Re: Twain's view of society: is the irony always ironic? -- Northwest Nerds Bookclub

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Date Posted: 07:41:22 05/15/00 Mon
Author: Marla
Subject: Re: Twain's view of society: is the irony always ironic?
In reply to: Chris 's message, "Twain's view of society: is the irony always ironic?" on 09:26:33 05/12/00 Fri

Chris, that's a very good question and it's hard to say. Somewhere in the 350s, which is where I am now, he speaks about the way the servants in India (Yes, a new country, following a return to Australia post-New Zealand!) are treated. While reflecting on their subservience and apparent contentment with their lot in life (my words, not his), he recounts some experiences from his childhood regarding his father's treatment of their slaves. He attributes his father's harsh punishment tactics to the times, rather than a natural disposition toward hatred. For example, "My father had passed his life among the slaves from his cradle up, and his cuffings proceeded from the custom of the time, not from his nature." Later, in the same paragraph, he recalls a slave killing and his reaction to it: "I knew the man had a right to kill his slave if he wanted to, and yet it seemed a pitiful thing and somehow wrong, though why wrong I was not deep enough to explain if I had been asked to do it."

That said, I haven't read enough about Twain the man to know if his irony as an author accurately reflects his own belief system. I always considered him to be fairly open-minded about race integration, but I could be mistaken. Based on his recordings here, he actually seems pretty ambivalent about the whole thing.

> Having read through 200-some pages of this book, I'm
> not always sure what I think about Twain. Although he
> obviously is against the way the indigenous people of
> Australia have been treated, I think his perspective
> is a step away from my bleeding heart mentality. From
> my very loose reading, he appears to concede that
> people will conquer people. On page 211 in my text he
> says, "The white man's spirit was right, but his
> method was wrong."
>
> Now, that can be taken out of context, because he
> follows that up with "His spirit was the spirit which
> the civilized white has always exhibited toward the
> savage, but the use of poison was a departure from
> custom. . . It was better, kinder, swifter and much
> more humane than a number of the methods which have
> been sanctified by custom." For me, I'm not sure
> where the irony stops and his true voice sets in.
> Naturally, we'd like to give him the benefit of the
> doubt, but has anyone of you all read enough of or
> about Twain to know where he really stands on race,
> class, etc.?
>
> My

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