The Ever-So-Celebrated Mark Twain

A personal reaction while I work through the works of the celebrated author Mark Twain for a college level class.

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“Of all God's creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.”

-Mark Twain

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I Close at the End

Here we are, at the end. This semester has honestly whipped me. But I have learned so much. 

Mark Twain was a lot of things. He was so much more than one person. In fact, it is my personal opinion that he was one body and two people. 

Samuel Clemens was a poor boy that struggled for money most of his life, fell in love with the right woman, had a family and prioritized them, and struggled with some severe mental health issues that were not diagnosed at his time. Samuel Clemens was the one to spend all of the money. All of the savings, all of the earnings, and to hell with the logistics. It started out as a shock in ability and turned into a flashy lights show that he needed an entire nation to pay admission to every night. Mark was a man of logic. He received an honorary doctorate and approached most topics from a progressive’s point of view. Mark Twain recognized his adversity of rising from the poor while also acknowledging all his adversity aside, that none of his problems ever came from the color of his skin. Twain wrote books about real world issues and morals. He did this in order to not only criticize the world on their morals, but to also encourage them to learn and do better. Mark Twain was the mirror that the world needed in order to see more clearly. 

While I will continue my research on my theory of two men in one body, I also acknowledge the sadness that this means. If my logic is right, Samuel Clemens died when he lost his sweet Libby. He had already lost his favorite daughter, was to lose the next daughter in such a violent graphic manner. But when Libby died, a part of his soul went with her. Before he buried the last family member, Samuel Clemens was long gone in a spiritual oasis, leaving only Mark Twain for the world. While Mark Twain is large enough in his own entirety for a world. Both men lean on each other for dependence. Their coexisting relationship between the two equalize each other in the most important way.

So here is for Mark Twain. A man of two souls, a writer and a lover-both heavy enough with mistakes, regrets, and complexities for a nation to go another 200 years analyzing you. It was excellent getting to know you, and I wish both of your souls peace. 

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Imitation is the Greatest Form of Flattery: Hal Holbrook’s Dedication to Mark Twain

During this week, we watched a segment of what was referred to as Mark Twain Tonight! It starred Hal Holbrook, a Hollywood actor who dedicated most of his living life to the studies, the biography, the works, and impersonating the indescribable Mark Twain.

So, how did a nation take this one man seriously? How did the man who played an old senile man in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, who burnt up Clark’s christmas tree by lighting his cigar to this heartfelt portrayl of an American icon? Watching the tape, one can easily be turned to a fan.

When Holbrook comes out on stage, he is in full method acting. He is in a 3 piece white suit, just like the many Twain is photographed in. They are about the same size and stature. And in a cloud of smoke from a cigar and some wild eyebrows resembling a cat’s whiskers, Holbrook sells his soul in order to bring Twain back from the dead. 

Holbrook starts with Grandfather’s story of “The Old Ram”. In his accent, he embraces the storytelling ability Twain possessed with a style of recollection from memory. He adds his ‘ehhs’ and grumbles just as Twain would’ve. He puffs the cigar through each gap in sentences, selling the performance in a personal sense of dedication to Twain. He not only talked with hand movements, but allowed conversation to flow through him freely in order to also utilize his body in a way where Twain can fill out his body at all extremities. 

With Holbrook’s speech, his dialct changes for dramatic pauses, shifting from stream of consciousness, and adding laughter to que the audience where comedic releases were meant for. Holbrook covers many segments from his greatest works like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, earlier stories from his writings, and “The Damned Human Race”.

“The Damned Human Race” was a short piece where Twain wrote and criticized Theodore Roosevelt on Imperialism and how America was stolen by manifest destiny, and we had enough issues as it was. We, as a nation definitely had no right going out in other countries, throwing our hat in the ring for power and control just for exploitation of an entire nation and culture. In this speech, Twain divides everyone by their morals and religions, while also showing that we do have similaraties because we are all humans. Selfishness, is said to not have grown by birth, but learned in society. 

Through Holbrook’s collection of performances, he not only accomplishes Twain’s personality, but captures his pure essence, and performs in order to keep the memory of the world’s own mysterious stranger relevant years after his passing. However, I do feel it must be said that Twain did manage to achieve his own accomplishment that even if Holbrook didn’t dedicate his life to learning and embodying Twain, he would still be remembered years after his time. 

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https://graduateway.com/analysis-of-mark-twains-speech-at-john-whittiers-70th-birthday-party/

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Happy Birthday  John Greenleaf Whittier!: Here’s One to Grow On!

In this week of Mark Twain, we get a look into America of this time, other than only through the lens of Twain himself. We read “Whittier Birthday Speech” by Twain himself, where he roasted literary figures in a public setting for a birthday celebration hosted by The Atlantic Press. Twain has always had a knack for shock value. However, this time it ruffled a lot of feathers. So much so, that we are still talking about it today.

In the American modern life, we are constantly circling the fences of our own favorite celebrities. Oddly enough, Mark Twain was (in a way) one of America’s firs celebrities at the moment. He was a writer, speaker, businessman, and enthusiast of the world. With that celebrity status, Mark Twain received an invitation to speak the another celebrity’s birthday party in New York. In a Met Gala sized event, Whittier may have been the man of honor, but the entire night focused on Twain’s speech, and rightfully so.

The next day and for many days after, the only thing anyone could talk about was Twain’s speech. While we look back and recognize Twain was probably the beginning of Stand Up comedy in America, he was also probably the first charted ‘roasting’ individuals of status. In Twain’s speech, he took shot at Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Holmes, and Henry Longfellow. All three men were in attendance in Whittier’s Birthday dinner that night. While Twain’s status is still uncertain in the socialites of society, taking shots at these other ‘notable writers of society’. As is most of Twain’s actions are, these were done all in good fun (I’m sure) with a little bit of truth ringing honesty to them. 

The controversy grew with conversations around the ideas of ‘intellectual conversations vs. bar room rants’. Critics accused Twain of being of low class, barbaric, and un-gentleman like. With papers and reviews growing rampid in January, Twain moved to Europe in that March. Speculators stated it was temporary to let the buzz die down. 

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A [Mysterious Stranger] to the World: The Devil, Mark Twain, or just a Stranger?

The next week of reading we covered one of Mark Twain’s last works Number 44, The Mysterious Stranger. There is a lot of themes, coverage, and speculation over this book. One of the largest being the controversy of there being two different versions under the same title. The one where the plot of the story follows a young Satan in a town of Eseldorf is the work written by Twain. Oddly enough, another student and I read other version written where it followed some priests in a rural town and some young children playing in the forrest. This is where they meet a stranger, one very mysterious, and really informs them he is Satan and proves to the children he is who he says he is. The class talked a little about the comparison of both of these stories. The biggest argument to be made was the story that the other student and I had read seemed more like Twain’s voice than the original story by Twain. It was very odd to diagnose and understand the likeliness of how a writer mimicked Twain’s personal writing style so perfectly.

As for Twain’s actual story of the Number 44, The Mysterious Stranger was one of the last works for Twain to have written. A lot of people find this confusing, alarming, and concerning considering the satanic, dark nature of the story. Twain’s authentic story still follows a young Satan amongst humans. And to add, this is not the first or only work for Twain to refer to a stranger in his works. The character of a stranger strips the structure of a human to understand before analyzing his actions. Twain previously mentions a stranger in his Autobiographical in Innocents Abroad, in a character of David in Pudd’nhead Wilson, and an angel in “War Prayer”. With a motif as a stranger in Twain’s works, critics wonder the relevance. Did Mark Twain see himself as the mysterious stranger to America? Giving advice, removed from the masses, speaking prophecy where the surroundings felt like s sisyphus (metaphor for the experience of ‘the absurd’). Is this how Twain seen America? Absurd?

The novel ends with the implicit themes and dilemmas of Divided Self and Nature vs. Nurture. Both of these factors are huge conversation pieces in the study of Psychology and can be very easily applied when studying the human body of Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain. The duality of man is already complex as it is with the questions of Psychology- never mind the duty to analyze THE Mark Twain.

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Mark Twain & Pudd’nhead’s Satire: The One Drop Rule

Welcome back Everyone!! It’s me again with the deep thoughts. For this week of the blog, we are discussing Pudd’nhead Wilson. Not just the novel, but the underlying tones of issues within the book. Hopefully I won’t get side tracked this week with a philosophical “What does it all mean” posting again.  Either way, thank you for reading!

Mark Twain published his book Pudd’nhead Wilson in 1893. Twain had already written other works and had them published before then. He also had already earned his title of a worker of satire by this point. Pudd’nhead WIlson follows three plot lines within the same town: A northerner named David moved to a Missouri town to be a lawyer who gets shunned from the small town and nicknamed Pudd’nhead, A slave woman named Roxy makes a hard decision in the beginning of the story to save her child by switching him with the master’s newborn who looks equal skin tone as her master’s child and born around the same time, and by the end of the novel- An untimely murder mystery that blames innocent men. Twain laces satire throughout the story to master his invested meanings. 

There are two things to remember when reading Pudd’nhead WIlson. The first thing is to remember that this is a society that focused on  ‘The One Drop Rule’. Outlandish ideas and uneducated Psuedoscience held people of this time in a choke hold about the concept that if a white person even had ‘one drop’ of African American blood in them, that they were considered themselves as a black person (which in this time ties them to a life of enslavement and oppression). While the readers are to sympathize with Roxy as a mother, she makes an unbelievable choice in the name of protecting her child. She switches her child for the master’s child who is just a couple days different in age and have the same skin complexion.  The fact that both children are the same color of skin complected with different family lineage shows just how diverse genetics can be. The master’s child was born from two white people while Roxy gives birth to a child 1/16 of Black Ancestry. (A modern day example is looking at pictures of Tamara Mowery’s son who is ‘a quarter of Black Ancestry’ has the same amount as White Passing Actress Troian Bellisario). Genetics work in multiple different complex ways, and children can look the same or different from the counterparts. It were the adults of this time that bothered doing the work to investigate the lineage of each person to strike them out as they do others with Black Ancestry. 

Another thing to take into consideration is the conversation of Nature vs. Nurture. This topic feels like it holds reservation in every conversation these days. However, the way that Twain describes the lives that the switched individuals puts a spotlight on the subject as he dissects it for satire.  The Nature vs. Nurture concept was coined in the Enlightenment Period by Francis Galton. The subject covers the debate or whether it is either your physical environment (Nurture) or your genetic ancestry (Nature) that describes who you become. 

Twain opens this conversation of Nature vs. Nurture with satire with talking about how the swapped children grow out. Roxy’s child (now named Tom) grew up to be a criminal and a murderer after being saved from the life of a black, enslaved person. The master’s child (now named Chambers) was raised as a slave with torture and oppression just to grow up to be a civilized man. Once the truth was exposed, Chambers was recognized as an heir to his estate and legally in charge of the entire plantation.  

Mark Twain places Satire in each aspect of this novel showing the immoral practices ‘Blood Searching’, Racial Speculation, and the Enslavement of Black People. While Twain gives his audience and readers something to sit and think of, they enjoy the laughs that come with solving a murder by accident. 

I do not feel like this kind of approach would work in modern day society. How we could find plenty of stories with symbolism and skewed meanings that underly bigger issues. Showing someone with 1/16 of Black Ancestry as “naturally violent and a town hassle” would only add to the list of many harmful stereotypes that white people have created against the black community. 

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“To us, our house was not unsentient matter -- it had a heart, and a soul, and eyes to see us with; and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies; it was of us, and we were in its confidence, and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction.“

-Mark Twain

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Except for my class and myself... we have already learned these. 

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Famous For The Dialects, Just For It To Go Out of Style

Hello All!

We are at another week discussing Mark Twain, his works, and his techniques in a very in-depth approach. I have been informed that my professor is not the only one reading my blog. In that case- Hello Near!! Thank you for reading, and I hope you can engage in this conversation since tonight’s topic is built around the concept we discussed in a different class from today actually.

This week’s focus will be what Mark Twain was special for creating: the in depth dialect and voices of his characters. We will specifically be talking about the characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for this portion of the blog.

True, Mark Twain did not ‘create’ the technique of accents or dialect. However, he did master it in a lot of his works. Evidence years after Samuel Clemens passing proves that this was not just a repeat of ear for Twain, but a direct science in building the vocabulary used in his Huck Finn novel. Papers pulled from his study showing the break down of how each word would be created specifically for specific person. 

Showing these techniques, we will exhibit examples from chapter 32 from Huck Finn. For the character of Jim, Twain designs his vocabulary to reflect the mixture of his sweet, kind soul with the vocabulary of other men of color in this time and area. Jim is consistently affection towards little Huck throughout the novel. Readers see this as Jim calls him names like ‘Honey’ and ‘sweetie’ all the time. Huck even takes notice of it within the story, and this helps solidify their bond. The vocabulary Twain decides for Jim to own is exhibited in this next quote “Yes, dey will, I reck’n, Mars Tom, but what kine er time is Jim havin? Blest if I kin see de pint. But I’ll do it ef I got to. I reck’n I better keep de animals satisfied, en not have no trouble in de house” (Twain 406). The vocabulary shows what is considered ‘improper grammar’ while the dialect reflects poverty and the southern region. 

In Huck’s language, the reader can notice a bit of difference. A couple pages later, the readers see a similar voice and dialect, but coming from Huck. He says “But I ain’t going to make no complaint. Anyway what suits you suits me. What you going to do about the servant-girl?” (413). Here the readers see the similariities in the dialect from the regional aspect of both him and Tom, but vocabulary choice is a bit more proper. 

Now, why are we taking notice of this? What’s the point? In a different class I had today focused on Creative Writing for Fiction, the teachers and students engaged in a discussion about how modern fiction does not require such thick dialects, different voices, no ‘crazy punctuation’, no over the top dialogue to express the emotions or mood of the story. They originally were talking about that when it came to the aspect of other world languages when I asked does their beliefs still stand against southern dialects within fiction? Because, most of all the ‘classics’ in southern fiction (To Kill a Mockingbird, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Beloved, Big Fish, Cane, etc.) always had the element of strong dialects as a key part in the technique of building these stories. Just for now, what? For readers to say we get annoyed with language that shows excitement is on the page? Why do our brains register this hard craft of mastering voices as annoying and disinteresting if we have loved it in celebrated books previously? 

Twain mastered the art of dialects and built a footpath in literature now that is now designed, paved, and smoothed for other writers to follow their footsteps. But now, it is being edited out of modern fiction? Does this craft have an expiration date? If it was so great for crediting Mark Twain for coining it, is it not still useful in modern time?

Personally, I feel warm and at home when I see the excitement in the language. I do not mean that i was 400 pages of comic book writing styles interjected on to the pages. However, I have always pulled from previous authors to guide me, especially as a southern fiction writer. But is this a trend? Is Mark Twain’s technique the new Nickleback where everyone is going to shit on it for ten years until someone changes their mind and makes the decision for a wave of people for the next ten years? 

I do not know. I find it warm, useful, and nice. Granted all Southern Literature does not need heavy accents. Just like not everyone from the south has heavy accents. I say that firmly as a woman raised half in Alabama and half in West Virginia. Therefore, my accent lands me somewhere in the middle. 

As always, thank you for attending. I hope I brought up a new conversation to the topic of Mark Twain. Until next time...

Warmly,  Toni

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‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’

Hello again all!

The latest readings we have conquered as a class has been Mark Twain’s classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck Finn is a best seller for Twain and is known as one of the all time favorite for being a ‘boy-book’. So, let’s dive in.

The book opens on the boy named Huckleberry Finn that readers have more than likely already met in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Huck within himself represents the struggle of unlearning the doctrination that America was facing at the time. There was a lot of kickback, a lot of unsettled churches, and a lot of unhappy families to hear of a book holding a conversation about where America may had went wrong when it comes to the treatment of Black Americans. 

Now please, do not get me wrong. The book and Twain himself still holds on to harmful racist ideologies and stereotypes that are in this modern day painful to read, hear, and visualize. This is where my brain has led me to a crossway of confusion, understanding, mercy, and growth. I am just unsure in which direction I am coming from, and where I am going.

Last spring, I was in a survey course covering British and American literature. The specific week I am recalling, we were learning about the Tudors, King Henry VIII, his six wives, and so much more. [I assure you there is a point to this random storytelling-just stay. with me]. Within my lessons, I learned how one of King Henry’s wives aided his slaughter of a wife, when in turn she received power. The feminist within myself felt rage. Because in this day and time, progress forward is not progress is one had to step on the backs of women to achieve it. My teacher at the university blatantly reminded me of my privilege as a (white) woman in a country where freedom is given a lot more, with rights these women could never fathom of having. How my every day life may have struggles, but none of them struggles include fighting for my life and right to breath in a country rooted in tyranny. In this class she taught me the term as ‘protofeminism’. The googled definition of this word is “a concept that anticipates modern feminism in eras when the feminist concept as such was still unknown.” In this modern time, where I pass my judgement and my snarls at Mark Twain for his book that by the ends condemns racism, while still contributing to it- my brain is only understanding the picture from inside the frame.

My connection to Mark Twain this week is asking the questions: Is there a term called Protoantiracist? If there is, is this considered it? Is this America’s first work that asks the conversation to the table or not just slavery, but the oppression that we as a nation placed on entire ethnicity that we stole, raped, killed, and massacred from another land? Is Mark Twain the beginning of Protoantiracism?

By the end of the story, Huck Finn decides that the bond he has built with his friend Jim was worthwhile, and he did care about his livelihood. These feelings came from a genuine place within Huck’s heart because- as the naivety of child will have, he believed that caring for Jim meant condemning himself to Hell. Yet, he still made the decision to. Hence the infamous line titled this week’s title “All right, then, I’ll go to Hell”. 

Granted this world has developed into a completely different reality in this modern era, but it raises the question of what does Huck’s change of heart equal to in today’s world? I don’t believe it equals the work that should be done by white antiracists who use their privelege to guard the bodies of black Americans when a cop points a gun at them for having a black back pack and is on his knees. But what does it equal to? Or maybe I am looking at this text the wrong way. Did Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn make the way for other literature to know the path of going against the grain, of questioning their nation, or of testing the boundaries of our democracy. What was the impact of Huck Finn? Was this Twain’s intentions?

I am sorry to the readers who feel I should have answers to these questions. I, myself, still am trying to figure these out. In the meantime, more Twain content to be consumed.

Until next time,

Toni

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Perhaps I Spoke Too Soon

Dr. rHello all!  Welcome back to anyone that may be reading.

This previous week, we, as a class, have read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Crafting vocal points about this Twain novel can be very generic considering that this and The Adventures of Huck Finn are two of Twain’s most celebrated (boy) books. Previously, we have discussed a very personal approach to Sam Clemens/Mark Twain himself. However, this week, we will jump into a dive of content that focuses more on his material, and how that is received for the time of publishing versus modern day. 

So, my two points of conversation today places me going a bit backwards considering how much credit I gave him for being ‘so progressive’ with the minority scholarship. While we all know now his morals and beliefs on Black Americans and enslaved individuals, I believe I jumped the gun with thinking his progression would lay over in other minorities. 

First, the Native Americans: While the Ken Burns’ Biography paints Clemens/Twain in a flattering light to one minority, it should be noted that the light is apparently only bright enough for one area. Twain writes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with the idea of showing the class systems in between the population in even such a small town. While the book follows Tom who is a young scoundrel who enjoys mischief, Tom and his friend Huck accidentally come across the characters who are grave robbing. Specifically three of these characters are named Dr. Robinson (the dead victim), Muff Potter (the town drunk), and ‘Injun Joe’ (the liar/real murderer). With the Doctor dead, the boys who witnessed everything keep this to themselves from fear for their own lives. It was ‘Injun Joe’ who murdered the Doctor. However, with Muff Potter being consistently drunk, he is unsure of the facts. This made him an easy target for framing him for the murder. Although Twain includes many microaggressions about the character ‘Injun Joe’, he is only part Native American. This is how Twain shows the class systems of the middle and lower class. Doctor was in the middle. Joe is lower (for genetics), but Muff Potter is the lowest because he is the town drunk. 

Next, the women (or girls): In the beginning, the reader gets a great insight to one of the largest female characters in this story which is Aunt Polly. She is who is raising Tom, which she struggles a lot to do with his ‘Tom Foolery’ (Lol, sorry for the pun). Anyway, Aunt Polly raises Tom the best she can. He always keeps her on her toes with guessing and/or second guessing herself because of his mischief. Twain writes Aunt Polly as not much of disciplinarian when it comes to her approach with children. She is seen getting easily walked on, but still- a good heart. 

The next female Twain graciously included is Becky Thatcher. She is a *stereotype* blonde haired, blue eyed, innocent little girl that has caught Tom’s attention as soon as she comes to the schoolhouse. He insistently states that she is all a kid could dream for. However, this is really the only young girl Twain gives us really. Even then, her character is more of a flat stereotype (probably the original that everyone else turned into a stereotype). But, Twain is known for his ‘boy books’. In this novel, the reader gets so much from Tom himself, his friends, his family, the people in the town, etc. However, even though the readers knows there are women in the town. The only women that receive dimension to their character is the Widower and Aunt Polly. The only other representation is the school girls. 

This book is so celebrated and so loved, and yet- it fits the ideas of only half a community. But yet it makes the reader feel whole, as if nothing in town is missing. Granted, after the week I have had with my other classes, I’ve learned (the hard way) that sometimes no representation is better than bad representation when it comes to women specifically. 

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The Ideas of ‘Mark’ing Your Travels

 Hello Readers!

It is the third week of the blog. I am almost sure that I have no readers following along this expedition I am reading, writing, and experiencing along this way. At this point in my education on Mark Twain specifically, I have learned so much more than just the general scraping at the top of a man that left a large imprint on not just a nation, but to those around him. I will say this for him- the things that have me rethink his character are things that I have never heard anyone ever celebrate him for. For a man in a time period that “excuses” so many peoples actions because “its how they did back then”, Twain had some serious progressive beliefs AND followed them with genuine courses of action. 

The story of Warner McGuinn is a story that should be retold and celebrated for Black History. McGuinn was one the first Black Americans to be accepted to Yale University and became a law student graduate for the 1887 class. Twain became inspired through his friendship with McGuinn and offered to pay his tuition for Yale since McGuinn had to work three jobs to stay afloat. Of course, McGuinn denied the offer and told him no. However, Twain did something different. This part is where the masses are divided on whether Twain’s actions were for a ‘white savior complex’ or genuine and from his heart. In the Ken Burns documentary on Mark Twain’s life, the narrator states that Twain wrote a letter to the President of Yale University and explained the situation. He said (and I am paraphrasing) that we (white people-especially those of privilege and status) are responsible for the economic, physical, and society standing points for all Black Americans because they allowed this systemic racism infiltrate and consume the entire way of American living that it was never McGuinn’s fault for not having the finances to afford college. He said “It is out faults that they are in these situations. The shame was never theirs, but it is ours, and we should pay.” In this context, I feel like Twain (unknowingly) decided to pay for McGuinn’s schooling as one of the first recorded unofficial minority scholarships in America. 

As far as reading materials, we have been reading Terry Mort’s edition of Mark Twain on Travel which gives insight and clippings from his Innocents Abroad book where he toured the European and Middle Eastern continents and documented his travels. I must admit, the way Twain describes Americans is a very humorous way that still reflects on American ideals to this modern generation. Imagine being stuck on a celebrity steam cruise with a B-list celebrity that is educated enough to be the only person on the ship that appreciates the culture he is witnessing while also ready to strangle the worst stereotypes of American travelers that he can only get so far away from. 

Twain reminds us readers how humbling it is to see a new world so different from the one we live in day to day. In comparison to his American counterparts, Twain describes moments where surrealism overcomes him while understand the depth of historical places that holds no value to a society he has been born and raised in. When he is in the Middle East, he sees The Sphinx and has an outer-body experience. It says “It was the type of an attribute of man--of a faculty of his heart and brain. It was a MEMORY--RETROSPECTION--wrought into visible, tangible form. All who know what pathos there is in memories of days that are accomplished and faces that have vanished-- albeit only a trifling score of years gone by--will have some appreciation of the pathos that dwells in these grave eyes that look so steadfastly back upon the things they knew before History was born--before Tradition has being--things that were and forms that moved in a vague era which even Poetry and Romance scarce know of--and passed one by one away and left the stony dreamer solitary in the midst of a strange new age and uncomprehended scenes.” (Twain on Travel, 148). Here is a man who recognizes his smallness in a world that is so large, full of so many people with so many different cultures, and we’re just blessed to live on a beautiful Earth that is catered to us. 

In the beginning of this class, our professor had a presentation of famous Mark Twain quotes. With no surprise, I was not inspired by any of them. It felt very “celebrating bare minimum ideas” to me. However, across my research is where I found the quote that I have posted with his picture from the beginning in the blog. This quote is an exert from Innocents Abroad where he travels and says “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things can not be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime”. I cannot imagine another quote hitting with more resonation or enlightenment than this one brought forth. 

I look forward to getting to know more of Twain himself as I read through his work these next couple of weeks. While I am surprised of the person that we are studying, I will focus through the next part of this journey on Samuel Clemens vs. Mark Twain. While they are both the same body, they are direct contradictions to each other and face collateral damage as an effect from their internal struggle. 

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First Impressions Aren’t Always the Greatest

Hello!

It’s me again! Here to give you the endless stream of thoughts and mental notes when its all Twain all day.

In the beginning of this post, I will elaborate on one of my biggest offenses I hold personally against Mark Twain himself. Then, I was graduate to “The Story of The Old Ram”. 

So, this is how we are feeling Mark? You felt that in 1895, with everything else going in the world, that you would take time and effort out of your days to write and publish “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses”. And for what? To show your sarcasm? Your wit? I understand that it is no one person’s responsibility to tutor, workshop, or aide in a competitive industry. However, you are literally still celebrated now in modern time for taking a shit on someone else. And I just do not like that. 

A direct quote comes from within the text stating “It would be very difficult to find a really clever ‘situation’ in Cooper’s books; and still more difficult to find one of any kind which he has failed to render absurd by his handling of it.” I will admit that to you did your thorough research and homework reading Cooper’s works. No one could ever accuse you of being unknowing. However, these literary offenses... who created them? Who decided them? Where do they come from? Do we still use them in 2023? 

Thankfully, we have a different mindset amongst our fellow human beings in this day time. Not everyone has a warm heart. But Stephen King isn’t stopping living his life of luxury to go wipe his ass with James Patterson novels. Both authors are unique, talented, and celebrated. There is enough room in this industry for all of us. (And please know this includes all minorities that get pushed out of publishings every day STILL!) 

Putting aside my issues with this character decision of a celebrated man, I continue forward with other readings and try to remain fair and neutral. I read “The Story of the Old Ram”. After watching the documentary on Twain earlier this week, I find it extraordinary that accent or dialect that he allows the narrator to have considering all the places he has lived, visited, and enjoyed. It all comes back to his roots. He bases his language off of the small hick town he was raised in. I wonder if it is for nostalgia reasons or if we wanted to surround himself with works from the area so he could feel at home.

Either way, the story was cute-ish and had the whole small town funny meaning with some lessons in it and some humor. It felt like just a funny little simple story that you’d tell over and over and that story gets told to so and so who told it to so and so and on and on. 

I will continue reading Twain with an open mind, and I will work on forgiving. But we will see how that goes. Until then, that is all.

Warmly,  Toni

[theeversocelebratedmarktwain]

Introductions are in order...

Hello all

My name is Toni Morgan. I am a college student majoring in English with a minor of Creative Writing. I am in my final year before graduating with my Bachelor’s Degree (as I type this). I am currently sitting on 86 completed hours of Literature with another 30 hours before I graduate. 

This blog is to take a mental and personal record of my thoughts, reactions, and responses to a class where the main focus is on the author of Mark Twain. I would consider myself entry level when it comes to my previous knowledge (or lack there of) of Twain himself. In a previous class, I had read “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” and that was it. I know more American History that he influenced than I do of any of his work. I am familiar with some of his titles but not his content. So, as I read and type, these thoughts are to be noted as my introductory thoughts and responses to my new exposure to Twain himself. 

My first impression of Twain might have been a bit judge mental. This is based off of the idea of an author of today’s time stopping what he is doing to shit on another author to the extent of writing AND PUBLISHING an itemized list of why their work should not be considered in the taste of ‘good literature’. I feel like by this day and time that we all recognize that there are all kinds of kind that makes the world turn and literature, like all art, is subjective to its specific audience. If an author of today’s time did the same act, he would receive a lot of press and attention, but at the end of the day, it is still an asshole move. I mean for real. Imagine James Patterson and Stephen King going at it. 

Within our first week, the class (and myself) have been assigned to read “The Christmas Fireside”. I found myself very taken aback by my lack of criticism for Twain, his style, or the story here. It is not very hard for someone like to my form an opinion or critique anything of any author. And yet, I found myself oddly satisfied by reading a story of a timeless theme of “good vs. evil”, family dynamics, moral values, and more. I particularly love how Twain wrote this not just for children, but for adults too.  I feel like when choosing the title, it really felt like a “come on kids, gather around the rug and listen to pawpaw’s story about little James” around Christmas time when behavior is already under a microscope either for religious honors or adapted holiday tales. I feel there was a story to be heard by both children and adults within. I mostly liked that I had not read much literature from this time that really addressed family dynamic issues. For this time period, a lot of literature is focused on outside of the house. Maybe this is Twain’s way of saying Evil or Good starts from within the house.

As this entry comes to a close, I would like to state that I hope that I can learn a lot not just from this class, but from blogging it in a form as such. This is my first time blogging and I am interested to see where this goes.

Warmly, Toni

[theeversocelebratedmarktwain]