Satire In Mark Twain's The Damned Human Race

156 Words1 Page

The short story, “The Damned Human Race”, seems to take the form of a scientific journal. Throughout the passage, Twain writes of experiments he performed and hypotheses he had developed by watching the human race. The whole article has almost a mocking tone. He writes of how he was able to put several animals in a cage together and they all “lived together in peace;even affectionately”, but when he placed people of different religions and ethnicities together, they all killed one another. I think that he used this tone, because it is effective in creating a satire, which is highly effective at catching people’s attention. It makes a passage memorable, because it almost seems ridiculous. This use of tone completes the idea that humanity is

Show More
Related

  • Vs. Society In Mark Twain's 'Lynching Moral Cowardice'

    355 Words  | 1 Pages

    Some of the most prominent examples of individuals versus society are the ones who go against the norm, but many are a part of the norm trying to mask their differences with masks that belong to citizens of the sea of society. In Mark Twain’s article, Lynching Moral Cowardice, he states, “No mob has any sand in the presence of a man known to be splendidly brave. Besides a lynching mob would like to be scattered, for of a certainty there are never ten men in it who would not prefer to be somewhere else and would be, if they but had the courage to go” (Twain 1). Like Atticus, some of the bystanders, who had minority morals, had pangs of regret watching the life drain from innocent faces. In the early years of the 19th century and back, racism

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of The Damned Human Race

    477 Words  | 1 Pages

    The structure of the essay leads the reader to make conclusions about the morality of the human species. Twain presents specific examples of human deficiency that certain populations can identify with, then moves to broader topics that anyone can relate to. Twain describes mankind's moral dilemma by saying (quote). Allowing the readier to come to the conclusion that man kind is jaded when it comes to issues on morality Twain has successfully achieved his goal. He does state his opinion but does not force the reader to come to the same idea. The manner that he presents the information allows the reader to come to the conclusion that humans are flawed in comparison to animals in a logical manner even though the overall theme of the essay is a satire

    Read More

  • Should Huck Finn Be Banned

    636 Words  | 2 Pages

    The only impulses that Twain intends to stir are a person’s moral compass in an attempt to rid society of their negative outlook toward African Americans. In the Explanatory of the novel, Twain tells the readers that “several different ‘dialects are used,’ which have been written ‘painstakingly,’ based on his own ‘personal familiarity with these several forms of speech’” (Adventures 3). Twain grew up in a setting similar to that of the

    Read More

  • The Presidential Candidate Rhetorical Analysis

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mark Twain’s use of humor in the story mocks and shines light on the issues of our society’s political system from back then that continue

    Read More

  • Satire in huck fin

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    One aspect of the novel in which Twain uses satire is the idea of family feuds. Mid-way through the novel, Huck meets young Buck Grangerford. Huck soon learns of an everlasting feud existing between the Grangerfords and the neighboring family, the Shepherdsons. Buck explains to Huck his fierce hatred for the Shepherdson family, but also that he truly doesn’t know why there is a feud or how it came to be. The reader finds out that the two feuding families essentially switch off killing members of the opposing family. As Huck experiences first hand a skirmish between Buck Grangerford and Harvey Shephardson, in which Buck tries to shoot Harvey, he asks Buck what Harvey had ever done. Buck responds with, “Him? He never done nothing to me(120).” Confused, Huck then asks what he wants to kill him for. Buck answers, “Why nothing- only it’s on account of the feud(120).” In this instance, Huck questions the logic behind such foolishness. He is young, but he understands that this feud has no point. He represents Twain’s own questioning of man’s preoccupation with brutality, and his illusion of false honor and chivalry. Taken at face value, the few Shepherdson-Grangerford scenes seem nothing more than a meaningless cameo on Twain’s part, however with closer inspection, we see the true motiv...

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of The Damned Human Race

    390 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Mark Twain’s essay, “The Damned Human Race,” he uses a sarcastic tone in order to show that humans are the lowest kinds of animals and ar not as socially evolved as they think they are, making his readers want to change. In order to inspire his audience, Twain motivates them by providing specific comparisons between animals and humans. These satiric examples emphasize the deficiencies of the human race and entice them to change for the better.

    Read More

  • Huck Finn

    919 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the book it is obvious that there are characteristics that Mark Twain either detests and despises, or respects and values them. Twain quite obviously is making fun of the undesirable characteristics such as the natural curiosity of people and also the greed for money. Although there are not many values that he respects, there is one that is shown in this book, friendship.

    Read More

  • Essay On Racial Satire In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever seen the Colbert Report, The Simpsons, or even Family Guy? If you have then you have seen works of satire. In “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, the author is famous for his use of satire, he employs this writing technique to ridicule and question fundamental aspects of society like religion, laws, and racism. In Huck Finn the portrayal of race relations is used to urge the reader to question the basic injustices of racial inequality.

    Read More

  • Exploring Satire and Hypocrisy in Huckleberry Finn

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    No matter in the past or present, the world never lacks actors and their nauseating affectations can be seen everywhere in life. They are pretending to have all those perfect beliefs and feelings and acting like the greatest people ever while they are really not. Satire is used by Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to depict how all kinds of people say one thing and do another in America in early 1800s, demonstrating that Mark Twain wants readers to be aware of the hypocrisy and ignorance of American society.

    Read More

  • The Mark Twain Thesis

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mississippi Twain tells us of a man with a dream. As imperfection has it this

    Read More

  • How Does Mark Twain Use Satire In The Lowest Animals

    378 Words  | 1 Pages

    Humans tend to think of themselves as the best of the best and consider other beings to be pathetic in comparison. In Mark Twain’s satirical essay,”The Lowest Animal,” he argues that in fact, humans are the ones that are the lowest animals, not the superior species as they like to think. Twain utilizes concrete examples, irony, and satire to make his argument that humans are greedy and foolish, making them the lowest animals.

    Read More

  • Satire In Mark Twain's Short Stories

    1324 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mark Twain uses humor, irony and satire in his short stories. Also known as Samuel Clemens, he was a writer of the late 19th century of America. Most famously known for his work The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain was born on November 30th, 1835, in the state of Florida, Missouri. He was the sixth child in his family, making him the youngest child. Twain is also remembered as an “American humorist and novelist, [who] captured a world audience with stories of boyhood adventure... with commentary on man's shortcomings that is humorous...” ("Mark Twain"). He was well complemented by various other novelists.

    Read More

  • Humanity Exposed in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    The benign and malevolent faces of humankind are shown through courage, senselessness, and selfishness. & nbsp; Mark Twain displays good in humanity through depictions of courage in the characters of Huck Finn and Jim. Huck Finn was certainly one of the bravest characters in the book to have faced all of his adventures. When he and Jim happened upon a crashed steamboat, "The Walter Scott", and discovered a ruthless band of cutthroats, Huck had the courage to try and stop them. Huck said, "But if we [Huck and Jim] find their boat we can put all of 'em [the cutthroats] in a bad fix-for the Sheriff 'll get 'em" (Twain 90). Huck had the fearlessness to risk his own life to bring several murderous criminals to justice.

    Read More

  • What Is The Sarcasm In The Damned Human Race

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    Twain compares human beings sense of cruelty as he compares us to Anacondas. He further explores mans innate sense to seek greed and misery as he compares us to Ants, bees and squirrels and finishes in comparing and contrasting mans unhealthy relationship with abnormal sexual proclivity in contrast to roosters maintaining harems. (Twain) All of these cases are abhorrently made by Twain to make a point, namely that “Below us, nothing.” (Twain) a statement that can not be further and closer from the truth in the same

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's The Damned Human Race

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    Twain claims that his observations are based on experiments executed in the London Zoological Gardens. With these examinings, he went on to state that humans displayed a variety of shortcoming not seen in other animals. His first point was that humans were cruel, while other animals were not. This was backed by the story of the hunter killing seventy-two buffalo, and eating only part of one. He contradicted this by experimenting with anacondas and calves. The anaconda only killed what it needed, as opposed to the Earl. This seemed to suggest to Twain that the man descended from the anaconda, and not the other way around. Perhaps the Earl did not respect the buffalo, which is true. But does it mean that all humans always kill to be cruel and wasteful? Or could some animals exhibit sig...

    Read More

More about Satire In Mark Twain's The Damned Human Race

Open Document