How Does Mark Twain Use Ethos In The Damned Human Race

Mark Twain is recognized as one of the most talented and influential writers of classic American literature. Twain possessed an intangible skill that made him connect with the readers of his works. Perhaps a great example of this connection is in his work titled The Damned Human Race. This great piece is a work of satire set out to prove that animals are nobler than humans because humans are aware of and choose evil. Twain wins the reader through use of logical fallacies, appealing to the reader’s emotions and logic despite lacking credibility as an authoritative source or addressing any counter arguments. Mark Twain’s appeal of pathos with his audience is superb. Mark Twain tells a story near the beginning of The Damned Human Race about

His use of logos is crafty as he strings the reader along from start to end, making sure the reader arrives at the conclusion Twain has in mind. Upon closer inspection, a reader can see the logical fallacies Twain uses. One such example, a reader can see that Twain claims that man is the only species to keep slaves, that even in non-slavery times, man still is a slave to another man for wages (Twain). This particular example uses a hasty generalization. By this logic, would not the lionesses that do all of the hunting of the pride be slaves of the male lion? Another example of Twain’s false logic can be seen in the paragraph that he states “Man is the only patriot” (Twain). In this argument, Twain states that man is the only species that will fight over territory (Twain). This is obviously false since it is well known that animals of many species fight over territory. It is well known that wolf packs will fight each other until death or expulsion of the weaker pack to gain territory. Since the work is satire focused on mankind’s disgusting behaviors, the reader will easily dismiss this Twain’s failure to include and address these facts. It is in this way that Twain is crafty in his appeal with