After Civil War, with the rapid development of American capitalistic economy and monopoly capitalism, there were two major political parties formed in American: the Democrats and the Republicans. Meanwhile, capitalist society regarded democracy and freedom as their false mask to carry out the cruel classes oppression and exploitation. Twain had a cynical streak that matched the country’s skeptical post-Civil War mood. Running for Governor came into being just under such a background. Twain tends to reflect the current social background that unscrupulous American political parties actively running for the governor and reveal the dark lowdown of the so-called American “democracy” in an ironic way.  
This study briefly focuses on the combination of humor and irony in Mark Twain’s Running for Governor with the analysis of the humorous language, ironic tone and the reality it reflects. The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to have a grasp of the irony with humor characteristic, and realize the strong ironic effect came from protagonist ’s fancy and objectively reality; Second, from the monologue of the first person, to give an account of the free election and reveal the false mask of freedom and democracy that American political parties hold. And then to show that Running for Governor is a unique work of literature, which in favor of the understanding of what this short story shows and the teaching content of British and American literature. 马克吐温《竞选州长》中的讽刺与幽默(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_25354.html