Preview

Opinion on Mark Twain's Essay the Damned Human Race.

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
325 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Opinion on Mark Twain's Essay the Damned Human Race.
I both agree and disagree with mark twains essay. He did live in a different time, however cruelty still exists the same, just in a different age and time. If one analyzes the Human race or all animals, one can find vulgarity in both creatures. To say which is of a higher or lower status because of barbaric qualities both humans and animals both have, cannot be compared properly. Animals do some awful things to each other as well as human beings . Mark Twain just lists human’s bad aspects. There are lots of positive aspects of humans, he goes into detail of only the negative aspects of human. If there are bad people, there can also be good people. It’s true in these days, and was also true in the time which Mark Twain lived in. In 1860s, when Mark Twain lived in, there was an American Civil War and this is most likely why he is so ashamed of human beings. there’s something he missed about humans One has to look outside of all the bad and evil and recognize those who are becoming vegetarians to save an animal, going green to save the planet, those who become doctors to treat sick people. If we didn’t have a moral sense how would we be capable of doing these things? Mark Twain is pointing out to many of the flaws that the human race has, and not enough of the qualities that we posses. these points can go both ways with man and animals, although, I agree on his point about religion. I see where he is coming from completely when he states “Man is the only Religious Animal.” He goes on to say how historic people murdered others because someone’s religious beliefs didn’t fit to theirs ,whereas animals don’t murder for religious reasons and never will. his essay is intense and really gets one thinking, it was well written and described in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain ridicules religion in the works of his characters’ actions and beliefs throughout the novel. His first depiction of religion begins…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From his satire of religion on the concept of religion, one can see that he was not a follower of religion, which was very rare during his day. Twain’s abolitionist views involving slavery put him way ahead of his time. Through Twain’s amazing satire which consisted of his own morality and views on religion one can argue that Twain fully got his message to the reader. Twain’s message of religion was easily understood by the way in which he told it through a child’s viewpoint. Twain’s simplistic terms provided the reader with an elementary understanding of racism in the…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mark Twain's purpose in writing the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was to share his childhood experiences and adventures. Through his experiences and adventures, he displays how these are the things that help kids mature and learn from but also continue to stay imaginative and creative. It is to point out all the imperfections in a society that people try to cover up, moreover to show the culture and lifestyle during the period of the book. Twain wrote the novel in the first-person voice of its main character, Huckleberry Finn. The text reproduces the vernacular, or spoken language of people who lived along the Mississippi River in the mid-nineteenth century. The book is a satire in which Mark Twain wanted to expose the wrongdoings of slavery…

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain undermines, and reinforces the cultural values of the time period through his characterization of Jim. One of the black stereotypes during the Pre-Civil War era was Blacks being lazy, ignorant, uneducated, and uncivilized.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain opposed many of the ideologies of his time. Through his novel Huckleberry Finn, he explored human nature and the society. He made apparent his dislike for them. The book focus's on the general treatment of black people during this time. Specifically, the author criticizes morality, slavery and racism.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the noblest, greatest, and most adventuresome novel in the world. Mark Twain definitely has a style of his own that depicts a realism in the novel about the society back in antebellum America. Mark Twain definitely characterizes the protagonist, the intelligent and sympathetic Huckleberry Finn, by the direct candid manner of writing as though through the actual voice of Huck. Every word, thought, and speech by Huck is so precise it reflects even the racism and black stereotypes typical of the era. And this has lead to many conflicting battles by various readers since the first print of the novel, though inspiring some. Says John H. Wallace, outraged by Twain's constant use of the degrading and white supremacist word ‘nigger', "[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is] the most grotesque example of racist trash ever written" (Mark Twain Journal by Thadious Davis, Fall 1984 and Spring 1985). Yet, again to counter that is a quote by the great American writer Ernest Hemingway, "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn…it's the best book we've had…There has been nothing as good since" (The Green Hills of Africa [Scribner's. 1953] 22). The controversy behind the novel has been and will always remain the crux of any readers is still truly racism. Twain surely does use the word ‘nigger' often, both as a referral to the slave Jim and any African-American that Huck comes across and as the epitome of insult and inferiority. However, the reader must also not fail to recognize that this style of racism, this malicious treatment of African-Americans, this degrading attitude towards them is all stylized of the pre-Civil War tradition. Racism is only mentioned in the novel as an object of natural course and a precision to the actual views of the setting then. Huckleberry Finn still stands as a powerful portrayal of experience through the newfound eyes of an innocent boy. Huck…

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mark Twain, American humorist and novelist, captured a world audience with stories of boyhood adventure and with commentary on man's shortcomings that is satirical while it probes, often bitterly, the roots of human behavior. Additionally, the many facets of Twain include: his incomparable humor, his revolutionary use of vernacular language, his exploration of the realities of American life, his irreverence and skepticism, his profound grappling with issues of race and his fearless opposition to the injustices and outrages of an imperialistic age. Illuminating a moral prompted by some deep and sincerely felt sentiment, Twain held strong faith in the clarity and cleansing possibilities of the written word. Maverick,…

    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Is Man the Lowest Animal?

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages

    "...some hunters on our Great Plains organized a buffalo hunt for the entertainment of an English earl--that and to provide some fresh meat for his larder...” Through this over simplification of man, Twain successfully explains to the reader man’s love for violence. man finds entertainment in violence while animals are only violent because it is how they survive. If man finds entertainment through violence or even death, and animals commit violence for survival, then man is naturally inferior to animals based on man’s evil mindset.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen”. Whether they’re your enemies or your friends, it always right to stand up against an issue and challenge them, or else there will never be a change in society. Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, writes a dystopian novel that almost depicts our current world. In the novel, Bradbury illustrates a society where books are outlawed and technology takes over people's daily lives. On the other hand,Mark Twain, the author of the satire , “ Lowest Animal”, expresses his own opinions in an essay where he performs numerous experiments comparing humans to animals. Through his satire, he proves…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    By describing his thoughts on conformity, Twain, possibly unknowingly, makes an appeal to pathos. He makes the claim that a “coldly-thought-out and independent verdict” is “a most rare thing--if it has indeed ever existed”. However, by making the claim…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain Controversy

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Everyone remembers reading the works of Mark Twain when they were in school. Freshman year of high school you’re sitting in your English class and the teacher is reading the story of Huckleberry Finn. As you go through the story, you start to think, “Wow, people actually treated other humans this way?” and you realize how cruel it really is. It teaches you that discrimination is not right and everyone deserves to be equal. Now just imagine never having read that book, never feeling the sympathy for the people that you felt, and never learning the lessons you learned from it.…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In fact, Twain postulates that mankind’s “Moral Sense” manifests as the virus plaguing humanity with inferiority (Twain 4). Conscious recognition of wrong, constructed by the very morals believed to distinguish mankind, is the only prerequisite of immoral actions. Exhibitions of aforementioned iniquity are displayed within avarice, cruel violence, and the institution of slavery. Twain satirizes yet another unique aspect of humanity, oral language, by insinuating that mankind speaks of change, yet never actually works toward those ends. Animals, in contrast, “are the only ones who exclusively do their own work and provide their own living” (Twain 2).…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain Thesis

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages

    has the newest car, and gets all the ladies. Or the person in art class who…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story “The lowest Animal” written by mark twain, he explains his logic on how he thinks…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mark Twain is a significant author in history who writes about the honest truth of American history. This novel is a piece of literature that needs to be read by everyone in the United States in order to see exactly how we developed into today. By reading this novel our students will find out exactly how the slaves were treated back then and how we have learned from this. This piece of literature is teaching students about how horrible the world actually was and how African Americans were once treated. Unfortunately some are still treated badly today, although not nearly as bad as it once was.…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays