial style to paint a portrait of the Mississippi river, a recurring theme throughout the plot. He uses many different techniques to achieve the picture he desires to portray to the audience; such techniques include vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and imagery. By using these techniques, Twain gives the audience a realistic picture of the river that also proves to be poetic. .

             The vocabulary that Twain uses illustrates a calm and comfortable image of the river. The comfortable image is conveyed through the given fact that the characters would "by-and-by, lazy off to sleep. Wake up, by-and-by" and spend their days "lazying around," fearless of being caught. Twain's repeated use of the words "lonesomeness" and "lazy" bring to mind another quiet and peaceful picture of the comforting river. Another literary device that Twain uses to communicate the security of the river is voice. The underdeveloped vocabulary and lack of grammatical education given to Huck's character give the passage a relaxed, conversational voice. ".We couldn't see no sign of them; it made you feel crawly, it was like spirits carrying on that way in the air. Jim said he believed it was spirits; but I says: 'No, spirits wouldn't say, 'dern the dern fog.'" In this quote, one can see the simplistic and colloquial language in which both Huck and Jim speak. Although their dialect may, at times, be difficult to understand, their unadorned speech gives no unnecessary words to garble the audience.