American Humour:

M. Twain.
Topic 54: M. Twain & H. James Page 2 of 12

Westward expansion during the 19th century resulted in the creation of much regional
and humorous literature. The most important contributor to these genres was Mark Twain,
whose “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (1876) and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1884)
described life along the Mississippi River.

Towards the end of the 19th century there emerged a group of writers known as
naturalists, who saw man as a victim of his fate and treated everyday subjects unromantically
and in realistic detail. Among the greatest of this group were Theodore Dreiser, whose novels
Sister Carrie (1900) and The Financier (1912) explored new social problems in a rapidly
industrializing America, and Stephen Crane, whose masterful account of Civil War combat was
The Red Badge of Courage (1895). Other notable writers of naturalist fiction included Frank
Norris and Jack London.

Henry James's novels of the same period were quite different, dealing with the
psychological processes of upper-middle-class characters and the social and moral conflicts
arising between Europeans and Americans. James's enormous productivity, mastery of style,
and psychological subtlety made him perhaps the greatest of all American novelists.

W. Irving

The quality of humour has been already noted in

connection with the work of more than one American writer.
The homely wit of Franklin gives a distinct colouring to his
pages. Irving, not only in the Knickerbocker History, but also
in the delightful pages of his several sketch-books, appears as
a humorist of genial type. Lowell and Holmes have evident
places among the exponents of American humour; and there
are scores of minor writers whose gifts in this field have not been concealed. (See Appendix )
Frontier Humour and Realism

Two major literary currents in 19th-century America merged in Mark Twain: popular
frontier humour and local colour, or "regionalism." These related literary approaches began
in the 1830s- and had even earlier roots in local oral traditions. In frontier villages, on
riverboats, in mining camps, and around cowboy campfires far from city amusements,
storytelling flourished.
Exaggeration, tales, incredible boasts, and comic workingmen heroes enlivened frontier
literature. These humorous forms were found in many frontier regions- in the "old
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Southwest", the mining frontier, and the Pacific Coast. Each region had its colourful characters
around whom stories collected. (See Appendix)

Twain, Faulkner, and many other writers, particularly southerners, are indebted to
frontier pre-Civil War humorists such as Johnson Hooper, George Washington Harris, Augustus
Longstreet, Joseph Baldwin, etc. From them and the American frontier folk came the wild
proliferation of comical new American words: "absquatulate" (leave), "flabbergasted" (amazed),
"rampagious" (unruly, rampaging).

Mark Twain (1835-1910) is the pen name of Samuel Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Langhorne Clemens. "Mark Twain," is the phrase
Mississippi boatmen used to signify two fathoms (3.6
meters) of water, the depth needed for a boat's safe
passage.

He was born in the backwoods of Missouri, but

while he was yet a small boy the family moved to
Hannibal on the Mississippi River. There Sam developed
a passion for the river and a desire to become the pilot
on a riverboat. This was the dream of all the boys along
the river, and Twain was very proud of himself when,
later on, he actually became a pilot.

Clemens' father was a popular man in Hannibal, but remained poor, and when he died,
Sam was apprenticed to a printer. Thus at age 11 Sam's formal schooling ended, though he
continued to read extensively. As was the case with many 19th-century writers, the print shop
and journalism served as preparation for his career.

After working on his brother's newspaper for a while, in 1854 Sam set out on his own,
working as a printer in various Eastern and Midwestern towns. In 1856 he fulfilled his boyhood
dream by becoming a riverboat pilot. When the boats stopped operating during the Civil War,
Clemens served for a time as a volunteer soldier and then, in 1862, he went West.

Clemens first wrote for a newspaper in Nevada and

then moved to San Francisco. During this period he wrote
mainly humorous sketches, the most famous being "The
Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

Between 1865 and 1870, Clemens went on tours of

Hawaii, Europe, and the Middle East as a correspondent;
later his adventures served as the subject of several books. His newspaper accounts of his
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travels spread his popularity, so that on his return he also became a successful humorous
lecturer.
In 1870, Clemens married a wealthy and rather aristocratic girl and settled in the East,
first in Buffalo and then permanently in Hartford, Connecticut. When he moved to Hartford,
Clemens gave up journalism to make writing his career. His writing was popular and sold well,
although he sometimes found lecture tours necessary to supplement his income.
In Hartford, Clemens was surrounded by a wealthy, genteel society including several
other popular authors, and it has been assumed that this influence modified the boisterous
writer of newspaper days, restricting his wit and social criticism.
This assumption is not entirely true, for the "Mark Twain" who appeared
autobiographically in the stories of the West, and the Samuel Clemens of Hartford society
were both, to some degree, social poses. Clemens' work does not suffer from being overly
genteel, and his satirical writing is a sharp attack on society. In his last years, Clemens became
increasingly bitter; some of his writing of this period is so pessimistic that he suspended it
from publication.

His first literary success was the story of The Celebrated Jumping Frog, which, at the
suggestion of Bret Harte, he published in The Californian, in 1867.
His first book, Innocents Abroad (1869), was the humorous record of a trip through
Europe; it brought immediate fame.
Roughing It (1872) was based upon early experiences in the far West. The sketches in both
books had the freshness of a happy response to life. The young reporter’s mock innocence
was the perfect base for obvious and good-natured satire on man’s little hypocrisies.
The Gilded Age (1873), written in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner, introduced
the noteworthy character "Colonel Sellers," with his sanguine temperament and his famous
declaration "There's millions in it!"
Tom Sawyer (1876) – is a remarkable study of boy character, and
reminiscent of the author's youth. A narrative-short story written for boys, full
of the horrors and joys of childhood, flowing apparently on the surface of
experience.
A Tramp Abroad (1880) is the result of another European trip.

Mr. Clemens then entered a province new to him and surprised his readers
with The Prince and the Pauper (1882), a charmingly written romance for
children.
Life on the Mississippi (1883), where Twain recalls his training as a young
steamboat pilot. It is a collection of sketches and impressions of the great
river.
It was followed by another strong story of boy-life amid rude
surroundings, Huckleberry Finn (1884). It is no longer a story only for boys. It is
a folk epic in which the mighty river has become a symbol of what man must
forever contend. The difference between Tom and Huck is the difference
between the early and the late Mark Twain. The creator of Tom was a lover of
life, filled with its mysteries, alarmed by its terrors, amused by its
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inconsistencies and contrasts; the creator of Huck was essentially sceptic or agnostic who had
turned against mankind because of its inhumanity to man.
The broad burlesque, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's
Court (1889) can be read with equal enjoyment on either of two levels, as
a light-hearted burlesque with Twain’s humour at its best or as a
devastating satire on American society.
A serious novel, Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and a historical
romance seriously conceived, Joan of Arc (1896) increased the literary
reputation of the author.
Mark Twain was also the author of numerous short stories
distinguished by their originality, rather in the vein of the satirist than in
that of the mere humorist. His last work was a leisurely autobiography, the chapters of which
were enlivened with the old-time humour, mellowed and unimpaired by age.

HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1884) Twain's masterpiece, is set in the Mississippi River village of St.
Petersburg. The son of an alcoholic tramp, Huck has just been adopted by a respectable family
when his father, in a drunken stupor, threatens to kill him.

Fearing for his life, Huck escapes,

simulating his own death. He is joined in
his escape by another outcast, the slave
Jim, whose owner, Miss Watson, is
thinking of selling him down the river to
the harsher slavery of the deep South.

Huck and Jim float on a raft down the majestic Mississippi, but are sunk by a steamboat,
separated, and later reunited. They go through many comical and dangerous shore adventures
that show the variety, generosity, and sometimes cruel irrationality of society.

In the end, it is discovered that Miss Watson had already freed Jim, and a respectable
family is taking care of the wild boy Huck. But Huck grows impatient with civilized society and
plans to escape to "the territories" - Indian lands.

The ending gives the reader the counter-version of the classic American success myth:
the open road leading to the pristine wilderness, away from the morally corrupting influences
of "civilization."

James Fenimore Cooper's novels, Walt Whitman's hymns to the open road, William
Faulkner's The Bear, and Jack Kerouac's On the Road are other literary examples.

Huckleberry Finn has inspired countless literary interpretations. Clearly, the novel is a
story of death, rebirth, and initiation. The escaped slave, Jim, becomes a father figure for
Huck; in deciding to save Jim, Huck grows morally beyond the bounds of his slave-owning
society. It is Jim's adventures that initiate Huck into the complexities of human nature and
give him moral courage.

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The novel also dramatizes Twain's ideal of the harmonious community: "What you want,
above all things, on a raft is for everybody to be satisfied and feel right and kind toward the others." Like
Melville's ship the Pequod, the raft sinks, and with it that special community. The pure, simple
world of the raft is ultimately overwhelmed by progress -the steamboat- but the mythic image
of the river remains, as vast and changing as life itself.

Ernest Hemingway's famous statement that all of American literature comes from one
great book, Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, indicates this author's towering place in
the tradition.

Early 19th-century American writers tended to be too flowery, sentimental, or

ostentatious- partially because they were still trying to prove that they could write as elegantly
as the English. Twain's style, based on vigorous, realistic, colloquial American speech, gave
American writers a new appreciation of their national voice. Twain was the first major author
to come from the interior of the country, and he captured its distinctive, humorous slang and
iconoclasm.

For Twain and other American writers of the late 19th century, realism was not merely
a literary technique: It was a way of speaking truth and exploding worn-out conventions. Thus
it was profoundly liberating and potentially at odds with society.

The most well-known example is Huck Finn, a poor boy who decides to follow his
conscience and help a Negro slave escape to freedom, even though Huck thinks that this
means he will be damned to hell for breaking the law.

The unstable relationship between reality and illusion is Twain's characteristic theme,
the basis of much of his humour. The magnificent yet deceptive, constantly changing river is
also the main feature of his imaginative landscape.

The typical motif in Clemens' writing was the narration of a story by a young or naïve
person or a story in which the main character was an Easterner unaccustomed to frontier life.
In Clemens' stories the over-refined Easterner was usually outwitted by Westerners. When he
wrote from a youth's perspective, the youth was usually wise beyond his years but retained
an idealism which Clemens contrasted with the hypocrisy and cruelty of the adult world.

Twain's moral sense as a writer echoes his pilot's responsibility to steer the ship to
safety. Twain's serious purpose, combined with a rare genius for humour and style, keep his
writing fresh and appealing.

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Topic 54: M. Twain & H. James Page 7 of 12

James was born in New York City, the second child

of wealthy, somewhat aristocratic parents. His father,
Henry James Sr., was a philosopher and psychologist.
Henry James Sr. disapproved of most schools and
consequently sent his sons to a variety of tutors and
European schools in search of the best education for
them. The children received the major part of their
education at home, however, in lively conversations with
their father and the other children. The James family's
travels in Europe were another source of education for
Henry.

When he was growing up in New York, Henry was given a great deal of independence,
so much in fact, that he felt isolated from other people. A quiet child among exuberant
brothers and cousins, Henry was more often an observer than a participant in their activities.
When, as a young man, a back injury prevented his fighting in the Civil War, he felt even more
excluded from the events of his time. While the adult Henry James developed many close
friendships, he retained his attitude of observer, and devoted much of his life to solitary work
on his writing.
Stories (1893).

Mark Twain and Henry James are generally ranked as the greatest American novelists
of the second half of the 19th century.

Twain constructed mosaics made up of anecdotal units. He took humorous anecdote,

combined it with autobiographical reminiscence, and so achieved the narrative best adapted
to his mind.

James' fiction and criticism is the most highly conscious, sophisticated, and difficult of
its era. He is noted for his "international theme" or cosmopolitanism- that is, the complex
relationships between naïve Americans and cosmopolitan Europeans.

The first wave of famous American

writers went abroad to put American writing at the forefront of international literary
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Topic 54: M. Twain & H. James Page 8 of 12
developments, forging an American literature centered on the “International Theme” and
defining an international modernism fundamentally concerned with issues of
cosmopolitanism in what was seen as a newly “cosmopolitan” world. Henry James was the
first ambassador for this movement of expatriation, going to Europe to study from every
possible angle the stories of “ambassador” figures who attempt to mediate between Europe
and America, exploring the drama of identity formation provoked by the modern experience
of cross-cultural encounter.

James is noted for his “international theme”, that is the complex relationships between native
Americans and cosmopolitan Europeans. His novels, though difficult to be read by our
students, can be presented in an adapted version and make use of the interculturality they
represent by making our students clear the differences both societies disguised.

When we think of classic American tales, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer" may come to mind. Mark Twain, one of the most prolific American
writers of the nineteenth century, gave us essays, short stories, novels, poetry and sketches
that reflected his surroundings, his upbringing, and the political landscape of his times.
Teaching about Mark Twain and his writing has so many wonderful benefits. There are so
many cross-curricular resources and issues that can be explored. Some of these topics include
geography, the abolition of slavery, dialect, culture, the Civil War, pioneers, and the
Mississippi River.

At the same time, we can take advantage of the wit in his stories and characters as humor
represents perhaps one of the most genuine and universal speech acts within human
discourse. As a natural consequence then, the employment of humor within the context of
second language pedagogy offers significant advantage to both the language teacher and
learner. Indeed, humor serves as an effective means of reducing affective barriers to language
acquisition. This effectiveness is particularly relevant to the communicative classroom, as
humor has been shown to lower the affective filter and stimulate the pro-social behaviors that
are so necessary for success within a communicative context.

Bercovitch, S. and Patell, C.R.K. (eds.), The Cambridge History of American Literature (1994 ).
Cunliffe, M. The Literature of the United States. Penguin. Harmondsworth , England (1978)
Gottesman , R. (et alia) The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Norton. N.Y. 1979
Spiller R. E. et al. (eds.), Literary History of the United States, 4th ed., rev., 2 vol. (1974),
Walker, M. The Literature of the United States of America. Macmillan. London, 1983.

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APPENDIX

THE POLITICAL HUMORISTS.

The political humorist has long been in evidence. "Major Jack Downing" was the character
assumed in the days of President Jackson by a young journalist of Portland, Maine, a graduate of
Bowdoin College, Seba Smith (1792-1868). The war with Mexico later inspired his pen.
The Civil War brought out several journalistic humorists, among whom one, Robert Henry Newell
(1836-1901), of New York, wrote under the name of "Orpheus C. Kerr"; and another, David Ross Locke
(1833-1888), an Ohio editor, figured as "Rev. Petroleum V. Nasby." His book Swingin' round the Cirkle
(1866) was immensely popular throughout the North.

PHILOSOPHY AND HUMOUR.

Representative of a broader field and not connected with politics are the comic characters "Widow
Bedott," the creation of Mrs. Frances Whitcher (1812-1852), and the oft-quoted "Mrs. Partington" of
Benjamin P. Shillaber (1814-1890), whose Life and Sayings of Mrs. Partington appeared in 1854.
Henry W. Shaw (1818-1885), "Josh Billings," and Charles F. Browne (1834-1867), "Artemus Ward,"
are the real leaders in this group of humorous professionals. They both appeared as entertainers on the
public platform, as well as in the columns of the newspapers. In 1866, Browne visited England, where
his lecture on The Mormons created as much merriment as it had occasioned in the United States. His
complete writings were published in 1875. Shaw's humorous philosophy was embodied chiefly in Josh
Billings' Farmer's Allminax, his absurd system of spelling contributing to the fun.

POETS AND HUMOUR.

Of those who have written humorously in verse, we may mention John Godfrey Saxe (1816-
1887), whose humour mingling with sentiment is inferior to that of Thomas Hood, which it otherwise
resembles, and Charles Godfrey Leland (1824-1903), of Philadelphia, author of the Hans Breitmann
Ballads, (published 1871).

1.1. FRONTIER HUMOR AND REALISM

Two major literary currents in 19th-century America merged in Mark Twain: popular frontier
humour and local colour, or "regionalism." These related literary approaches began in the 1830s- and
had even earlier roots in local oral traditions. In frontier villages, on riverboats, in mining camps, and
around cowboy campfires far from city amusements, storytelling flourished. Exaggeration, tall tales,
incredible boasts, and comic workingmen heroes enlivened frontier literature. These humorous forms
were found in many frontier regions- in the "old Southwest" (the present-day inland South and the lower
Midwest), the mining frontier, and the Pacific Coast. Each region had its colourful characters around
whom stories collected: Mike Fink, the Mississippi riverboat brawler; Casey Jones, the brave railroad
engineer; Paul Bunyan, the giant logger whose fame was helped along by advertising; westerners Kit
Carson, the Indian fighter, and Davy Crockett, the scout. Their exploits were exaggerated and enhanced
in ballads, newspapers, and magazines. Sometimes, as with Kit Carson and Davy Crockett, these
stories were strung together into book form.

Twain, Faulkner, and many other writers, particularly southerners, are indebted to frontier pre-
Civil War humorists such as Johnson Hooper, George Washington Harris, Augustus Longstreet, Joseph
Baldwin, etc. From them and the American frontier folk came the wild proliferation of comical new
American words: "absquatulate" (leave), "flabbergasted" (amazed), "rampagious" (unruly, rampaging).