Mark Twain

Teaching Outline Historical Backgrounds Literary Terms (American Realism, Naturalism) Walt Whitman Emily Dickinson Mark Twain O Henry Jack London Theodore Dreiser

Historical Backgrounds

The American Civil War, which cost US$ 8 billion and claimed 600,000 lives, exerted a great influence on American society, an influence which no one could ignore. In fact, the War marked a tremendous change in American moral values.

Influence of Civil War "The industrial North had triumphed over the agraria

n South, and from that victory came a society based on mass labor and mass consumption" (AAL 2:1).

The growth of population (doubled from 1870 to 1890) brought forth large cities and towns. At the same time, the national income quadrupled. By mid-1890s, about 4,000 millionaires appeared, which included Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan who dominated the American industry in a large extent in the early half of the 20 th century. The gulf between the rich and the poor was widened as a result of the growth of industry.

Westward Movement The frontier was about to close. People began to f

eel a sense of suffering and unhappiness. "The Gilded Age" came instead of the golden one which people expected. This is "an age of extremes": "of decline and progress, of poverty and dazzling wealth, of gloom and buoyant hope" (AAL 2: 2).

Disillusionment and frustration were widely felt. The national spirit changed to admiration for driving ambition, a lust for money and power.

Transportation, Education and Women The railroad changed how Americans worked and lived.

It transported products from west to east, and from north to south. People became mobile, too. Steelmaking became the dominant industry in America. This was an age of steam and steel, oil and electricity. The age was still in an optimistic atmosphere.

Such a rapid growth demanded widespread education. New York replaced Boston as the nation's literary center. Women became a dominating voice in American cultural force.

Realism became the dominating trend in literary writing.

American Realism (origin)

Realism originated in France as reálisme, a literary doctrine that called for "reality and truth" in the depiction of ordinary life. Zola, Flaubert, Balzac and Dostoyevsky were some representatives.

Realism first appeared in America in the literature of local color, "an a’malgam(mixture) of romantic plots and realistic descriptions of things immediately observable: the dialects, customs, sights, and sounds of regional America"(AAL 2: 5).

American Realism (main ideas) Realism reacted against romanticism and sentimentalism. It expressed the concern for the commonplace, and for th

e familiar and the low. In style, it moved between gentility and graceful prose on

the one hand and vernacular diction, rough and ready frontier humor on the other.

Realistic writers sought to portray American life as it really was, insisting that the ordinary and the local were as suitable for artistic portrayal as the magnificent and the remote.

William Dean Howells defined Realism as "nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material."

American Realism has its distinctive features:

a. verisi’militude ( 逼真 )of details derived from observation

b. representative in plot, setting and character

c. an objective rather than an idealized view of human experience

American Realism produced three great masters: William Dean Howells, Henry James and Mark Twain

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)

(1835-1910)

Life Experience (1) Born in Florida, Missouri, he moved with his family to the

Mississippi River town of Hannibal when he was four. At the age of 12, his father died and he had to leave school.

Thereafter, he travelled throughout the East and Midwest as a journeyman printer.

Life On the Mississippi

Life Experience (2) After four years’ wandering, he became a river boat pilot on

the Mississippi. Then at the outbreak of the Civil War after serving briefly in the Confederate Army, he went to Nevada with his brother, where he learned the tricks of the western newspaper humorist and platform lecturer and adopted his pen-name, “Mark-Twain”, a cry on the river boat to indicate two fathoms’ depth of navigable water. (12 feet or 3.66 meters)

In 1870s, he courted and married socialite Olivia Langdon, with whom he settled in Hartford, Connecticut.

Life Experience (3) In 1884, his heavy investment in a badly managed

publishing firm and an inefficient typesetting invention drove him into bankcruptcy. This, together with the death of his wife and two daughters, darkened his later years. This is why his later works became increasingly alienated from the good-humored wit of his earlier ones and reflect a deep pessimism

As a young man Twain worked as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. When he started his writing career, Samuel Clemens adopted the name “Mark Twain,” which meant two fathoms, a safe depth for a riverboat.

Pictures from www.pbs.org

In 1861, Samuel Clemens avoided the brewing Civil War by going west. He took his first writing job as reporter at the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.

Serious news was often mixed with “reports” that had to be taken with a grain of salt. Soon, he began using the name Mark Twain and affixing it to sketches, reportage, and an occasional hoax. It was a time when he first discovered his talent, his calling, and his voice.

Pictures from www.pbs.org

At 34 years of age he married Olivia Langdon Clemens. She was the daughter of a New York coal magnate （有财势的地主或巨头 ), a member of the country’s wealthy elite. She would be partner, editor, and fellow traveler in success and failure for the next thirty-five years. She would also furnish him her family’s home in Elmira, New York, a place where he visited often and wrote many of his best-loved books.

Pictures from www.pbs.org

“I vividly remember seeing a dozen black men and women chained to one another, once, and lying in a group on the pavement, awaiting shipment to the Southern slave market. Those were the saddest faces I have ever seen.”– Mark Twain

Though his most famous novel is criticized for being racist, Mark Twain never expected nor intended the controversy that arose with the publication of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain was not racist, but depicted life in his times.

Pictures from www.pbs.org

“I have no color prejudices nor caste ( 最低阶层） prejudices nor creed （宗教信仰的） prejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a human being, and that is enough for me; he can't be any worse." Pictures from www.pbs.org

By 1900 Twain had become America’s foremost celebrity. He was invited to attend ship launchings, anniversary gatherings, political conventions, and countless dinners. Reporters met him at every port of call, anxious to print a new quip from the famous humorist. To enhance his image, he took to wearing white suits and loved to stroll down the street and see people staring at him.

Pictures from www.pbs.org

In time, the Clemens home became a revolving door for the leading names of the day: Howells, Sherman, Cable, Harte, and others. But it also saw Clemens involve himself in fanciful investment schemes that led to his bankruptcy—and eventual departure.

Pictures from www.pbs.org

Because of financial problems, Clemens lived in Europe from 1891-1901, but this was neither his first nor last trip abroad. In fact, he was an inveterate （由

来已久的） traveler. From the age of 17 to the last few weeks of his life he was always discovering new places and revisiting old. He crisscrossed the Atlantic more than a dozen times and also saw Turkey, Palestine, Hawaii, Australia, India, and South Africa.

Pictures from www.pbs.org

He developed as a speaker and traveled on lecture circuits, much in demand. His early performances combined humor, information and eloquence in measures that delighted most people.

Pictures from www.pbs.org

When he died on April 21, 1910, newspapers around the country declared, “The whole world is mourning.” By then, Sam Clemens had long since ceased to be a private citizen. He had become Mark Twain, a proud possession of the American nation.

“I was sorry to have my name mentioned as one of the great authors, because they have a sad habit of dying off. Chaucer is dead, Spencer is dead, so is Milton, so is Shakespeare, and I’m not feeling so well myself.”—Mark TwainPictures from www.pbs.org

Mark Twain in China

The Chinese people are familiar with this writer because he was merciless in depicting the dark side of the American society and because he stood firmly on the side of the Chinese in their struggle against foreign invasions.

Mark Twain was one of the great artists of all time. He was and is one authentic giant of our national literature.

Twain's quotes and humor are as popular today as at any time in American history. 

“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live.”

Picture from Dave Thomson collection: www.twainquotes.com

“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.

友谊是如此圣洁的一种激情 , 是如此甜蜜、牢固和忠诚 , 这样的特质可使友谊维系终身—只要不向对方借钱。

A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.

“Nothing is made in vain, but the fly came near it.”

“I'd rather have ten snakes in the house than one fly.”

“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.”

Picture from Dave Thomson collection: www.twainquotes.com

“The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man's.”

Picture from Dave Thomson collection: www.twainquotes.com

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

Mark Twain’s Main Works The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 1865 《加拉维拉县驰名的跳蛙》 The Innocents Abroad 1869 《傻子出国记》 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876 Life on the Mississippi 1881, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1885 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court 1889, 《亚瑟王朝廷上的康涅狄格洲的美国佬》 The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg 1900 《败坏了的哈德堡人》 The Mysterious Stranger 1916 《神秘的陌生人》

View and Theme

nostalgic account of his past personal dependence, which were mostly related to the Mississippi and the West, became his major theme.

Mark Twain was a social critic, In all his life, he loved life and people and freedom and justice, felt a pride in human dignity and advocated brotherhood of man. He hated tyranny and iniquity, despised meanness and cruelty, and fought corruption, privilege and abuse whenever he found them with a fierce humor.

Styles

Broad humor or biting social satire, realism of plac

e and language, memorable characters, hatred of hypocrisy and oppression.

Simple and plain diction, precise, direct. His earlier works are light, humorous, optimistic. Hi

s later works become darker and more obscure. Local colorism and used vernacular American Eng

lish

Text Study: Chapter 21 and 22

How was the school master depicted? Did the students perform well in the exam? What did the author criticize? How should w

e reform our education? What bad situation did Tom fall in? How ab

out Huck and other children in the town? What are the functions of the children?

Are you satisfied with our school’s ways of management?

How about the relatioship between teachers and students?

How about the teaching methods? How should we improve?

Summer has almost arrived and the schoolchildren are restless. Mr. Dobbins becomes even more harsh in his discipline, provoking the boys to conspire against him.

At the end of the year, the town gathers in the schoolhouse for the “Examination,” in which students recite speeches and poems and engage in spelling and geography competitions. Tom struggles through “Give me liberty or give me death,” finally succumbing to stage fright, and a series of young ladies then recites the hilariously awful poems and essays they have written. Finally, the schoolmaster turns to the blackboard to draw a map of the United States for the geography class, and at that moment a blindfolded cat is lowered from the rafters by a string.

The animal claws at the air and yanks off Mr. Dobbins’s wig, revealing a bald head that the sign-painter’s boy gilded while Mr. Dobbins slept off a bout of drinking.

这类文章的共同特点有三个：一是 无病呻吟，故作悲伤；二是堆砌词语，滥用华丽词藻；三是特别偏爱一些陈词滥调。此外， 这些文章有个显著特点，也是它们的败笔之处：就是每篇文章的结尾都有一段根深蒂固的说 教词，好像断尾巴的狗一样，令人难受。她们的“独创大作”不管涉及到什么内容，她们都 绞尽脑汁，千方百计让人思索以便获得道德或宗教上的启示。在众目睽睽之下，这种说教虽 然给人以假话的感觉，但这种风气还是消除不了，时至今日依然如故。也许只要世界存在一 天，这种毫无诚意的说教就永远消灭不了。在这个国度里，有哪所学校的女生不觉得非在文 章的结尾加上一段说教词不可呢？更有意思的是你会发现越是不守规矩、不太信仰宗教的那 些女孩，她们的文章写的就越长、越虔诚。

密苏里少女告别阿拉巴马 再见，阿拉巴马！我爱你笃深， 离别虽短暂，难舍又难分！ 想到你，往事历历燃胸间， 爱怜又悲伤。 曾记否，万花丛中留下我的足迹， 德拉波斯溪旁有我朗朗的

读书声； 我听过德达西的流水犹如万马奔腾， 我见过库萨山巅晨曦的分娩。

我心系百事，无悔无怨， 含泪回首，心平气缓。 我告别的是我熟悉的地方， 见我叹息的也不是异乡他客；

来到该州，我宾至如归， 可如今我将远离高山大谷。 亲爱的阿拉巴马，一旦我心灰意冷， 那时，我真的告别人

寰。

Chapter 22

At the beginning of summer, Tom joins the Cadets of Temperance in order to wear one of their showy uniforms. Unfortunately, to join he must swear off smoking, tobacco chewing, and cursing—prohibitions that prove very difficult. He resolves to hang on until Judge Frazier, the justice of the peace, dies, because then he can wear his red sash in the public funeral. When the judge recovers, Tom resigns from the Cadets. The judge suffers a relapse and dies that night.

Vacation begins to drag. Becky Thatcher has gone to the town of Constantinople to stay with her parents, and the various circuses, parades, and minstrel shows that pass through town provide only temporary entertainment. The secret of Dr. Robinson’s murder still tugs at Tom’s conscience. Tom then gets the measles, and when he begins to recover, he discovers that a revival has swept through the town, leaving all his friends suddenly religious. That night brings a terrible thunderstorm, which Tom assumes must be directed at him as punishment for his sinful ways. The next day he has a relapse of the measles and stays in bed for three weeks. When he is finally on his feet again, Tom finds that all his friends have reverted to their former, impious ways.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer -  The novel’s protagonist. Tom is a mischievous boy with an active imagination who spends most of the novel getting himself, and often his friends, into and out of trouble. Despite his mischief, Tom has a good heart and a strong moral conscience. As the novel progresses, he begins to take more seriously the responsibilities of his role as a leader among his schoolfellows.

Tom’s aunt and guardian. Aunt Polly is a simple, kindhearted woman who struggles to balance her love for her nephew with her duty to discipline him. She generally fails in her attempts to keep Tom under control because, although she worries about Tom’s safety, she seems to fear constraining him too much. Above all, Aunt Polly wants to be appreciated and loved.

Becky Thatcher -  Judge Thatcher’s pretty, yellow-haired daughter. From almost the minute she moves to town, Becky is the “Adored Unknown” who stirs Tom’s lively romantic sensibility. Naïve at first, Becky soon matches Tom as a romantic strategist, and the two go to great lengths to make each other jealous.

Huckleberry Finn -  The son of the town drunk. Huck is a juvenile outcast who is shunned by respectable society and adored by the local boys, who envy his freedom. Like Tom, Huck is highly superstitious, and both boys are always ready for an adventure.

Sid -  Tom’s half-brother. Sid is a goody-goody who enjoys getting Tom into trouble. He is mean-spirited but presents a superficial show of model behavior. He is thus the opposite of Tom, who is warmhearted but behaves badly.

Joe Harper -  Tom’s “bosom friend” and frequent playmate. Joe is a typical best friend, a convention Twain parodies when he refers to Joe and Tom as “two souls with but a single thought.” Though Joe mostly mirrors Tom, he diverges from Tom’s example when he is the first of the boys to succumb to homesickness on Jackson’s Island. As the novel progresses, Huck begins to assume Joe’s place as Tom’s companion.

Themes, Motifs and Symbols

Moral and Social Maturation Society’s Hypocrisy Freedom through Social Exclusion Superstition in an Uncertain World

Suggested Essay Topics Analyze the character of Aunt Polly and her relatio

nship to Tom. Analyze the character of Aunt Polly and her relationship to Tom.

How does Tom Sawyer change over the course of the story? (novel of growth)

Though Tom and Aunt Polly position themselves as foes within the family—he as the troublemaker and she as the disciplinarian—they are actually similar in many ways. But, despite their superficially adversarial relationship, there is a real bond of loyalty and love between Tom and Aunt Polly.

Aunt Polly thus embodies a more positive kind of authority than the rest of adult society because her strictness is balanced with real love and concern. Like Tom, she exhibits the truly positive elements of social relations, without all the hypocrisy and insincerity.

Suggested Answer to question 1

The beginning of the novel shows Tom as a crafty, intelligent, and imaginative boy with excellent theatrical skills and an intuitive understanding of human nature. He expends his immense personal resources mainly on tricks and games—on getting into and then out of trouble in the real world and on elaborate flights of make-believe. He rarely takes anything seriously and seems to have no real conflicts.

Suggested Answer to Question 2

The murder of Dr. Robinson is the first serious conflict to present itself in the story, and we see Tom begin to change after he witnesses it. His anxiety and guilt about Muff Potter’s fate are plain in the scenes in which he tries to get Huck to reconsider their vow to secrecy. The decision he finally makes is independent by every indication, however. Tom decides to follow his conscience despite the ties that have bound him—his devotion to loyalty, superstition, and his personal safety.

Tom’s disregard of his own interest prepares us for even greater transformations in his character. In taking Becky Thatcher’s punishment, Tom exercises a preliminary heroism that conforms more to his storybook notions of chivalry and romance than it resolves a real conflict.

About Huckleberry Finn

Hemingway says, "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn 'it's the best book we've had. There was nothing before.' There has been nothing so good since."

a sequel to Tom Sawyer, but much deeper and more mature in theme and technique

a realistic picture of the Southern society—revenge, murder, indifference

journey down the river: an epic journey, a journey of growth and maturity. Huck was innocent at first and we found him naked; later he changed clothes all the time and found his own identity at last. The novel is also about how Huck changed his prejudice against the Black people.

women: a symbol of civilization; life on the raft (man's world) in contrast with life on land (woman's world)

dramatic irony: We look through the eyes of Huck, but we see things which Huck cannot see or understand. Huck never sees the evil of slavery.

dialect: Huck is regarded as the first vernacular hero. Mark Twain uses different dialect forms for different characters.