Much of Mark Twain’s
writing style focuses on satire and more specifically irony if you consider
him to be trying to make the word a better place. In his tale of “The 1,000,000
Pound Bank Note” a man who had lost everything ended up on a ship to London
where a few rich men used him as part of their bet. This man was then given a 1
million Pound bank note, which he couldn’t cash because it was stolen and
essentially one of a kind. To win a prize all he had to do was stay alive until
the men returned 30 days later. These rich men said they needed exactly the
right man who was both, “an intelligent and honest man (and broke), as one may
see (you are) by your face.” This is a bit satirical because they went about
finding their “perfect” subject by sitting in their living room and watching
people go by for a few days and for some reason the guy who was made too
nervous by passerbyers to grab a pear, the only food he could find and somehow this
made him honest and intelligent in the eyes of two rich men. An intelligent man,
it seems to me, would have picked up the food and started eating it. I don’t
even know if that would prove him intelligent, just starving, penniless, and
sane. The first person who stops outside your window and stares into a gutter from
a distance is not the kind of person I’m going to be putting my money on.
This leads into another
characteristic of Twain’s writing he uses in congruence with exaggeration.
Everything works out for whoever the spotlight is on, especially in the
beginning of his stories, and then he likes to turn all their luck upside down
to the point that everything goes absurdly wrong. In “The Man Who Corrupted
Haddlebury” a city was known for an entire 3 generations for being honest. Yet
he gives no reason for why they were considered honest and what kept up that
reputation for 3 generations, which seems weird considering Twain goes on and
on with stories for everything he describes. Haddlebury, “made the teachings of
(honesty) the staple of their culture and thenceforth through all the years
devoted to education. Also throughout the formative years temptations were kept
out of the way of the young people, so that their honesty could become part of
their very bone.” This feels empty. This town has not proven itself honest
except for maybe something that happened three generations ago and has never
been tested since. But nobody questions
this just because everything goes according to plan in the beginning. This is
poking fun at the respect we give to other nations, or how much respect other
nations give us just because we say that’s how it is. It reminds me a little of
Americano machismo us American’s have or at least are viewed to have today. We
are a very self-absorbed nation that acts like we know what is best for
everybody. Essentially America today is viewed externally very similarly to
Haddlebury. We are incorruptible and yet how ridiculous does that sound?
“What Stumped the Blue
jays,” is an interesting story which I've been unable to wrap my head around in terms of what the context means. This story, however, I believe offers some
valuable insights into what kind of person Mark Twain was. It is known he traveled a boat load (ha!) and went through his fair share of hard ships. I
also believe he had a great memory for audible cues including remembering
stories. His stories seem to blend a few different stories together. I wouldn't be surprised if this unfolded in a way such that he heard of a man who could
talk with animals way out in the California mountains which he then tried to use
in his writing by observing some birds, inserting his voice into their story. The
cat in this story also represents something significant, but what, I’m not sure.
Initially I connected cats to men while the jays represent women, but then it
goes on to talk about all the other animals which makes that theory a little
wishy washy. “What Stumped the Blue jays” was a cute story however, and my
favorite so far.
Works Cited:
Twain, Mark. The
Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain. Ed. Charles Neider. New York: Bantam
Classic, 1957. Print.
I like how you point out the satirical and exaggerated way that Twain writes, and I liked the examples you used because I feel that they really exemplify those points. I think another good point to bring up about the 1000000 pound bank note would be the question of ethical morality in choosing the poorest looking man to do this social experiment on. If you think about in the context of modern times, this would definitely not be and ethical decision. This is an example of Twain satire at its finest, and leaves us with an interpretive problem as to what we believe is ethical.
ReplyDeleteI also liked how you brought up the man who corrupted Hadleyburg because it uses satire to point out the flaws in reputations. Those who are held to the highest moral standards are often those with the most to hide as we find in the story as the town of Hadleyburg is already corrupted to begin with. Finally, I wish you would have gone into a little more detail about the bluejays because I was a little confused by that story as well.
I completely agree with what you say about the two gentlemen who were looking for an "honest and intelligent" man. I do not think I would be willing to give the man 1,000,000 dollar note to a man to coward to pick up a pear from the gutter. ITs hard to understand Twain madness at that. I completely agree also with the way Twain uses Haddlebury to compare to how nations teach each other, I do not think he was referring to America at the Time, because America was still working through the reconstruction at the time of him writing that piece, I thinking he was refering to Great Britain. They still considered them a great nation/ empire that command such respect because of there conquering but realistically it is a small island with limited resources. Finally, I agree with Merritt if you could have went into more detail about Bluejays.
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