Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court as a Dystopian Work
For years, Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" has been primarily viewed as a work of simple satire. Twain, desiring to poke fun at a group of America's cultural critics, chief among them Matthew Arnold, who claimed that cultural life in the U.S. treaded on shallow soil, takes aim at the venerated institutions of Britain. The author attempts to show that his country's lack of romanticized social structures, meaning an absence of royalty, the Catholic church, and long-dead knights and princesses, was far from a cultural weakness. Twain explodes the myth around idealized chivalric society and proves it to be no match for the Nineteenth Century man.
The book follows Twain's protagonist Hank Morgan, a pragmatist and the author's model of self-made, turn-of-the-century industrialist, through a time travel jump that lands him in Sixth Century England, specifically at the fabled Camelot. Here Hank, through ingenuity and entrepreneurial vigor, quickly ascends to the top of the socio-political structure of King Arthur's Court. What's more, Twain takes great pains in ridiculing both the role of the church in England and the ignoble position and lack of intelligence of the ruling royalty. He also pokes fun at the romanticizing of English culture during this period by illustrating the prostrate and dependent nature of the British aristocratic system -- a system void of democratic mechanism.
As a work of social satire, the beginning of the novel is fairly successful. At the outset of the work, Twain accomplishes what must have been his original task.
"The opening chapters, the direct attack, the...
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...mbolic of American innocence and the Morgan and his machines of destruction as symbols of capitalism and industrialization, the novel becomes not chaotic literary failure, but dystopian science fiction popularized in the Twentieth Century. Where Huxley and others predicted enslavement to technology, Twain asserts that innocence and naiveté have no place in and will be wiped out by modern society. His final analysis is that they cannot coexist.
Works Cited
Bellamy, Gladys Carmen. Mark Twain as a Literary Artist. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1950.
DeVoto, Benard. Mark Twain's America. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1935.
Twain, Mark. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. New York: P.F. Collier and Son Company, 1889. Wagenknecht, Edward. Mark Twain: The Man and His Work. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1935.
Simon appreciates how peaceful and beautiful the island is , but as he journeys deeper he finds The Lord of the Flies (the boars head) impaled at its center, the main symbol of how the innocence of childhood has been corrupted by fear and savagery. When Ralph is first introduced, he is acting like a child, splashing in the water, and laughing. He tells Piggy that his father, a naval commander, will rescue him. Ralph repeats his belief in their rescue throughout the novel, shifting his hope that his own father will discover them. To the more realistic idea that a passing ship will be attracted by the signal fire on the island. By the end of the novel, he has lost hope in the boys' rescue altogether. Notice how he goes from being optimistic to pessimistic his childhood wishes and fantasies are lost in the savagery and harshness of the jungle.
Rasmussen, Kent. Mark Twain A to Z: The Essential Reference to his life and Writings. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1995.
Twain’s novel was greatly influenced by the times and criticizes the imperfections in society. These errors in society were subjective to the current events during the Gilded Age. The following show the effects of the current times that influenced the context of the novel. One of America’s leading historians of America in the west, Patricia N. Limerick well elaborates on what happened in the Gilded Age. The following quote fro...
Simon was the kind of person who kept to himself and looked at the world from a different point of view. His disease made him take life much more seriously than the rest of the group. The ironic thing about this is that even though he took life more seriously than others, he was the first to die. He was different because he was a member of the choir and unlike the other member of the choir, he did not hunt. Even Ralph was quoted as saying he was funny and queer. But he was right. He did not like the company of the other boys because on page 132 of the book, he is seen in his little bower where he just sits and becomes one with his mind. Most of the other boys are seen playing but not Simon. His maturity level and intelligence were far greater than some adults in this day and age.
Firstly, the boys in the novel who remain true to themselves become isolated from the rest of the group. The first victim of isolation is Ralph, the authoritative protagonist of Lord of the Flies. At the start of the novel, he is idolized by the boys for his natural sense of authority, and is elected chief because of this. However, he quickly goes from a friend to a foe, when he refuses to give into his savage side like the others: “I’d like to put on war-paint and be a savage. But we must keep the fire burning” (156). Ralph understands that being savage is fun, but he stays true to himself and his priorities by putting his responsibilities in front of having fun. As a result, he is isolated from Jack’s tribe and is left to fend for himself. The next victim of isolation is Simon, the spiritual character in the book. He becomes a social outcast because of his wise beliefs and extensive knowledge on how human nature can be easily corrupted. It is clear that Simon comes off as an odd boy in the eyes of the others, when Piggy says, “he had no business crawling like that out of the dark. He...
Twain’s young life was rather straightforward. His only formal education was a private school in Hannibal, which he grew great contempt for rather quickly. Then he spent his summers on his uncle’s farm, wh...
Twain describes local customs and the ways that the characters behave to create a more realistic setting for the story. In the story the characters engage in behavior or activities that would be unusual for a regular person to do. For example, the narrator says:
Simon is easily the most important character in William Golding’s classic Lord of the Flies, a book where several schoolboys find themselves on an island after a plane evacuating them from war-ridden Britain. The book documents their attempts to create a civilized society to wait for rescue, and how the inherent savage instinct of humans ruined the peace and destroyed rhyme and reason. Simon is a gateway to the intentions of the novel for the readers. His character changes throughout the book, such as when he faints, when he tells Ralph to continue as the leader, and, arguably at the apex of the book, when he hallucinates the Lord of the Flies.
A group of kids got stuck on an island after their plane got shot down and they all have many different personalities. Being stuck on an island usually brings out the worst of people.But, there were two characters in novel, “The Lord of The Flies” that had good morals. These two characters were Ralph and Simon. Ralph and Simon weren’t intimidated by not having any adults around, instead, they tried to bring out the best of themselves and not take part in any horseplay the rest of the boys did.
Towards the middle of Simon's stay on the island, he started to realize that he truly was different from the others. Every time he tried to talk to the other children, his 'effort fell about him in ruins; the laughter beat him cruelly and he shrank away defenseless to his seat.';(89) Just when he thought he had been accepted he embarrassed himself again, 'When he bashed into a tree Ralph looked sideways impatiently and Robert sniggered.';(104) They were getting restless with his behavior.
Oedipus’ personality clearly reflects pride and determination throughout the play. When Oedipus heard the oracles’ prediction that he was to kill his father and marry his mother, he was determined to prevent the prophecy. Therefore he left his homeland of Corinth never to return. Then when he solved the Sphinx’s riddle, Oedipus’ pride rose to a new level. He was praised by the people of Thebes, resulting in his marriage to Jocasta, Queen of Thebes. Oedipus also shows his determination when in search of Laius’ murderer. He stated that he would avenge the King’s death as if Laius were his own father. He cursed the murderer, announcing “May he drag out an evil death-in-life in misery.” These characteristics of pride and determination, which Oedipus emanates throughout the play, may appear to be positive attributes to one’s personality. However, Oedipus’ actions, based on these characteristics, are what led him to his eventual downfall and suffrage.
Twain , Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2003.
Humor, along with its various forms, including satire, is often used to present social commentaries. This is especially true in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In his novel, Twain tells the story of a boy named Huckleberry Finn voyaging down the Mississippi River to free his slave companion, Jim. In doing so, Twain evokes many issues of Southern culture. Through the use of satirical devices, characterization, and story, the author enlightens readers and offers a critique on racism and religion. One of the best, if not the single most important, humorist in American history, Mark Twain, through his satire, paints a portrait of the pre-Civil War American South and all its flaws.
In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain satirizes the idiocy and cruelty of society in general. The language of the book, despite its accurate reflection of 19th century dialect, in and of itself is an illustration of misunderstanding.
Oedipus is depicted as a “marionette in the hands of a daemonic power”(pg150), but like all tragic hero’s he fights and struggles against fate even when the odds are against him. His most tragic flaw is his morality, as he struggles between the good and the evil of his life. The good is that he was pitied by the Shepard who saved him from death as a baby. The evil is his fate, where he is to kill his father and marry his mother. His hubris or excessive pride and self-righteousness are the lead causes to his downfall. Oedipus is a tragic hero who suffers the consequences of his immoral actions, and must learn from these mistakes. This Aristotelian theory of tragedy exists today, as an example of what happens when men and women that fall from high positions politically and socially.