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PLOT STRUCTURE IN TIE NOVELS OF MARK TNAIN
THESIS
Presented to the Graduate Council of the North
Texas State College in Partial Ful-
fillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of
iSTER OF ARTS
By
Zelma Ruth Odle, B. A.
Gordonville, Texas
August, 1949
TABIE OF CONTENTS
Chapter PageI. INTRODUCTIU CTION........... .
Purposes of the StudyMark Twain's Literary BeginningsMark Twain's Statements of His Limitations
in Plot StructureMark Twain's Method in Plot StructureCriticisms of Mark Twain's Methods
II. A COMPArJSCN OF TIE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAI2ERAND TM ADVETTJRES 07 HU=TBTRRY7IN . . . 8
Structure of Tom SawyerStructure of uckler Finn
III. THRED NOVELS OF HISTORICAL INTEEST: TIEPRINCE AND THE PAUPER, A CONNICTICUTYAhKtE f7IING ARTHUR' S~COURT, ANDPERSONAL17ECTL ACTIONS OF JOAN OF ARC . . . 20
Structure of The Prince and the PauperStructure of A~onne ticut~Ya~-nkee nfjArthurts Court
Structure ofPersonal Recollections of Joanof Arc
IV. A COMPARISON OF PUDD'NHEAD WILSON AND THOSEEXTRACODINAH T iSINS............ 42
Structure of PuddInhead WilsonStructure of Those E traordinary Twins
V. A COMPAISON OF THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER ANDTHE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBRUG. . . . . . 56
Structure of The Mysterious StrangerStructure of M'E3 Mttan tVt orrupteHadleybur
VI *CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . * 72
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
iii
CHAPTER I
IN TRODUCTITK
Mark Twain was not only a wit but a literary man. He
could paint a scene and he could make a character live, but
could he plot a novel? It is the purpose of this study
to anaylze his methods and his products, with emphasis upon
the building of plots.
Mark Twain came up into literature from the popular
ranks, deriving very little from the bookish tradition.
The origins of his art lie in humor, "in short sketches,
more or less inventive, and. studies of life in which he let
his imagination play freely." 1 hen Mark Twain began to
go beyond casual anecdotes to the production of sustained
fiction, he encountered many perplexing problems, plot
structure easily chief among them.
For these reasons it is well to refer first to Mark
Twaints own statements for an examination of the structural
phase of his literary technique. In his famous intro-
duction to rnose Extraordinarv Twins he says:
A man who is not born with the novel-writinggift has a troublesome time of it when he tries tobuild a novel. I know this from experience. He
1.,D. Howells, i yMark Twain, p. 173.
1
2
has no clear idea of his story; in fact he hasno story. He merely has some people in his mind,and an incident or two, also a locality. Heknows these people, Ie Imows the selected locality,and he trusts that he can plunge these people intotnose incidents with interesting results. So hegoes to work. To trite a novel? No--that is athought which comes later; in the beginning he isonly proposing to tell a little tale; a six-pagetale. But as it is a tale which he is notacquainted with, and can only find out what it isby listening as it goes along telling itself, itis more than apt to go on and on and on till itspreads itself into a book. I Imow about this,because it has happened to me so many times. 2
then Mark Twain said, "I do not claim that I can tell
a story as it ought to be told,3 he was speaking of plat-
form performance and not literary composition. But he does
speak of himself as a "jack-leg" as compared with the
"born-and-trained novelist.tt4
Powerful in character portrayal and weak in the struc-
tural sense, hark Twain often depended upon his characters
to write the narrative for him. 7hen they really came to
life, they did just that, "passing from incident to incident
with a grace their creator could never achieve in manipu-
lating an artificial plot." 5
Mark Tain, The Works of Mark Tain, definitiveedition, XVI, 207. TAll references to lark Twain's writingswill be made to this edition, unless otherwise stated. Here-after only the title of the work and the volume and pagenumber will be mentioned).
5 The 30,000 Bequest, XIV, 263.
4Pudd Inhe ad Iils on, XVI, 207.
literary History of the United States, edited byRobert E. Spiller and others, II, 928.
3
Mark TWain loved a story which could tell itself. In
his opinion, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc was his
greatest work.6 "'It is a Aale that writes itself,' he
said in a letter to H. H Rogers, speaking of Joan of Arc;
'I merely have to hold tne pen.'" 7 This work, however,
was fourteen years growing, with twelve years of prepara-
tion and two of writing.
In 1906 hark Twain wrote:.
Thaen a tale tells itself there is no troubleabout it, there are no hesitancies, no delays, nocogitations, no attempts at invention, there isnothing to do but hold the pen and let the storytalk through it and say after its own fashion,what it desires to say.
Again in the same year he said:
As long as a book would write itself I was afaithful and interested amanuensis and my industrydid not flag, but the minute that the book tried toshift to ng head the labor of contriving itssituations, inventing its adventures and conductingits conversations, I put it away and dropped it outof my mind. 1 0
11ark Twain was a talker and a shoniman all his life.
It may be that his love of informal speaking may account in
6Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, XVII, in A. B.Paine'sintrocuction, xx.
A. B. Paiie, Mark Tvain: A Bioraph, fCII, 989.
8 Joan of Arc, XTII, xx, in A. B. Paine's introduction.
9 Mark Twain, ILrtk Twain in EuLon, edited by BernardDeVoto, p. 243.
1 0Ibid., p. 19G.
4
part for the disproportion of his plots. "He wrote as he
talked, for the ear more than for the eye. His cadence
is the cadence of speech." 1 l Howells says that "he wrote
as he thought, and as all men think, without sequence,
without an eye to what went before or should come after.t12
The writings of 'Mark Twain show that carrying out the
detail of a narrative was much easier for him when the
framework did not have to be invented.
Except within a short scene or anecdote, he knewno laws of narrative writing that he thoughtworth repeating. This is obvious from the hap-hazard sequences and reckless disproportion ofmost of his novels. He believed that the writerwho was untraimelled by rule or precedent waslikely to excel in spontaneity and naturalness:in his books, as in his life, he enjoyed "rough-ing it." He had as little faith as skill ininvention*13
Another weakness of Mark Taain is seen in his inability
to sustain a strong and realistically motivated plot
throughout a story.
In plotting a book his structural sense wasalways weak; intoxicated by a hunch, he seldomsaw far ahead, and too many of his stories peterout from the authors fatigue or surfeit.14
lStanley J. Kunitz and Howard Haycraft, editors,American Authors: 1600-1900, p. 161.
1 2 Howells, . cit., p. 17.
13Alexander Cowie, The Rise of the American Novel,p. 648.
1 4 iterary History of the United States, II, 928.
Seldom building a plot carefully before he began to write,
he lacked also the artist's faculty for thinking a novel
through until it had found its own best form.
Closely allied to his failure to maintain a strong
plot consistently is Mark Twaints habit of changing the
tone and form of his narrative. In Huckleberry Finn he
passes with apparent ease from the depths of social satire
to the shallows of burlesque and extravaganza. He brings
the romantic Tom Sawyer, with his fantastic and useless
plot for the salvation of Jim, and places him against his
arch-realist, Huckleberry Finn. Thus he ends his master-
piece in a sprawling farce.
Although Mark Twaints gift was for episodic treatment,
he devoted much space to trifling incidents. He was a
master in combining exciting incident with a maximum of
suspense. The effect, however, he often ruined by putting
in little tail-pieces not necessary to or even well con-
nected with the incident. A case in point is the saving of
Jim from capture by Huck's clever intimation that Jim had
small-pox, followed by the would-be captorst giving Huck
two twenty-dollar gold pieces to salve their own
consciences.15
That Mark Twain was not averse to changing his plan
after he was well started in a novel is illustrated by
what he said of his problem in the writing of
1 5 The Adventures of Huckleber Finn, UII, 127.
6
PuddInhead Wilson and Those Extraordinar Twins. It really
was meant to be a farce about Siamese twins, said Mark
Twain, but two tales - a farce and a tragedy - got tangled
together and he was forced to separate them, for him a
most embarrassing circumstance.16 When one understands
Mark Twaints haphazard methods of composition, it is not
difficult for him to see how a well-developed symmetrically
designed plot like that of PuddInhead Wilson could become
almost swallowed up in a raw burlesque such as Those
Extraordinary Twins.
Van gyck Brooks, Twaints most adverse critic, main-
tains that Mark Twain can best be described as an "im-
provisator, a spirit with none of the self-determination of
the artist, who composed extempore, as it were, and mainly
at the solicitation of outside influences. 17 It is true,
in the writers opinion, that Mark Twain was greater at
transcription and portrayal than at invention and that his
greatest works are reminiscent, descriptive, autobiographi-
cal, and historical, but this does not argue that he had no
control, no artistic perception. Mark Twain has the art of
interesting his reader from the first word, and his novels,
though without great structural concepts, reveal their
author as a man of broad understanding and vital, if un-
even, achievement. I believe that a careful examination of
16PuddInhead Wilson, XVI., 208-212.
17Van Wyck Brooks, The Ordeal of Mark Twain, p. 204.
7
several of his stories will show that Mark TWain did notmeet his literary Waterloo in the matter of structure,
weak point though it may have been. In this study Mark
Tvain's two boy masterpieces, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
and The Adventures of Huckleberr Finn; his three historical
romances - The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee
in King Arthurts Court, and Personal Recollections of Joan
of Arc; his tragedy and his burlesque, PuddInhead Wilson and
Those Extraordinary Twins; and his philosophical treatises,The as te rious Stra r and The Man that Corrted Hadleyburg,
will be treated. Treatment may vary from novel to novel,
but in general an attempt will be made to discuss each work
by showing the building up of action to the climax and
final culmination, at the same time emphasizing minor
crises and lesser devices of structure.
C CHAPTER II
A COPARISN OF TIM ADVENTURES OF TVI SAWYi2R AND
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
"You don I't 1ow about me without you have read a book
by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that aint
no matter."1 Thus wisely and truthfully speaks Huckleberry
Finn. A imowledge of Tom Awyer is certainly not necessary
to an understanding and appreciation of the idyll of Huck
and Jim on the Mississippi. Huckleberry Finn should no
longer be considered a sequel to Tom SaWyer; it is a new
tale, in no way dependent upon its predecessor. A dis-
cussion of the two novels, however, may reveal interesting
facts about Mark Twaint s literary craftmanship. The two
may well be studied together, since they have in common
some characters and essentially the same point of view -
the American West of the mid-nineteenth century viewed by
boy eyes.
Structure of Tom Sawyer
Structurally, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a series
of episodes loosely connected by a murder which does not
dominate the whole very thoroughly. The plot of this novel
seems to have meant considerably less than the characters
and their environs to Mark Twain.
IThe Adventures of Huckle Finn, XIII, 1.
8
9
Tom Sawyer, upon close scrutiny, does reveal a rather
large, effective unity. In his study of the American
novel, Carl Van Doren says of it:
The story moves forward in something of thesame manner as did the plays of the seventies,with exits and entrances not always motivated.And yet a taste so delicate as to resent thesedefects in structure would probably not appreciatethe flexibility of the narrative, its easy,casual gait, its broad sweep, its variety ofsubstance. Mark Twain drives with careless, saggingreins, but he holds the general direction.2
John Erskine's criticism emphasizes the anecdotal
arrangement of Tom Sawyer:
No doubt Tom Sawyer would be enjoyed by youngpeople even if Huckleberry Finn did not lend itfame and keep i alive, buttaen by itself itnow seems a rather poorly constructed book. Thestory is built up with anecdotes, each one completein itself and none developed beyond the point ofthe joke.t
William Dean Howells asserts that Tom Sawyer marks
the real beginnings of his friend's career as a novelist. 4
He also points out that both Hucklebe Finn and Tom Sawyer
wander in episodes loosely related to the main story, but
that they are of a closer and more logical advance than any
of Twain's fiction which preceded them.5
The point of view, as has already been stated, is
that of a frontier boy. Everything is reported from Tom's
2Carl Van Doren, The American Novel, p. 169.
3John Erskine, ThDelight _of Great Books, p. 264.
4W. D. Howells, a Mark Twain, p. 173.
5lbid.
WIM - 9 - P .7 , -- l- - , -1, '. - - I -." , " - -Nw,
10
standpoint, although the book is written in the third person.
However, in a letter to Howells written at Hartford on July
5, 1875, Mark Twain remarks, "I perhaps made a mistake in
not writing it in the first person." 6
The first eight chapters of Tom Sawyer provide the
background for the ain story and acquaint the reader with
the principal characters and the influences motivating them
to action. The whitewashing episode is here outstanding,
placing Tom Sawyer among literature's immortals. Tom's fall-
ing in love with Becky Thatcher leads him to show off at
school and in Sunday School, and her repudiation of their
"engagement" causes him to determine to run away from home to
become a bold pirate. Also in this section Huckleberry Finn
joins the immortals, towing a dead cat, a sure cure for warts
if correctly used in the graveyard at midnight.
Their implicit belief in superstitions of this kind
brings the boys to the weed-grown village cemetery at mid-
night, where and when the main story begins. Fascinated,
they watch the half-breed In jun Joe and the town drunkard,
Muff Potter, as they exhume the newly-buried body of Hoss
Williams for young Doctor Robinson. Huck and Tom listen
breathlessly as an argument ensues, in which Injun Joe demands
more money from the doctor. As Doctor Robinson fells Muff
Potter with the head-board of the grave, the wily Indian
stabs the young physician through the breast, instantly
killing him. Then Injun Joe places the incriminating Imife
Letters of Mark Twain, XXXTV, 258.
11
in Muff's hand, and when that poor fellow regains conscious-
ness, he convinces him that he has inadvertently committed a
murder. The boys leave the scene of the crime as soon as
they safely can do so, tormented with their desire to free
Muff of guilt and a corresponding terror of the vengeance of
Injun Joe. This dilemma becomes a strong unifying force in
the narrative.
The pages immediately following the account of the
murder tell of Injun Joe's betrayal of the innocent Potter
to the authorities and his subsequent imprisonment. Suspense
is artfully contrived by the development of the possibility
that Tom may reveal all by his strange behavior and his talk-
ing in his sleep. He manages to keep his secret, however, and
salves his conscience by visiting Muff Potter at his cell.
The next important incident is the pirating venture upon
Jackson's Island. Tomts stealthy visit home is one of the out-
standing episodes of the book. He abandons his plan for re-
vealing the safety and whereabouts of himself and Huck and
Joe when he learns that their funeral is set for the following
Sunday, On this memorable day the three freebooters walk
up the aisle at their own funeral - a magnificent triumph,
which makes them village heroes. This episode does not con-
tribute to the main story except indirectly, in that it is a
prelude to more exciting adventures - seeking buried treasure
and tracing bandits.
12
The next three chapters contribute nothing to the
furtherance of the plot. They contain accounts of Tom's taking
Becky's punishment in school, the highly exaggerated school
commencement exercises, and Tom's siege of the measles, after
which he finds his friends all with new-found religion as a
result of a revival meeting.
The town comes out of its lethargy with the occasion of
Muff Potter's trial. This emergency causes Huck and Tom
again to swear not to tell their awful secret, while Tom's
humanity is engaging in a fierce battle with his honor.
A favorite plot element with Mark Twain is the dramatic
courtroom scene. In Tom Sawyer this device is used with good
effect. Suspense is built to a high point by the failure of
Potter's lawyer to cross-question the witnesses against poor
Muff and is greatly heightened by the wholly unexpected call-
ing of Tom Sawyer to the stand. The frightened boy unburdens
himself of his hateful secret, and Injun Joe makes his escape
through an open window. This is the climaxing incident of the
story, as all the action from this time points to a resolution
of all the conflicting forces of the plot.
The next chapter reveals how Tom broke his oath by re-
vealing his secret to luff's lawyer, placing himself and Huck
in an unusual position - village heroes by day and suffering,
terrified little boys by night.
The failure of the search for Injun Joe relieves the
minds of the boys to some extent, and they turn to the
13
romantic possibilities of treasure-hunting. This new project
leads them to an old haunted house, where from a vantage
point in the upper story, they see Injun Joe, disguised as
a deaf and dumb Spaniard, and his accomplice unearth a real
treasure chest. They hear the renegades plan to bury this
prize in a mysterious place called Number Two, situated under
a cross. The boys have barely recovered from their narrow
escape from discovery when they hear Injun Joe declare
immediate revenge upon someone. They make up their minds to
find the treasure and to save themselves from the half-breed's
wrathful designs upon them.
The picnicking episode is admirably executed. The loss
of Tom and Becky is not iimediately discovered because it
was previously arranged for both of them to spend the night
away from home.
Mark Twain leaves Tom and Becky in the cave and follows
the adventures of Huck as he tracks Injun Joe and his partner
to the home of the Widow Douglas. Learning that it is the
widow upon whom Joe is planning revenge, Huck runs to a
neighbor for help. The widow is saved, but Injun Joe escapes
once more. Huck has won the widow's undying gratitude, a
force which is to exert quite an influence upon his future
life.
The author now returns to the lost children in the cave.
This incident adds much suspense and drama to the narrative.
Tom rises to an unusual height for a small boy when he sees
I1
14
Injun Joe in the recesses of the cave and does not betray
this knowledge to Becy.
Two weeks after the rescue, when Tom hears of the bar-
ring of the cave door, he iwmediately tells about his seeing
Injun Joe, thus leading to a discovery of the half-breed's
remains, together with a sizable fortune for Tom and Huck,
vnich is found buried 'where Tom saw the murderer.
The last chapter is an epilogue tacked on to emphasize
the fame of Tom and Huck and to show its effect upon the
conunity. Ill with a fever, Huck is taken into the home of
the grateful Widow Douglas, where he is nursed back to
health and svmmarily introduced to the nightmare of civili-
Zation and polite society. No longer able to bear the re-
quirements and impositions of his new life, he joins Tom in
a plan for forming a band of robbers, a trade much higher
than pirating. He promises, however, to remain in the
widow's home in order to give dignity to his new calling.
lark Twain adds a word of conclusion in Which he explains
he must needs stop somewhere, since he is writing a boy's
book and is unable to continue to the logical conclusion of
stories of adulthood - a marriage.
Tom Savyer marked a new era in juvenile fiction. Tom
had the adventures a boy would like to have, and he remained
just a boy throughout the story. Essentially a childrentsbook and assuredly enjoyed by them, it yet has strains of
poetry and satire that delight the adult reader, as Mark
ARNW4 . E , I I -, - kw-mum -
Twain intended that it should. The splendid characterization
and the gentle satire clearly outrank the narrative. Tom
Sawyer is weakly constructed, but the story is not wholly
lacking in system.
Structure of Huckle Finn
Tom Sawyer sinks into nothingness as literary expression
when it is placed beside its marvelous companion, The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A great American epic, its
structure is closely akin to that of the great Mississippi
River, with its majestic sweep and flow and its cargo of
humanity.
A strong connecting link between Tom S2e and Huckle-
b Finn is found in the last part of the first book. Huck
and Tom are desultorily discussing what they will do when
they become rich from their treasure-hunting ventures. Huck
is unimpressed by the possibility of great wealth, but in a
speech to Tom he foreshadows an important incident in the
later book. He says, "'Pap would come back to thish yer town
some day and get his claws on it if I didn't hurry up, and I
tell you held clean it out pretty quick.t" 7
Huckts real story begins in the home of the Widow Douglas
when he spills some salt at the breakfast table and is
frustrated by Miss Watson in his attempt to ward off evil
7 The Adventures of Tom Sawyqr, VIII, 203.
16
spirits by throwing some of it over his shoulder. He knows
he is in for a streak of bad luck. It comes in the form of
old man Finn, a clay-eating river rat, who demands his right
to his son's person and property. Huck's adventures get
underway.
When Huck makes his dramatic escape from his father and
then discovers the runaway slave, NIigger Jim, in the woods,
he paves the way for the greatest American Odyssey. His
fortunes and Jim's become inseparably linked when he
determines to help the Negro escape to the free territory of
Illinois. One of the most moving themes of the book is Huckts
feeling about helping a "nigger" to escape from slavery. In
fact, the book owes much of its fame to Jim's story.
In Huckleberry Finn, the plot, the characters, the author,
and the delighted reader go voyaging. The journey device is
a common one in fiction, especially the picaresque type, but
the progress of Huck and Jim down the Mississippi has no
counterpart in literature. The river and the plot are in-
separable, since the river provides the medium for the main
story, provokes the action, and binds the threads of the
narrative in a most inimitable way.
The point of view is Huck's own, and he tells his own
story. The autobiographical form gives the book another
adv ntage over Tovm Sawyer, tending naturally to make Hucks
epic adventures a consistent whole. "Once he had decided
17
to tell the story through Huckts mouth he could proceed at
his most effortless pace," says Van Doren.A
The story does move smoothly; Huck and Jim seem to
float magically on their raft through the heart of the conti-
nent. The great Father of Waters carries them to the scenes
of their adventures, helps to make excitement for them, and
gives them leisure to comment upon the whole w orld as it
passes down the stream. This happy circumstance gives a
structural unity not found in Tom S er, wherein the incidents
are confined, in the main, to a sleepy river town. The im-
portance of the river in the story is noted by Van Doren:
Five short chapters and Huck leaves his nativevillage for the ampler world of the picaresque. Aninterval of captivity with his father . . . and thenthe boy slips out upon the river which is the homeof his soul. There he realizes every dream he hasever had. . . . At the same time, this life is nottoo safe. Jim may be caught and taken from hisbenefactor. With all his craft, Huck is actually,as a boy, very much at the mercy of the rough menwho infest the river. Adventure complicates andenhances his freedom. And what adventure I Itnever ceases, but flows on as naturally as theriver which furthers the plot by conveying the charac-ters from point to point.
The river carries Huck into intrigues of great variety,
into close company with the principals of a Kentucky feud.
It introduces him to the "duke" and the "king",' who in turn
Van Doren, op. cit., p. 171.
Ibid., pp. 172-173.
18
acquaint him with roguery in the extreme - fake Shakespearean
drama and frauds of huge proportions.
The journey gets its serious beginning when Huck, dis-
guised as a girl, visits hrs. Judith Loftus and learns from
her that a search for the fugitive Jim is underway. Somehow
the river carries Huck and Jim beyond Cairo, the port where
Jim was to leave the river for the free territory of Illinois.
It is reasonable to suppose that this happens in the fog
which is described in the fifteenth chapter. Jim's original
purpose is conveniently forgotten as the raft goes deeper
and deeper into slave territory.
In the events of the last two-thirds of the book, Huckts
experience, like the river, begins to widen so as to embrace
more of life on the banks. The feuding episode, the murder of
old Boggs, and the attempted fraud of the king and duke upon
the Wilks family are examples of this aspect of the work.
Such scenes as the pretended conversion of the king at the
camp meeting seem to run contrary to the main current of the
novel. This particular one is not convincing, since it is
too highly exaggerated.
When Huck loses Jim after the Wilks episode, he finds
that the fraudulent king and duke have made their escape.
Free of their hold upon him, Huck sets out to find Jim and
discovers that his Negro friend is being held as a runaway
slave on the nearby farm of Silas Phelps. By an unusual
quirk of circumstance, Silas Phelps is the uncle of Tom Sawyer,
19
and in the guise of this nephew, Huck gains entrance to the
household. The coming of the real Tom complicates matters
and provides many comic situations. Mark Twain's greatest
work now comes to a sprawling completion which is unworthy of
the book as a whole. The two boys, upon the insistence of
the romantic Tom Sawyer, embark upon a fantastic scheme for
freeing Jim, who has been freed already, as Tom knows. This
travesty on romantic fiction takes up the last quarter of
the book and generally weakens the whole structure. However,
the work is saved from anti-climax by the superior comic
worth of this section.
Mark Twain warned readers against looking for a plot in
Huckleberry Finn on pain of death. But it does have a plot,
if somewhat sketchy, that is vastly superior to that of its
companion-piece, Tom Sawyer.lThe freedom of its arrangement
lends greatness to the story - a masterful combination of
exciting incident and satiric point. It is true that the
prolonged episodes of the Grangerford-Shepherdson feud and
the antics of the "royal" rogues detract from the central
theme, the fortunes of Huck and Jim. The story as a whole
is a delightful, original narrative with a powerful force
tugging at its wandering plot sequences - the noble
Mississippi, which iark Twain was so thoroughly qualified to
use by reason of his love and knowledge of its life and lore.
Huckleberr Finn, more definitely than any other of Mark
Twain's novels, reveals his artistry in dealing with native
materials in a convincing native way.
llWwMW*WJW4WWAMW
CHAP TE R III
THIME NOVELS 0F HISTORIC CAL INTEREST: TED PRINCE AND
TE PAUPER, A CONNECTICUT YANO EIN KIG ARTHUR S
COURT, AND PERSONAL ICPLLECTINS OF JOAN OF
ARC
Mark Twain believed that fiction based on fact is
superior to purely imaginative writing.1 He has three out-
standing novels in the field of historical fiction, each with
entirely different purposes and points of view. The structure
of these novels, of course, owes much to events and situations
already created, but the evidences of Mark Twain's clever
invention and fertile imagination are present in them. The
Prince and. the Paur, a pure romance, is backed by exacting
historical research but owes its life to the devices of Mark
Twain. The rollicking burlesque, A Connecticut Yankee in King
Arthur's Court, owes more to the mind of the story-teller than
to its sixth-century English background. His Personal Recol-
lections of Joan of Are, the lyrical account of a maid in
silver armor, enjoys its literary prestige by virtue of Mark
Twain's tender treatment of the beautiful martyr's life, rather
than by its historical setting. Mark Twain used history to
L. T. Dickinson, "The Sources of the Prince and thePauper," Modern Lana otes, LIV (February, 1949), 104.
20
21
suit his own purposes, making it serve as a background for
the story he wanted to tell and the things he felt compelled
to say.
Structure of The Prince and the. Pupe~r
A. B. Paine described the plot of The Prince and the
uper as one typical of Mark Taints workmnanship. 2 The
underlying pattern of the story is the exchanging of places
in the world by two boys of widely divergent stations so that
each may learn the burdens of the other's life and thereby be
moved to a broader tolerance and understanding.
The development of this tale presented many problems,
chief among them the selection of a youthful English monarch
who should somehow trade places with a beggar boy. Mark Twain
finally chose the little son of Henry VIII, who reigned
briefly as Edward VI and whose time was marked by a singularly
mild rule. The tolerance of Edward VI he proposed to explain
by the king's having gone to school to his own laws.
The next perplexing problem was how to effect the change
in station between a pauper and a prince. The old device of
changelings in the cradle, which he used later in PuddInhead
Wilsoa, occurred to him, but it could not provide the situation
in the playful interchange of raiment, with its startling
2A. B. Paine, "The Prince and the Pauper," Mentor, XVI(December, 1928), 8.
22
results. From this point, Mark Twain worked out a detailed
synopsis of the plot before he began to write. 3
Mark Twain's debt in the construction of The Prince and
the Pauper may be traced to at least two sources. Charlotte
M. Yongets Tlbe Prince and the P , a story of the submerged
personality of Richard de Montfort of England, first gave
him the idea for his novel.
It was a story of a sort and with a settingthat Mark Twain loved, and as he read there camea correlative idea: not only would he disguise aprince as a beggar, but a beggar as a prince. Hewould have them change places in the world, andeach learn the burdens of the other's life. It isproper to say here that there is no further pointof resemblance between The Prince and the Pauperand the tale that inspi'c iT.V4
The other source is _aeEn , a seventeenth
century English book by Richard Tead and Francis Kirkman. 5
Mark Twain begins his work with a preface designed,
apparently, to give credence to his story and gain a respect-
ful hearing for it.
I will set down a tale as it was told to meby one who had it of his father, which latter hadit of his father, this last having in like mannerhad it of his father - and so on, back and stillback, three hundred years and more, the fatherstransmitting it to the sons and so preserving it.It may be history, it may be only a legend, atradition. It may have happened, it may not havehappened: but it could have happened. It may be
3rbid., p. 9.
4The Prince and the Pauper, fI, in introduction byA. B. Paine, XVII.
5Dickinson, _ cit., p. 104.
23
that the wise and learned believed it in the olddays; it may be that only the unlearned and thesimple loved it and credited it. 6
This preface is followed by a letter of Hugh Latimer,
Bishop of Vorster,, to Lord Cromwell on the birth of the
Prince of Wales, afterward Edward VI. This is a national
manuscript preserved by the British government, and it ex-
presses the rejoicing of the people at the birth of the long-
awaited heir, extolling the goodness of God in dealing with
his English subjects. This letter must have been employed
for the same purpose as the preface, to give credit to the
narrative that f ollows.
Chapter I quickly tells of two births on the same day
in London of the second quarter of the sixteenth century -
that of Tom Canty, prince of poverty of Offal Court, and
Edward Tudor, PrInce of Wales and darling of all England.
About fourteen years elapse between the first and second
chapters. Tom Canty, despite his unsavory environment and
inhm an treatment at the hands of his thieving father and
his cruel grandmother, is pictured growing up with dreams of
grandeur. A foreshadowing of events to come is shown in
Tom's neighborhood leadership and in his clever imitations
of royalty.
Dreams quickly become reality when Tom ventures far
from home, and, crowding close to the palace gate for a
e.Prince and the Pauper, XI, Mark Twain t s preface,xxiii.
Rzolm-
24
glimpse of a real prince, is mistreated by the guards and
championed by the Prince of Wales himself. The two boys are
soon telling each other about themselves, the idea of the ex-
change of clothing occurring to them as a novel experiment.
At first overcome by their identical appearance, the boys
exclaim that no change seems to have been made. A chance
remark sends the prince away, still clad in the pauper's
rags, to punish the guard who so ill-used his new friend. On
his way out he places the Great Seal of England in a safe
place in the chamber. Seized as the beggar intruder, the
prince is then thrown without the gate, and the story begins
in earnest.
If the prince or Tom Canty had either told the whole
story of the playful interchange of raiment in a logical,
straightforward way, the whole situation might have been
righted in short order. This does not happen, the incoherent
claims of both being taken for madness and dealt with accord-
ingly.
Mark Twain follows first the troubles of the little
prince as he is cuffed and derided for his pretensions, at
last falling into the hands of Tom t s father and grandmother,
who beat him soundly. The chance remark of how John Canty
applies the cudgel to an indistinguishable form in the dark-
ened court is important, as the victim is later revealed to
be the good Father Andrew, well beloved priest and friend
and teacher of Tom Canty. When Father Andrew dies the next
* QRR 4 - , , . , , - - "'. - - - f,
25
moMring, John Canty and his family flee for their lives.
This episode gives the little prince an opportunity to escape.
This he does and finds a loyal friend and protector in the
gallant Miles Hendon, who determines to take him home to
Hendon Hall with him.
Tom Canty's position is unusual in the extreme, as he
is readily accepted by the court as the true prince gone mad.
A decree of the king prevents his further protests against
his royal estate. Suspense is created by the doubt expressed
by the Lord St. John, who is inclined to believe Tomts claims.
Fear of condemnation for treason soon closes his mouth, how-
ever. Tom's poor mother, with a mother's instinct, doubts
that the boy who claims to be the prince is really her son.
She devises a test, but failing in it, she writhes in be-.
wilderment, unable to do anything about a strange, unexplain-
able situation. The change is complete.
In the meantime, the king dies, and Tom is proclaimed
king, to be crowned at a later date. The true king hears of
this, but he is powerless to exert his will, becoming lost
from Miles Hendon and falling into intrigues of beggars and
thieves, into the captivity of a mad hermit, and finally in-
to prison. Tom, meanwhile, takes up his duties at first
reluctantly, but he gradually begins to enjoy his new position,
accupying himself in issuing decrees of tolerance and mercy
and proving to himself that a commoner can be a king. His
reign, however, is hampered by one rather embarrassing
26
circumstance - the Great Seal of England seems to be hope-
lessly lost.
Careful handling of many adventures brings Miles and
the king together again, and the good Miles sets out with his
little friend to his ancestral home, where he fondly expects
a prodigal's welcome, and where he plans to cure his dear
little beggar friend of his delusions of grandeur. He finds
to his sorrow that his father and elder brother have died and
that the estate has passed into the hands of his rascal
brother, Sir Hugh, who has passed Miles off as dead and has
married his intended bride. Miles and the king return to
London just in time for the coronation.
The greatest scene of the book is the famous recognition
procession, which provides its most stirring crisis. The
spurious king drives through the streets of London in his
coronation finery bowing and smiling to the people, when he
suddenly recognizes his own mother in the throngs of humanity.
Taken completely by surprise, he makes a startled, involuntary
gesture which is familiar to his mother. She falls at his
feet, but he spurns her, and the guards drag her away. The
great occasion is changed for poor Tom; he no longer wants to
be king.
The true king arrives just as the crown is about to be
placed upon Tom's unwilling head. He quickly proves his
identity by giving the location of the Great Seal. Then it
is imown that Tomhas been using the Great Seal of England to
crack nuts with, there is no longer any doubt of his enforced
MWAIKORNWAVOWARgomm
27
duplicity. This incident is the climax of the story; it
brings the action to its highest point. There is a moment
of suspense when the real king does not readily find the
Great Seal, but when it is discovered, all doubt vanishes
from the minds of the courtiers. The coronation of the child
king, Edward VI, immediately follows.
From this point begins the denouement, the resolving of
the action of the story to a satisfactory romantic conclusion.
Edward, practicing the lessons learned in his valuable exile,
begins to reward his faithful friends and to make needed re-
f ormations in his kingdom. Ile makes Tom Canty King's Ward,
providing him a distinctive uniform, insuring him prestige
and honor by this public symbol of the king's favor. He pro-
vides for Tom's longsuffering mother and twin sisters; Mark
Twain states simply that Tomts father was never heard of
again. His grandmother is not mentioned; it is reasonable to
suppose that she had already gone to her reward. The story
ends well for Miles Hendon; the Knight of the Kingdom of
Dreams and Shadows is made a real belted earl. He learns that
his sweetheart only repudiated him to save his life, and with
the convenient death of his villain brother, he makes her his
bride and takes possession of his ancestral estate.
The Prince and the ?auper has a conventional plot pattern,
aptly fitted to the material of a historical romance. The
execution of Mark Twain's idea simply required a pauper upon
the throne and a prince upon the highways. When he had suc-
cessfully accomplished this interchange, his two little
m:, -'- , -- , -,.- -,j,-, , J6, -,-If - -W-4" ,,, ,- - I 4"T0~11
28
heroes were able to work out their problems in an atmosphere
of actuality. Mark Twain follows their fortunes alternately,
giving first the experiences of the prince and then returning
to the pauper at the court. He shows the difficulties of each
in adjusting to unfamiliar situations, presenting graphic
pictures of their struggles to regain their former ways of
life and their protestations against the systems imposed upon
them. Tom finally succumbs because he is powerless to do
otherwise, but Edward maintains his claims to royalty, never
letting go of his royal demeanor and his demands for kingly
privilege. It is easy to see that he is the stronger charac-
ter of the two and to foresee his final victory.
Structurally, The Prince and the Pauper is stronger than
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Although it is similar to
Tom SaWyer in its short chapters, each containing a separate
episode, it is more closely knit; and the central interest,
that of lessons learned by both the pauper and the prince,
clearly dominates the whole. There are not so many digressions
as in Huckleberry Finn, but there are incidents which do
little, if anything, to advance the plot. The burning of the
two Baptist women in the presence of Miles and the boy king
fits the theme of the story, but it does not motivate the
action. A fairly compact structural unit which adheres to
orthodox literary standards, The Prince and the Pauper is
more highly developed than any of Mark Twain's preceding
novels.
29
Structure of A Connecticut Yankee inXing Arthur- Court
Referring to Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in K
Arthur's Court, William Dean Howells says:
It is a great fancy, transcending in aestheticbeauty the invention in The Prince and the Pauper,with all the delightful nT affe ting Implicationsof that charming fable, and excelling the heart-rending story in which Joan of Arc lives andprophesies and triumphs and suffers.7
Basically, the Yankee is a serious social satire buried
beneath a burlesque of English life and traditions. To ex-
pose the glorified days of knight errantry as a form of
childish barbarism, Mark Twain conceived an elaborate scheme
for his novel. He would transport a nineteenth century
mechanic through the mazes of time to the mythical court of
King Arthur. This romantic device is a common one, but the
genius of Mark Twain is revealed in the realistic handling of
it.
The book is a series of episodes, but there is definite
system in their arrangement. An outstanding connecting link
throughout the story is the promise of a trial of strengh
between Hank Morgan, the hero, and Sir Sagramor, his rival.
The secret progress of the inventions, the gradual modern
innovations of the Yankee Boss, and the rivalry existing be-
tween him and Merlin also advance the plot. The romantic
N. D. Howells, Ma Mark Twain, pp. 174-175.
9, , ,. , , , - ,- -'s, -, " - 41 - . 4,909,*
30
element is not forgotten, being supplied by Sandy, faithful
companion of his enforced wandering, and devoted wife and
mother later.
From the time that Hank mistakes Camelot for Bridgeport
until he electrocutes the chivalric hordes and proclaims
the Republic of Britain, he promotes independence and dis-
loyalty to the established order in government, religion, and
society. It is vastly fascinating that he does this without
the knowledge of the pets of privilege and remains in their
confidence so long. But Mark Twain never fails to emphasize
that Hank works with thirteen centuries at his back, which
easily outweighs all other considerations.
The ease with which this story launches into the move-
ment of fiction is one of its distinguishing features. Having
been struck on the head during a quarrel in a New England
arms factory, Hank Morgan awakes to find himself in Arthur's
England of the sixth century. He is immediately thrown into
a dungeon to await burning at the stake of the twenty-first
of June. The resourceful Yankee remembers that there was a
total eclipse of the sun on June 21, 528, and saves himself
by pretending to darken the sun and destroy the kingdom. Thus
he becomes the Boss, a greater than Merlin, who becomes his
deadly rival.
The lack of mechanical devices in Arthur's realm and the
illiteracy of the people cause the Boss to set about a multi-
tude of inventions and reforms. All this he does cautiously
31
and with as much secrecy as possible, for he fears the
Church.
When Sir Sagramor challenges the Boss to a duel, the
court decides that he must have some worthy adventures to
prepare himself for the conflict. Accordingly, he gets him-
self appropriately armored and sets off, somewhat reluctantly,
with the beautiful, guileless Alisande to rescue forty-five
young princesses, hopelessly languishing in a gloomy castle
as captives of three stupendous brothers. A fire-belching
dragon by virtue of his pistol, he easily defends himself
and Sandy on their journey. After sundry adventures, in-
cluding an encounter with the cruel and shallow Morgan LeFay,
the Boss and Sandy come to the ogres' castle, which turns out
to be a pigsty with a wattled fence around it and hogs in it.
Hank ransoms the enchanted princesses, really just pigs, from
the swineherds and drives them home, being careful not to
treat them in any way unbecoming to their rank. This episode
is important to the story in that it introduces Sandy, it
gives Hank a better view of the task before him by acquainting
him further with the superstitions and unjust practices in
society, and it shows the Yankee's willingness to combine
ancient and modern aspects of civilization as he works toward
his ultimate goal of the democratization and modernization of
Old England.
An interesting minor thread of plot is the rivalry be-
tween Hank, the mechanic, and Merlin, the magician. Their
32
encounters advance the main plot by continually adding to the
popularity of the Yankee and the discredit of Merlin. The
triumph of Merlin comes only after .Hank has demonstrated
modern tactics to the limit of his powers. The victory of
Merlin allows him to put the Boss to sleep for thirteen
centuries so that he may awake to tell his story to the modern
world.
The third outstanding episode of the story is the journey
through the realm made by Hank and King Arthur. Anxious that
the king be convinced of the suffering of his people, Hank
persuades him to disguise himself as a humble peasant, and
their adventure begins. The king proves courageous and kind,
learning much from his experience with the people. A crisis
of pathos mingled with suspense ensues when Hank and the king
are captured and sold as slaves, then sentenced to the gallows
when they try to escape. Hank ingeniously sends a message to
his knights by one of his secret telephones, and they arrive
in the nick of time, riding on bicycles I
Hank returns to Camelot in glory to f ight Sir Sagramor.
He easily wins, as he is unhampered by armor and uses his
two marvelous weapons, the lasso and the pistol. In this en-
counter, he deals the killing blow to knight-errantry and
paves the way for the march of civilization. This is the
climax of the story, the high point in Hankts achievements#
When Hank openly proceeds to his plan for overthrowing
the established church and of establishing a republican
33
government with universal suffrage, his reverses begin. On
the advice of doctors, servants of the Church which wants
him out of the way, Hank takes his wife and child on a
cruise, only to return to find an interdict placed upon the
kingdom to destroy his work. Hank makes one last heroic
effort by declaring a republic. Soon the chivalry of
England is marching against him and into the jaws of death
by electrocution. He operates this stratagem from Merlin's
cave with the help of his loyal lieutenant Clarence and
fif ty-two "West Pointers." At the height of this success the
Boss is wounded, and no one suspects that the old woman who
comes to nurse him is Merlin in disguise. A postscript by
Clarence tells how Merlin pronounces the curse of thirteen
centuriest sleep upon the helpless Boss. Perhaps the most
exquisite part of the book is the return of the Yankee to his
own century, a vision of his beloved sixth century wife and
child before his eyes.
A symmetrically developed romance, Mark Twain's Yankee
has an elastic scheme which allows it to play back and forth
between the sixth and the nin teenth centuries, bringing out
the salient features of both. The dream-like quality of the
narrative frees the author of making explanations of its
prodigies.
The purposes of the book - to expose the evils of a
perpetuated monarchy, the cru lty of human exploitation by
king and church, and the vileness of religious bigotry -
.6
34
determine the structure to a great extent. Hank has to use
any means at hand to accomplish his aims. Accordingly, he
soon brings upon himself the displeasure of Merlin, arch re-
presentative of ignorance and superstition. This fact
accounts for many of the episodes, such as the fire-works
display and the dynamiting of the holy well. Hank's determi-
nation to show King Arthur the true condition of his subjects
results in the slave march and their condemnation to death,
from which they are dramatically rescued by Launcelot and his
bicycle-riding knights. The ridiculous tournament, with his
encounter with Sir Sagramor and finally with all the knights
of the Round Table, is at once Hank's concession to chivalry
and his opportunity to pour ridicule upon this barbaric
custom. It is a crisis that builds his popularity to such a
high point that the church manages to get him out of the way
on a cruise so that the effect of his accomplishments may be
effectively destroyed by the interdict. Catastrophe comes;
the book ends in futility, for civilization must perish when
greed and corruption are backed by ignorance and superstition.
The structure, a series of picaresque episodes, is well-
adapted to the theme. It allows the practical-minded Yankee
mechanic to carry out his master's purposes. Howells seems
to have the last word.
Of all the fanciful schemes of fiction, itpleases me most, and I give myself with absolutedelight to its notion of a keen East Hartford Yankee
35
finding himself, by a reactionary spell, at thecourt of King Arthur of Britain, and becomingpart of the sixth century with all the customsand ideas of the nineteenth in him and about him.
Structure of Personal Recollections ofJoan ofA r
Mark Twain considered Joan of Arc his greatest work. 9 It
was a labor of love, the culmination of a lifelong interest in
the life of the Maid of Orleans.
The story is wrought with loving care upon a device
which seems to have been original with Mark Twain.
It professes to be a personal memoir ofthe peasant girl of Domremy who became the Delivererof France, written by one Louis de Conte, who wasthe playmate of her childhood and afterward hersecretary and the companion of her brief, gloriouscareer up to the day of her fiery martyrdom.10
This simple device allowed Mark Twain great freedom in the
treatment of Joants history. It was easy to write; in fact,
he confided to H. H. Rogers that he merely held the pen, the
story writing itself. 1 1
Mark Twain used another literary artifice in this work.
He published it as a translation from the French by Jean
Francois Alden, a ruse possibly designed to give the book a
respectful hearing before its authorship could become known.
SHowells, op. cit., p. 174.
9 According to A. B. Paine in his introduction to Joan ofArc., XII, xv.
10From foreward of Henry Van Dyke to Joan of Arc, xi-xii.
A. B. Paine, Mark Twain - A Biogaraph, XXXI, 989.
36
The work is composed of three books: "In Domremy,t" "In
Court and Camp,t" and. "Trial and. Martyrdom." The venerable
Sieur Louis de Conte begins his tale in 1492. His purpose,
he says, is to give his great-great-grand nephews and nieces
an eye-witness account of that "most noble life that was ever
born into this world save only One.l2
Mark Twain is at his best as he describes the Fairy
Tree of Domremy and tells its meaning for the children of that
peasant village. He makes the place of the tree, where Joan
later sees her visions and hears her voices, a holy place for
all the children, showing that others also of her number may
have had mystic experiences. Thus he gives the saintly Joan
a proper background.
A dramatic foreshadowing of Joants heroic demeanor in
the trial at Rouen is found at the outset of the story as she
defends the banished fairies before the parish priest. She
argues, 'Its a sin a sin, anyway, even if one did not intend
to coimmit it?t,1l3
Many other instances prove her to be no ordinary child.
Her kindness and complete unselfishaness are demonstrated by
her gracious reception of the poor, wandering outcast; and her
intense patriotism is evidenced by her ecstasy over her
bravery in the face of danger is shown by her courageous
handling of the village maniac.
12Joan of Arc, XVII, xxviii.
.13Ibid.,p. 17.
It is extremely interesting to note the only harsh
speech which vark Twain attributes to Joan of Arc. A
Burgundian priest has come to Domremy to inform the people
of the hopelessness of the French cause and the expediency
of swearing allegiance to the English regime. Looking coolly
and soberly into his face, the little Joan says that she wishes
his traitor's head were struck from his body, if it might be
the will of God. This strikes Twain's keynote for his inter-
pretation of Joan. For all her tender compassion and her
normally peaceful disposition, she is intensely patriotic,
ready to fight and die for France, as God wills it.
The skillful handling of Joan's voices is superb. She
is represented as sober, weighted down with the burden of her
beloved France as she first hears the divine counsel and sees
her mystic visions. Then, when she receives the divine com-
mand, when she realizes what she must do, her old-time energy
and fire come back; her heart is light, and her spirits are
high. Her companion, the Sieur de Conte, testifies to see-
ing the shadow of the Archangel Michael; but he does not see
his face or hear his voice, as does Joan. This is a device
which makes the scene credible, it in no way lessens the
superiority of the Maid or desecrates her peculiar experience
with divinity.
From this point, the story moves with astonishing
rapidity. Joan goes to Vaucoufeurs, is scorned by the gover-
nor, and then wins the confidence of the villagers and her
family by repudiating the claims of the Paladin, village
38
braggart, for her hand in marriage. This is the only
romantic allusion made to Joan, and it is evidently an in"
vention of Mark Twain to gain favor for her. This episode
ends Book I.
Joan's singular gift of prophecy is another element
which advances the plot. She is the sooner sent to Orleans
by Baudricourt for her tuncanny knowledge of the French cause
in that area so far removed from Vaucouleurs.
The brothers of Joan, the bragging Paladin, and other
villagers join Joan's ranks, each in the manner and at the
time that she has already predicted. The great military
leaders, the Bastard of Orleans and La Hire, accept her after
her audience with the Dauphin. She rides to glory, lifting
the siege of Orleans and crowning the Dauphin at Rheims, as
commanded by her voices. Here Mark Twain wanted to stop.
However, Henry Miles Alden of Harper's Magazine urged him to
continue Joants story to its tragic end, saying that to
abandon it at the high point of triumph would be the same as
if the Savior's career had ended with His entry into Jeru-
salem.14
At about this point an interesting minor thread of plot
enters the story. It is the hopeless love of the Sieur de
Conte for Joan's friend and confidante, Catherine Boucher,
and undeniable invention of Mark Twain's fertile mind. This
14 Ibid., p. xviii.
39
element is advantageous to the main story, as Catherine
furnishes the womanly association needed by Joan and gives
her an outlet for the expression of her deepest emotions.
It is to Catherine that Joan first foretells her doom. 'Ihe
home of the Boucher family in Orleans serves as a headquarters
for Joan and her loyal retinue. It is notable that De Conte
does not fall in love with Joan, but succumbs easily to
Catherine, who he himself asserts was not so beautiful or
noble as the Maid. Indeed, he cannot seem to think of Joan as
an ordinary mortal, except when he is relating her enjoyment
of some of the trivial incidents of the camp.
When Joan has made good her divine commission, her for-
tunes take an abrupt downward direction and culminate in
martyrdom, highlighted by her imprisonment and the dramatic
trial at Rouen ,
Never defeated by the enemy, Joan is defeated by her own
k1ig#, when he refuses to permit her to storm Paris and make
France truly free. Retreating,Joan engages in battle with a
combined force of English and Burgundians and is taken
captive at Compiegne.
Mark Twain represents the English as willing to pay the
ransom for Joan's release in order to place her fate in the
hands of the Church, which could not only take her life but
destroy her influence by proclaiming her a heretic.
Rouen is chosen for the trial, and Joan begins her
progress to the stake. Betrayed into signing a paper denying
40
her voices and declaring herself a heretic, Joan soon realizes
her mistake and gives the fatal answer - that she believes
her voices came from God. Pronounced a relapsed heretic,
Joan dies the awful death of fire, clinging to a wooden cross
and praying to God and the saints.
Mark Twain, not content with the dramatic sacrifice of
his beautiful heroine as a fitting conclusion for his work,
adds postscripts in which he disposes satisfactorily of
Joan's family, f 'iends, and followers. He returns, however,
to pay another high tribute to the incomparable Joan of Arc,
the embodiment of patriotism for all time.
The writing of biography should be comparatively free
from plot building, since its structure already exists.
Mark Twaints Joan of Arc is in part romantic fiction, however,
and may be discussed as such. Mark Twain had difficulty in
following the discipline of set form for his material, and
the demands of tragedy he found exacting in the extreme.
These facts may account for his departures from the set routine
of the biography of Joan into improvisations such as the
adventures of the Paladin and the unfortunate love of the
Sieur de Conte.
The action of Joan of Arc begins slowly, moves steadily
through the first of Joan's military career, and suddenly
speeds her to glory, only to be completely halted with her
capture. The narrative does not resume its lively pace until
the climaxing trial at Rouen. From the time that Joan enters
-gwm -, 4XMF, -- m
41
the military prison at this scene of her trial, her fate is
evident. The reluctance of the author to reach the inevitable
tragic conclusion of the story is felt in the last pages.
Joan's being allowed at the last moment to receive extreme
unction and her heroic approach to her death make a typical
romantic ending for her glorious, but tragic, career.
"MICA - , -viW.,-
CHAPTER IV
A COMPARISON OF PTUD'NHEAD "WILSON AD TH1cSE
EXTRAORDINARY TWINS
In 1892 at Nauheim, Germany, Mark Twain thought he would
write a little story, a "howling farce," about a youthful
Italian freak consisting of two heads and four arms joined to
a single body with a single pair of legs. The story soon took
over and began to write itself. Mark Twain found it out of all
proportion and loaded with characters unnecessary to what pur-
ported to be the main narrative. He stepped in and drowned
these offenders, but he soon found his well scarcely large
enough to hold them all comfortably. Taking a fresh start on
the problem, he discovered the structural flaw. There were
two stories, a farce and a tragedy, battling each other for
prominence. He immediately divorced them, but he left the
characters much the same in both. Ostensibly, however, he
performed an operation upon his Siamese twins, making them
separate individuals for his Pudd.nhead Nilson tragedy.
Structure of PuddInhead Wilson
Pudd.nhead Wilson, a tragedy of the Old South with its
vanishing chivalry and peculiar system of human bondage, has
for its setting Dawson's Landing, Missouri, easily recogni-
zable as the Hannibal of Mark Twain's boyhood. The initiatingevents transpire in 1830. After six short descriptive
42
43
paragraphs, the reader finds himself being introduced to some
of the principals in the drama - York Driscoll, Pembroke Howard,
Colonel Cecil Burleigh Essex, Percy Driscoll, Roxana, and
David Wilson.
The first incident is the birth of two boy babies on
February 1, 1830, in the home of Percy Driscoll; one to him,
and his wife and one to his unmarried white Negro slave girl,
Roxana. This is followed closely by the death of Mirs.
Driscoll, a convenient circumstance for the development of
Roxanats later purposes. Roxana is left in complete charge
of the babies, who are almost identical in appearance, another
advantage for the scheming Roxana.
At this same time M1r. David Wilson, fresh from college
and law school, arrives to set up his practice in Dawson's
Landing. A chance remark brands him a fool, a ttpuddtnhead,t
and his career is finished before he can begin it. He re-
mains in town, contenting himself with odd jobs and a peculiar
hobby, fingerprinting. Iilson religiously keeps his "records,"
fingerprints of every man, woman, and child in Dawson's
Landing. These are to serve him in good stead when he bursts
forth from social ostracism to become the village hero.
The story really begins when Roxana, terrified with the
thought that her son may grow up and be sold down the river,
changes her charges in the cradle, thus protecting her own
darling and insuring him, she thinks, a glorious future,
while consigning the rightful heir to the oblivion of a Negro
44
household slave, or worse. Mark Twain carefully explains how
this change is made possible, and it is credible. Driscoll
rarely ever sees the children; and when he does, he admits that
he cannot tell them apart except by their dress. Valet de
Chambre becomes the pet of the household easily enough, and
Thomas a Becket Driscoll becomes merely a little "nigger."
Artful fIoreshadowings of the new Tomts adult career in
crime are shown by his capriciousness in his growing up, his
cruel treatment of "Chambers" and Roxana.
When the boys are fifteen, Percy Driscoll dies, leaving
Roxana her freedom and delivering his ostensible son into the
hands of his childless brother, Judge York Driscoll, and his
wife. Roxana is triumphant. She goes off chambermaiding on
the Mississippi, and her son eventually goes to Yale, like any
young gentleman.
At this point Mark Twain introduces his wonderful twin
creation, the auspicious young Counts Luigi and Angelo Capello
of Italy and the world. These two arrive in Dawson's Landing
to take up their residence with Aunt Patsy Cooper. The
brothers create such a sensation that one wonders if Mark Twain
did not give them something besides a title of nobility to
recommend them. They are his Siamese twins of that farcical
extravaganza, Those Extraordinary Twins, but somehow they are
supposed to have become just ordinary twins. 2
21n his preface to Those Extraordinary Twins, Mark Twainsays, "I took those twins apart and made two separate men ofthem." This seems highly unlikely, as the brothers are neverparted for one moment in Pudd'nhead Wilson.
45
The advent of the young Italians follows immediately the
return of the native, Tom Driscoll, from Yale. On the same
day that Puddfnhead Wilson is expecting a visit from the twins,
he sees a strange girl in Tom Driscoll's bedroom. Mark Twain
lets the reader know that this is Tom in disguise, preparing
some neighborhood burglaries to pay off his gambling debts,
kept secret from his uncle.
At this point Mark Twain hunts up Roxy and returns her
to Dawsonts Landing, where she learns from the other Negroes
that her son's dissipation has been discovered by Judge
Driscoll, who has disinherited him. Cut off thus from an anti-
cipated source of easy revenue, Roxana goes in anger to Tom
and reveals his true parentage and rightful station in life to
the thunder-struck profligate. It is small comfort to Tom to
be the son of Colonel Cecil Burleigh Essex when he has one
thirty-second part of Negro blood and salable as a slave, if
revealed. Roxana cleverly blackanails him, forcing him to pay
her to keep quiet. Tom confesses his gambling and his petty
burglaries to Roxana.
Tom next drops in at Pudd'nhead Wilson's home, where he,
Wilson, and the twins discuss palmistry and fingerprinting.
Puddtnhead, reading Luigits palm, makes the startling dis-
covery of Luigi's having killed someone, and the twins quickly
corroborate his finding. Without hesitation or embarrassment,
they tell how Luigi, in order to save Angelo, killed a man
with a costly Oriental dirk, now in their possession. This
46
revelation gives Tom an idea for a real haul and provides
him something to hold against the twins, if it should be
necessary.
The twins next attend a rousing meeting of the village
rum party, where Tom makes the mistake of referring to the
twins as a "human philopena.t tLuigi accordingly gives him
a titanic kick that lands him in the audience, who in turn
throw him over their heads to the back of the auditorium.
This is an important crisis, for it starts the twins upon a
determined course to establish themselves in the community,
and it speeds Tom upon his downward way to tragedy. It is
the prelude to the duel and election episodes.
Tom's failure to challenge Luigi to a duel fires the
rage of old Judge Driscoll so that he destroys the will,
again disinheriting Tom. The Judge himself issues a challenge
to Luigi, who readily accepts it. This leaves Tom, unaware
that his uncle has remade the will in preparation for the duel,
to meditate upon how he may restore himself to his uncle's
good graces.
Roxana advises Tom to sell his stolen articles and pay
his gambling debts. At Puddtnhead Wilson's house Tom learns
that the twins have notified pawnbrokers and police far and
wide of the loss of their prize, the costly Indian dagger.
Tom stares ruin in the face, Imowing that he dare not offer
the stolen knife for sale. PuddInhead discomfits him further
by announcing that he will name the thief, if the dagger is
found.
47
At this time Wilson receives his first honor from the
town, an invitation of the Democratic party to run for mayor.
Luigi, candidate of the rum party, is ostensibly his opponent;
but the town seems to regard both twins as nominated for the
post.
The duel is fought, and no one is injured except the
seconds. Tom, learning of the remaking: of the will, regrets
that the Judge has survived, as he still has no way of paying
his creditors. Roxy here comes to his aid, suggesting that
he take his loot to St. Lomis and sell it so that he can pay
interest on his obligations for at least six months. She
exacts his promise to circumspect behavior. Feeling self-
righteous, Tom first tells his uncle that he refused to
fight Luigi, since he is a confessed assassin. Then he plants
suspicion in the minds of the townspeople by implying that the
twins, if they ever possessed a marvelous knife, did not lose
it. Victoriously he sets out for St. Louis, only to be
robbed by a brother thief.
This crisis in Tomts affairs causes him to return to
Roxana, who, in the greatest scene of the book, offers her-
self for sale into slavery to save him. They plan so that
Tom may repurchase her in a year, but the wily Tom sells her
unconditionally down the river.
Judge Driscoll, on the eve of election, defeats the
twins by initimating that Luigi is an assassin. This thrust
elects PuddInhead Wilson and sends the brothers from society
in humiliation.
48
Tom goes to St. Louis jubilant in his revenge and the
turn of his fortunes. At this high point in his career Roxana
escapes from slavery and returns to threaten him with exposure
if he does not procure money from his uncle to buy her back
and sell her to herself again. Unvilling to ask his uncle
for money, Tom returns to steal it, killing Judge Driscoll
with the stolen dagger as he makes his escape. The twins are
the first to arrive at the murder scene, and their presence,
with their bloody knife, quickly condemns them. Tom, now
rich and independent, repurchases Roxyts freedom and returns
to Dawson's Landing to find Luigi charged with homicide, with
Angelo accessory to it. Tom is once more jubilant, he thinks
he occupies an impregnable position.
This time it is Puddt nhead Wilson who fetches Tom down.
Wilson, agreeing to defend Luigi, makes a startling dis-
covery. His fingerprint records reveal the duplicity of
Roxana in changing the babies in the cradle. How Wilson
failed to detect this in all his years of careful study of
his records Mark Twain fails to explain. Be that as it may,
Wilson now sees the whole picture; he also discovers that
Tom's prints match those on the knife handle. In a speech
which is a masterpiece in logic, Wilson exposes Tom as the
murderer, telling in detail his story from seven months up-
ward, not sparing Roxana. Tom is convicted, sentenced to
prison, and later sold down the river as a part of his
uncle's estate.
49
PuddInhead Wilson cannot be said to be episodic or
anecdotal in arrangement. The story moves forward without
waste of words or any unrelated incidents. The principle of
unity is strictly observed in that everything included in the
story is necessary to the furtherance of the plot. When Mark
Tvain separated this story from Those Extraordinary Twins, he
automatically gave it the balance he was seeking. The
fortunes of the rascally Tom, his successes and his despair-
ings, with his crowning huniliation, form the focal points of
the story. The development of the long-suffering wilson from
puddInhead to village hero is only a side interest, but it
carried the action forward, linking the fortunes of the other
characters by their association with him. The twins and the
glorious Roxana are indispensable props to the story.
Structure of Those Extraordinary Twins
This extravaganza is what is left of the original story
of the same name upon which 1ark Twain performed a literary
Caesarean operation, drawing out the tragedy already discussed,
Pudd'nhead Wilson. This story, unlike PuddInhead Wils on, is
poorly plotted, if at all. It is a burlesque, pure and simple,
from beginning to end and so needs no complicated plan to
develop its ludicrous situations, which come up quite naturally
out of one invention - the ridiculous physical make-up of the
miraculous twins. There is, however, a rather large structural
unity which is evidenced by the way in which all events contri-
bute to the discomfort of the twins and add to the consternation
of the villagers regarding them.
50
The story begins with Aunt Patsy Cooper of Dawson's
Landing as she tries to read a letter to her excited young
daughter, Rowena. The two are about to receive lodgers,
twins who insist in the letter that they will not make any
more trouble than one roomer. In fact, they emphasize that
they have always slept in one bed and prefer it to all other
arrangements. The overwrought Rowena, filled with romantic
delusions, plies her mother with so many foolish questions
that Mark Twain tires of her and drops the matter until a
boat arrives two days later with the extraordinary twins.
Throughout the story are interspersed notes by the
author in which he summarizes action, sets the stage for
future events, and correlates this story with the events in
Pudd'nhead Wilson.
In the middle of the night a double-headed human creature
with two pairs of arms on each shoulder, one trunk, and one
pair of legs enters Aunt Patsyts humble abode and momentarily
paralyzes the inmates. They, or it, introduce themselves as
Counts Angelo and Luigi Capello of Italy. They get to bed
straightway, but Aunt Patsy and Rowena note that they are
identical except for coloring and demeanor. Angelo is blonde
and gentle, Luigi is brunette and quick-tempered. Another
point of difference is suggested to the women when they hear
singing emanating from their lodgers' room - the rough, loud
voice of Luigi raised in a rousing barroom ballad against the
sweet strains of Angelo's missionary hymn, "From Greenland's
Icy Mountains.'t
51
As a consequence of the time of their arrival, the
twins are sprung the next morning upon the unsuspecting
populace of Dawson's Landing and create a great sensation,
not only because of their physical appearance, but because
they represent real nobility. One wonders if Mark Twain
was not using this device to satirize the privileged classes,
as he was prone to do.
After Aunt Patsy's reception, Judge Driscoll claims the
twins for a drive and shows them off to the village, while
proudly showing off his village to them. On this occasion
it develops that Angelo is a devout Methodist and teetotaler,
whereas Luigi is a Free Thinker and tippler. This wide
divergence of the interests of the twins is the focal point
of the story. The conflict is magnified by their possession
of the same body. The struggle between the wills of Angelo
and Luigi realistically motivates the story and culminates in
their final destruction.
Angelo carefully explains to Aunt Patsy the peculiar
operation of the mutual body. One has command of the truck
and legs at a time, each for exactly one week. On the
stroke of twelve midnight each Saturday, the body reverts to
the other owner.
A slight complication enters the story at this point,
when Aunt Patsy begins to believe that Rowena has fallen in
love with Angelo. This, however, is added only to heighten
52
the ridiculous effect, as nothing ever comes of Rowenats
affection for the gentle twin.
Luigi, being in control of the body during the first
week at Dawsonts Landing, takes Angelo with him to the Free
Thinkers' meeting and stays for the Baptist Bible class so
that these worthy people may see Angelo in the company of the
agnostics. From this, he takes Angelo to a meeting of an
anti-temperance society, the Sons of Liberty. Here Luigi
answers an insult of Tom Driscoll by kicking him over the
heads of this body. There follows a ridiculous trial scene
in which justice is frustrated because no one can determine
which twin is guilty. This, however, brings Puddfnhead
Wilson to the front and establishes him in a law practice.
As a result of this episode, a deputation comes to ask
Wilson to run for mayor.
When Judge Driscoll hears of the shameful kicking in-
cident, he demands that Tom challenge Luigi to a duel, but
the cowardly Tom skulks out of doing so. The Judge then
challenges Luigi himself, and an equally ridiculous duel
takes place, in which no one is hurt except the seconds.
Angelo, receiving command of the body at twelve sharp, runs
away from the field of honor to prevent being in a fight on
the Sabbath day. The town now divides on an important
question. Which is greater - the physical courage of Luigi,
or the moral courage of Angelo in refusing to fight on the
Sabbath?
53
Angelo has received a slight wound in the encounter,
and Luigi has to be subjected with his brother to the
barbarous medical methods of the day. A seeker of truth,
Angelo has embraced the Baptist communion and announces his
intention to be immersed in spite of the doctor's orders and
Luigits objections.
Angelo rises to a great height in popularity when he is
baptized, thereby providing a show for the curious of the
region. Luigi still retains his popularity with the rum
party. This division of the citizens brings about the
climax of the farce - the election of Luigi to the board of
aldermen in a race against Angelo.
There now arises the difficulty of swearing Luigi into
office. He poses a real problem. He cannot sit in the board
of aldermen without his brother, and Angelo may not sit be-
cause he is not a member. The city government comes to a
standstill. hen the case is finally carried to court, Luigi
is judged guilty of upsetting the towns affairs and is
summarily hanged for it. Needless to say, this marks the
demise of the innocent Angelo.
Mark 2 ain adds his final remarks in which he says
that this tale had no purpose except to show the monstrous
freak in all sorts of grotesque lights. He reiterates his
story of how he discovered that this narrative and Pudd'-
nhead Wilson were two separate tales and how he parted them,
thinking it not practicable or rational to try to tell two
54
stories at the same time. Here he places his story-making
methods against what he calls those of the expert.
While actually two separate stories, PuddInhead Uilson
and Those Extraordinary Twins do have points of interdepen-
dence. When Mark Twain divided his original narrative, he
placed the tragic history of Roxana and her son in PuddInhead
Wilson, retaining the twins as minor characters. In this
story the twins figure in the downfall of Tom Driscoll; in
Those Extraordinary Twins, of course, the action of the
entire narrative is carried forward by them. In PuddInhead
Wilson it is their implication in the kicking, the duel, and
the murder that brings them to the foreground; in Those
Extraordinar Twins their peculiar physical structure makes
them heroes. Tom Driscoll plays a major role in Puddinhead
Wilson and a minor part in the burlesque. Wilson's promi-
nence is observable in both narratives, but particularly in
the tragedy. There are many repetitions of incidents and
episodes, notable among them the kicking scene, the farce
of a duel, and the final emergence of PuddInhead WJilson as a
respected citizen. Mark Twaints casual conception of the
Siamese twin farce has one value in that it projected the
idea for the greater work, the tragedy of PuddInhead Wilson,
a work unique in that it is constructed upon the theme of
slavery.
These two stories are valuable as source materials for
the investigation of Mark Twaints conceptions of structure,
55
mainly because he so frankly puts in many notes about hisdifficulties in writing them and how he quite arbitrarily
solved the problem of their construction. In Pu dd t nhead
Uilson MIvark Twain evolved a worth-while and well-constructed
story from what comes nearest of all his books to being aliterary nothing, Those Extraordinar 'i1S.
CHAPTER V
A COMPARISCH OF THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER ANDT H'E
MAN JTHIAT CORRUP TD HADLEYBURG
When Mark Twain, in his old age, wrote The Mysterious
Stranger and. The Man that Corrted Hadleyburg, 1 he had
developed his propensities as a plot architect far beyond
his earlier manifestations. A. B. Paine, in his introduction
to the volume of which The Man thatCor ed Hadleybur is
the title story, ventures the opinion that this powerful
arraignment of the human race is the greatest of all Mark
Twain's short stories, if not the greatest of all short
stories. 2The Mysterious Stranger is Mark TWain's most baf-
fling work philosophically, and it does not admit of an ex-
tended structural analysis. It has not the closely knit,
logically arranged sequences of The Man that Corrupted
Hadleyburg. This lack of complexity causes its crises to
come as surprises to the reader, for he cannot predict what
an immortal being will do so easily as he can detect the
logical arrangement of steps in the moral collapse of a
1 Both stories were written in 1897-98 in Vienna, Austria.See The Mysterioustrger, II, ix, and The Man That
u XXIII, x, in introducftTi 7.B. Paine.
2 The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg, XII, ix-x.
56
57
human community. Herein lies the chief difference in the
internal structures of these two notable short works.
Although The Man that Corrted adleyburg was written
first, I have chosen to discuss it after The &,iterious
Stranger, as its highly complicated plot structure indicates
the extent of Mark Twain's growth as a builder of plots.
Structure of The riousStranger
For this story, the high-water mark in Mark Twain's
bitter denunciation of the human race with its attendant
frailties and moral cowardice, he chose to place his charac-
ters and action in a bygone day and a foreign land. His
first idea was to lay the scene in Hannibal, instead of a
medieval Austrian village.3 In effect, the Scene is really
Hannibal, and the boys around whom the story revolves are
Tom Sawyer's gang. The use of the medieval setting was a
convenient device for getting into the narrative the horrors
of witch-harrying and other such cruelties and indignities oftha Middle Ages which always fascinated Mark Twain and gave
spirit to his work. Mark Twain could never completely pro-
ject himself into the past, however; the present was too
much with him. In The Mysterious Strane, as in The
Connecticut Yankee, loan of Arc, and The Prince and the Pauer,
280.3DeLancey Ferguson, Mark Twain: Man and pp. 279-
58
he satirized sham and vice by constantly juxtaposing two
periods and peoples.
A. B. Paine explains in his introduction to _The
Mysterious Stranger Mark Twain's conception of the central
figure in its plot:
The idea of a wonder-working visitant fromsome remote realm always appealed to Mark Twaintsfancy, and he began a number of stories with thisas his central idea. A friendly interest in thecharacter of Satan, the angel fallen from his highestate, prompted him to select a member of thatlineage for his hero, a beautiful youth, not wicked,but ,only indifferent to good and evil and suffering,having no personal knowledge of these things. 4
In Mark Twain: The Man and His Work Edward Wagenknecht
says of Mark Twain's interest in Satan:
. of all the figures in the Christian mythology,Satan was the one that interested him most. Hisinterest began as a boy - he was disappointed whenhe found that his Sunday School teacher did not encouragehim in it - and it grew apace with the years.Satan is, after all, the principle of rebellion, thechampion of the outcast, and not even Milton couldquite resist his fascination. How then could MarkTwain ?5
The point of view in The Mysterious Stranaer is that
of a boy with free run of his little home village, Eseldorf,
Austria, in 1590.
Again he used boys as protagonists. His visionof life, destiny, the world and time is conveyed to usthrough the eyes of boys. One is Nikolaus Bauman,
4Th%e Mysterious Stranger., XVII, ix.
5Edward Wagenknecht, Mark Tain: The Man and His Workp. 207.
, lw -.- - , I - , , -l jjj;lmkjjjjjjjr,
59
son of the principal judge, one Seppi Wohlmeyer,son of the principal inn-keeEer, and TheodorFischer, who tells the tale.
As he invented circumstances to give background to the
mystical experiences of Joan of Arc, so in The Mysterious
Stranger, Mark Twain sets the stage for his ethereal visitor.
Theodor tells how he and his friends have been encouraged by
Felix Brandt, oldest servingman in the nearby castle and
loving confidante of the boys, to accept angels and other
strange manifestations as part of daily life. Therefore, when
a young man of transcendent loveliness comes to them one day
at their play, performs miracles for their amusement, in-
structs them in the utter depravity of the human race, and
informs them that his name is Satan, nephew of the king of
the devils, they accept him as one of their number. They do
not fear him, but like to be with him, for his presence
brings exhilaration, a feeling of power and confidence. Never-
theless, the boys are often hurt by Satan's indifference to
humanity, and the working out of his ideas before the boys
in the lives of the people of Eseldorf becomes the framework
of the story.
Taking the name of Philip Traum, the dream-like Satan
prevents his little friends' revealing his true identity by
sealing their tongues in all matters referring to this
secret. He instigates the action by causing Father Peter,
6Edgar Lee IMasters, Mark Twain: A Portrait, p. 222.
60
beloved but impoverished village priest, to be accused of the
theft of over eleven hundred ducats, which he himself placed
in the good priest's lost wallet. Satan thereby brings
Market, Father Peter's beautiful niece, into disgrace and
causes her false friends to forsake her. The boys and
Wilhelm Meidling, young village lawyer, stand by her, the
boys because they know about Satants part in the affair, and
Wilhelm for love of Marget. The false accusation of Father
Peter is brought by a vicious astrologer, enemy of virtue,
and is seconded by Father Adolph, religious rival of Father
Peter. The plot is built upon Father Peterts misfortune,
and woven about this conflict are the ignorance of medieval
superstition with its attendant ills, the narrowness of
literal religious concepts, man's gross inhumanity to his
fellow man, the instability of man's highly exalted moral
sense, and the general futility of earthly life.
Satants mastery of time and space greatly facilitates
the action of the story. He enables Marget to visit her poor
uncle in his dungeon without loss of time and with no risk
of discovery by the prison guards. He provides Marget and
old Ursula, her servant, with a lucky cat, which in turn
abundantly provides the needs of their household. When
Theodor wishes he might see Marget or help her, he immediately
finds himself in her presence.
All these circumstances build the good fortunes of
Marget to a saturation point, and a crisis ensues. The
61
superstitious villagers, urged on by the astrologer and
Father Adolph, begin to suspect witchcraft in Margetts house.
Their suspicions are further advanced by Ursula's employment
of a helper, young Gottfried Narr, grandson of a recently
burned witch.
Matters come to a head when Marget gives a banquet for
the entire village. Here the astrologer discovers witchery
in the everlasting supply of wine. In a scene comparable to
some of the apocryphal miracles of Christ, he fills a four-
quart bowl from a two-pint bottle without diminishing the
contents of the bottle. When Father Adolph then rises to de-
nounce the wicked household, he is stricken dumb. The
astrologer rushes from the house, convinced that he can per-
form yet other miracles. The boys see the hand of Satan in
these happenings, but he is conveniently invisible to the
rest of the company.
Immediately after this high point in the narrative there
is interposed an incident which has little value in the
furtherance of the plot; it is the miraculous trip of Satan
and Theodor to China. Satan's mastery of time and space is
again emphasized., but the chief value of this episode lies
in the opportunity for Satants expression of Mark Twain's
ideas of God's indifference to man, one of the motivating
themes of the story. Satan says to Theodor::
"Men have nothing in common with me - there isno point of contact; they have foolish little feel-ings and foolish little vanities and impertinences
62
and ambitions; their foolish little life isbut a laugh, a sigh, and extinction; and theyhave no sense. Only the Moral Sense. . . . Manis to me as the red spider is to the elephant.The elephant has nothing against the spider - hecannot get down to that remote level; I have nothingagainst man. The elephant is indifferent; I amindifferent."7
Also in this episode Satan gives voice to Twain's ideas
of the fatality of consequences, one thing leading to
another to fix man's destiny.8 He now announces that he will
break the sequence of events in the life of Nikolaus
Bauman, beloved playmate of Theodor and Seppi. One small
change of circumstance in the life pattern of Nikolaus, says
Satan, will change his appointed life span so that he will
drown in a futile attempt to save little Lisa Brandt from
drowning. Satan points out to the horrified Theodor that
the early deaths thus arranged for these two are fortunate,
Nikolaus being thereby saved from lifelong paralysis and
Lisa from a life of sham ending in execution. He gives them
twelve happy days to live, twelve days of dread and sorrow
for Theodor and Seppi, who would try to prevent the workings
of the higher law to save their friends.
All works out as Satan has predicted and arranged. Frau
Brandt, mother of Lisa, is burned at the stake for cursing the
God who took her daughter away. A change in the boys'
7The MysXterious Strange 4,=VII, 78-79.
Masters, 2 ,cit, p. 224.
63
attitude toward Satan's intervention in the affairs of the
village is here evidenced. Frau Brandt's death comes as a
result of the boys' well-meant intercession in her behalf
that Satan change her life pattern. Satan explains to them
that quick death is the most merciful plan for her, and
Theodor says of it:
We went away then, and did not see the firesconsume her, but we heard the shrieks, although weput our fingers in our ears. When they ceased weknew she was in heaven, notwithstanding the ex-communication, and we were glad of her death and notsorry that we had brought it about. 9
In the next episode Mark Twain manifests his Biblical
preoccupation10 by depicting for the boys the fall of man in
Eden; the murder of Abel, the flood; the Hebraic, Egyptian,
Greek, and Roman wars; and the birth of Christianity, followed
by the European wars of later periods. He ironically re-
presents the greatest contribution of Christianity to be in-
creased efficiency in the destruction of human life.
Largest's interest in Satan, Philip Traum to her, now
advances the plot. Unable to understand his indifference to
her, she returns to Wilhelm Meidling, her first love, and
asks him to defend her uncle in his forthcoming trial for
theft. Wilhelm, aided by the miraculous expedient of Satants
melting into him, saves the day when all seems lost by prov-
ing the money to be of a later coinage than that described
9 The Mysterious Stranger, XXVII, 107.
Masters, cit., p. 225.
4p4TAWMMM , -. 1 , , , ,. t" , V , . jk- ,, "W ;
64
by the wicked astrologer. Amid the rejoicing of Marget
and her friends for the restoration of Father Peter's good
name and his imminent release from prison, Satan slips away
to the dungeon and tells Father Peter that he stands con-
victed of a felony, a surprise which unseats the poor man's
reason but makes him happy to the end of his days. Says
Satan, "No sane man can be happy, for to him life is real,
and he sees what a fearful thing it is. Only the mad can
be happy, and not many of those.'t"Il
This episode ends the story, but it does not contain
Satants final climaxing pronouncement upon the human race.
He continues his visits to the boys for a year, showing them
the world and its wonders, the weaknesses and the triviali-
ties of the human race. The conclusion of the book is power-
fully executed. There are none of the usual Mark Twain post-
scripts and epilogues. Satan comes to say good-bye, inform-
ing the boys that they shall not see him in another world,
there being no other. He makes the shocking revelation that
life is only a vision, a dream; and he shows that the
inanities of mants life and his conception of God are truly
the stuff that dreams are made of, since they are impossible
except in dreams. Satan's final words to Theodor appal the
boy, but he realizes their truth:
e Mysterious StranpeXr, xVII, 130.
65
"'It is true, that which I have revealed toyou; there is no God, no universe, no humanrace, no earthly life, no hreaven, no hell.It is all a dream - a grotesque and foolishdream. Nothing exists but you. And you arebut a thought - a vagrant thought, a uselessthought, a homeless thought, wandering for-lorn among the empty eternities. " 12
Structure of The an that Corp Hadleyburg
Another notable short work of Mark Twain's Vienna
writings of 1898 expresses his bitterness about the "damned
human race." Edgar Hemminghaus calls it "a profound parable
with a grimly ironic conclusion. 11 3De Lancey Ferguson refers
to this story, The Ilan that Cor Hadleyburg, as a
tragedy trap." 1 4 Its unusual design so works itself out
that the characters are all trapped in the tragic realization
of their moral instability; it traps the reader, too.15
Although NIark Twain vas a master in the handling of
short anecdotes and episodes in the humorous vein, the
American short story, with its symmetrical plot and its one
central impression, was little explored by him before he
wrote The Man that Corrupted."Iadle burg. Of this fact, De
Lancey Ferguson says, "The short story, as an art form, was
not Mark's metier, but in The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg
he came near to perfection.16
"lgbid.,p. 140.
1 3dgar H. Hemminghaus, Mark Twain in Germany, p. 73.
14Ferguson, p. cit., p. 278.
15IJbid. 16Ibid.
66
A. B. Paine places it in the same category with such short
story classics as "The Fall of the House of Usher," by Poe;
"The Luck of Roaring Camp," by Bret Harte; "The Man Who
Would be King," by Kipling; and "The Man without a Country,"
by Hale. As has already been noted, he rates it as Twaints
greatest short story and suggests that it may be the great-
est short story ever written. Edgar Lee Masters does not
speak quite so highly of it:
The Man that Corrupted Haeburg (1898)deserves the passing notice that Twain hereexercised his inventive genius to show what thedesire for money will do to every kind of a man.. .*.*The tale is ingenious, full of buffoonery;it is burlesque again. 8
The theme of The Man that Cor Hadleyburg is that
every man is strong until his price is named, especially if
he has been shielded from temptation. The basis of the plot
is an ingenious scheme for teaching the futility of the
prayer not to be led into temptation by the corruption of a
whole self-righteous, never-tempted town. Hadleyburg is
the world in microcosm, and its false pride in its honesty
is descriptive of self-righteousness in human nature.
The story aptly begins with an exaltation of the honor-
able supremacy of Hadleyburg, developed as it was by keeping
the young people out of temptation, "so that their honesty
17 A. B. Paine in his introduction to The Man thatCorrupted Hadleyburg, XXIII, x.
iMasters, . cit., p. 182.
67
could have every chance to harden and solidify."1 9 An un.
witting offense to a stranger by one of the citizens of the
town is next mentioned, and the strangerts conception of an
ingenious plan f or making the whole town suffer for this
affront sets the stage for the action.
The corruption of Hadleyburg begins when a stranger
arrives at the home of Edward Richards, bank cashier, and
leaves a bag which he says contains more than one hundred
and sixty pounds of gold that he desires to be delivered to
a mysterious benefactor according to the specifications of an
attached paper. He leaves abruptly, and the trembling Mrs.
Richards reads the paper. Learning that some man of Hadley-
burg once befriended this stranger, a gambler, by giving him
twenty dollars and a piece of sage advice and that the un-
known benefactor is not to receive a large reward for his
kindness, Mrs. Richards begins to fall into temptation. She
first wishes that her husband might be the recipient; and
later, feeling that this is not to be, she entertains the
idea of destroying the note and keeping the fortune for her-
self and her husband.
When Mr. Richards arrives, he too begins to succumb to
the overwhelming temptation. The Richardses study the in-
structions carefully and learn that the stranger has given
two alternatives in the disposition of the money - Mr. Richards
19The Ian that Corrup qddleyburg, ',III, 1.
- I...,"-, ". 4- -1- - -A --- , I 1 1" - - ip
68
may make private inquiry for the man who made the kind re-
mark and gave the twenty dollars to a stranger, or he may
publish the letter, thus allowing the strangers unknown
benefactor to submit his name and the remark in writing to
the Reverend Mr. Burgess, with the presentation of the
money to be made in public assembly thirty days hence. 1r.
Richards concedes that Barclay Goodson, a cynic now dead,
must have been the man. Desiring to make a show, however,
he dashes off to the newspaper office and orders the letter
printed. After he returns to his home, he repents of this
hasty action, desiring to devise a way to keep the money for
himself. Making his way once more to the office to retrieve
the paper, he meets Cox, the editor, bent upon the same
errand. To their dismay, they find it is too late. Three
citizens of Hadleyburg are now corrupted.
The natural consequence of the publication of the notice
is to make Hadleyburg more famous for its moral integrity
than ever before. It sets all the citizens of Hadleyburg to
trying to guess out the test remark, for they are determined
to obtain what they all believe to be the rightful inheritance
of the deceased Goodson. Soon Richards receives a letter re-
vealing the test remark to him. Overjoyed and unaware that
the eighteen other leading citizens of the town have received
letters identical with theirs, the Richardses begin to plan
for the spending of their anticipated wealth. Mr. Burgess
begins to receive sealed envelopes and finally has nineteen,
69
representing the leading society of the town, incorruptibles
of the incorruptibles.
'he next scene is the grand public assembly for the re-
warding of Hadleyburg virtue and honor. Imagine the surprise
when, one by one, the leading citizens of Hadleyburg claim
the distinction of having given the following advice to the
stranger, "'You are far from being a bad man: go, and
reform. 2O
The dramatic reading of the test-remark to ascertain
the correctness of this offering is the next surprise. The
mysterious stranger scores again. The test remark reads,
"'You are far from being a bad man. Go, and reform - or,
mark my words - some day, for your sins, you will die and go
to hell or Hadleyburg - try and make it the former." 21
r. Burgess, out of friendship and regard for the
Richardses, does not read their letter. When the excited
assemblage begins to laud their integrity, the grateful, but
conscience-stricken, pair are speechless with emotion. Some-
one has the brilliant idea of dividing the fortune among the
eighteen fallen souls.
Mr. Burgess now reads the stranger's final document, the
greatest surprise of all. The delighted onlookers learn that
there never was any pauper stranger, any test-remark, any
2 0 Ibid., p. 36.2 11bid., p. 39.
I.-Mm. IN - - t'- t".
70
twenty-dollar contribution - only an offended visitors
desire for revenge upon the self-righteous people who
wronged him.
The climax of the riot comes when the bag is finally
opened and found to contain only gilded disks of lead. The
action moves to a fever pitch, as someone begins to auction
the worthless sack of coins to make up a purse for Hadleyburg's
remaining incorruptible, Edward Richards. Suspense is
achieved by Richardst attempts to reveal his own duplicity,
in which he fails by reason of moral cowardice. The presence
of the stranger, the instigator of all this excitement, is
here revealed. He rises to bid for the sack at forty thousand
ddllars, the sum which he says he can make it worth in
numismatics by stamping the names of the eighteen "incor-
ruptibles" upon each coin. He proposes to give ten thousand
dollars to Richards as a reward for his virtue. He, of course,
buys the sack, but Dr. Harkness, one of the eighteen, buys
it from him for political purposes. When the stranger then
turns the full sum over to Mr. and Mrs. Richards, they can
no longer endure their shame. They confess all and quickly
sicken and die. Hadleyburg is left without a single in-
corruptible, but its citizens have learned a valuable lesson.
They change the name of their town and their motto, which now
reads, Lead us into temptation," instead of, "Lead us not
into temptation.
71
The complications of this narrative are such that
careful reading and re-reading are needed to discover all the
machinations of its plot. It is a tale so convincingly and
so logically arranged that the reader, When he reaches the
conclusion, examines his own moral strength and thinks, "But
for the grace of God, there go I." This feeling, evidently,
is what Mark Twain intended to engender, and his plot pattern
is admirably suited to the attainment of this purpose.
CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION
The great quantities of unfinished Mark Twain manu-
scripts testify to his difficulties in novel construction.
He wasted energy with many false starts, and he turned out
many inferior pieces. At the same time, Mark Twain produced
much that is good and lasting in literature. His life and
his works were in part conditioned by the American frontier,
and the sense of the past was strong with him. It is not
surprising, then, that his best-known narratives should be
the tales of life along the Mississippi and his much-discussed
historical romances. The dark pessimism of his sorrow-filled
last years accounts for the baffling Myteriou Straner and
the condemnatory Man that Corr d Hadleyburg4
It has been stated that the composition of Tom Sawyer
marked the beginning of his career as a novelist. In spite
of the story, T Sawyer has a remarkable unity of tone which
is made possible by the authors sincere artistic aim of
achieving a realistic picture of American boyhood. With a
firm foundation in actuality, the account of Tom Sawyer's
adventures has a large, effective unity which is vastly
superior to his prior efforts.
Mark Twain's capabilities as a builder of plots reached
a new high in The Adventures off Huckleberry Finn. As the
72
73
title indicates, it is a picaresque novel, but it is an im-
provement over the typical novel of this class. Having for
its backbone the familiar journey motif and working to good
advantage the romantic possibilities of the river and its
picturesque inhabitants, Hucklebr Finn is the masterpiece
of its kind and easily Mark Twaints greatest work.
The sense of the epic sweep and movement of the river
in Huckleberry Finn is the greatest plot-unifying force that
Mark Twain ever appropriated for his use in writing a novel.
The plot in this story, like the river, starts slowly, gathers
momentum, slows, widens, eddies, and ends in a great sprawl.
This is unlike the conventional plot, which has an initiating
incident followed by a fast building up of action to a culmi-
nation point, falling action, and a resolution of all the
factors of the novel into a satisfactory conclusion, either
happy or tragic for the principal characters.
The story of Huck begins with his quiet life in the home
of the widow; and following the dramatic visit of his
ignorant, superstitious, clay-eating father, he takes up a
life of fairly complacent river existence, punctuated only by
his father's drunken escapades. One of these episodes causes
Huck to make his famous escape and his subsequent discovery
of Jim. The narrative here slows down to the leisurely tempo
of life on a river raft, the visit to Mrs. Judith Loftus
being the spur that sets Huck and Jim upoh their determined
flight.
74
The tempo quickens with the coming of the king and the
duke and the subsequent adventures with them, although this
portion contributes very little to the story as a whole.
The sweep of the main narrative comes almost to a stand-
still as Huck leaves the river to watch the developments of
Grangerford - Shepherdson feud.
A sparkling bypath in the stream of the narrative is the
murder of old Boggs and the contemptuous speech of Sherburn
to the lynching mob. Another episode of the same character
is the fraud attempted by the royal rogues upon the Wilks
family.
The down-river voyage ends in the long, drawn-out
episode of the saving of Jim who is already free. The end
of the journey has been reached, and so the tale must close,
because there is nothing more to write. A masterful treatise
on life is the story of Huck Finn, and in it lies Mark
Twain's chief claim to greatness - that he is the artist of
the American frontier.
The Prince and theF auer is conventional in plot
structure. For this reason it was more readily accepted than
some of Mark Twain's greater works. The importance of the
form of this novel lies in the fact that Mark Twain was
fully capable of producing and executing a story pattern
which could meet orthodox literary standards. It does away
with the supposition that he could only write as he talked,
and that he never made any extended formal preparation for
his work.
MOM a -- , - -. ,, ., ., % ,
75
It is true that some of the incidents in The Prince and
the Pau2 er are hardly credible, but this story is a romance,
and in all romances, the reader must take the possibility of
its plot sequences for granted. Once Mark Twain had success
fully exchanged his dual heroes and had set events in
motion, the characters could come and go in an atmosphere of
perfect reality. The Prince and the F ner is an achieve-
ment in the refined execution of a simple plot. It begins
well, it carries through well, and it ends well.
A Connecticut Yankee in Arthur's Court is in form
more like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberr Finn than any other of
the Mark Twain novels. Its theme is the same as that of The
Prince and the Pauper, but its narrative scheme, a loosely-
linked chain of picaresque episodes, is more characteristic
of his usual literary output. The impudent skylarkings of
the Yankee in Arthur's realm are compressed in an honest,
straight-forward narrative, and the contrast of the two
centuries it portrays is scrupulously maintained. As a
burlesque of Arthurian legends, a travesty on purely romantic
fiction, and an attempt to laugh kingly privilege, human
exploitation, and religious bigotry off the face of the
earth, it is structurally satisfactory.
Mark Twain's Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
which he considered his masterpiece, he wrote with the loving
care and preciseness of detail of a good biographer devoted
to his subject. Biography is its own structure; the careful
76
biographer should therefore find little difficulty in the
management of the life story of a historical character.
But Twain's Joan of Arc is a romance, as well; therefore the
many inventions of a fecund pen are to be expected in it.
It is when lark Twain departs from fact and begins to
relate the unhistorical escapades and tall tales of the
Paladin and other invented characters that the structural
framework of Joan of Arc begins to weaken. Missouri and
Missourians slip into fifteenth century France on these
occasions.
The telling of Joan's story as a personal memoir of a
friend. and close associate of Joan afforded Mark Twain a
considerable latitude, a freedom that he needed for effective
construction; but it is often the means of easy departure
from the main story. The book is a paradox in that it is at
once a factual biography and a highly imaginative piece of
romantic fiction. It may be that the popularity of Twain's
version of the Maid's story derives from this two-fold nature
of its construction.
PuddInhead Wilson is to be remembered for Mark Twain's
artful handling of two subjects that were practically literary
taboos of his day - the realistic portrayal of slavery and
the theme of miscegenation. Roxana is the epitome of Negro
characterizations in American literature.
The structure of PuddInhead Wilson is well-fitted to the
material. The initiating incident, the changing of the
77
infants in the cradle, is not unlike the device which sets
The Prince and t1e Pauper in motion. As in HucklebrFinn,
the river plays an important role in PuddInhead Wilson, con-
veying Roxy and Tom to and from Dawsonts Landing and St. Louis.
The final fate of Valet de Chambre, alias Tom Driscoll, is a
concession to the requirements of the conventional plot
pattern - poetic justice for the villain must prevail in the
end. PuddInhead wilson has a symmetrically developed plot,
but it is lacking in the originality of Huckleberr Finn and
others.
As has already been mentioned, Mark TwainIs preface to
the Siamese twins burlesque is an admirable commentary upon
his chaotic methods of composition. The story itself, Those
Extraordinary Twins, is chaotic in the extreme. Yet Twaints
mad notion for this farce produced PuddInhead Wilson, at
least a creditable effort.
The plot of Those Extraordinary Twins falls neither into
the conventional nor the picaresque pattern. The one compli-
cation of the story, the freakish nature of the physical make-
up of Luigi and Angelo combined with the disparity of their
interests, furnishes the motivation for all the action. The
ridiculous arguments of the villagers concerning their habits
and whether they are made in the image of God hit a new low
in burlesque, which is preserved to the very end of the book,
even to the final destruction of the unhappy twins. It is
possible that Mark Twain thought only of the humorous
M -- ' - fPlMW,- -
78
possibilities of this freak device and that he meant only
to write a farce - not a treatise on the dual nature of
mans personality.
Mark Twain made several rather futile formal attempts
to depict the utter depravity of the human race with its
many bigoted religious concepts, but he nowhere succeeded
so well as when he inculcated these ideas into fiction in
The Mysterious Straner. The melancholy message is infused
into a delightful fable which is episodic in construction
but firmly held together by the central theme of divine inter-
vention in a quite common human conflict. The philosophical
development of the minds of the Eseldorf playmates of Satan
runs parallel to the basic story of the fortunes of Father
Peter, his niece Marget, and lesser village characters. The
story has two conclusions - one the satisfactory resolution
of Father Peterts case and the other the final announcement of
Satan to Theodor that life, after all, is but a dream.
This story has importance in a study of the workmanship
of Mark Twain in that it proves that, improvisator though he
often was, he could expound philosophical theories more con-
vincingly in the framework of a story than in the toils of a
formal argument, such as "Jhat is Man?" He was more story-
teller than essayist.
Since Mark Tvain was gifted in the management of inci-
dent and so many of his books are anecdotal in structure, it
would seem that he should have excelled in the composition of
a
79
the short story. His bent for rambling, however, prevented
his development to the status of a short story writer of
note. His tendency to digress from the main narrative by
introducing minor threads of plot was not conducive to the
production of the typical American short story. In spiteof these very obvious limitations upon him in this field ofhis literary endeavor, Mark Twain prod-aced a short story ofunusual merit, Tie Man that Corrupted Hadlebur Told withartistic economy and satiric point, this story belongs inthe ranks of the classics in the short story field. Thetheme is the inherent moral weakness of the human race, and
the plot is well-fitted to this idea. The downfall of un-tried virtue begins with Mrs. ichards and spreads quickly
to the chief citizens of a whole morally "incorruptible"
town. The introduction and management of small structural
devices to complicate the plot are superb. The use of theReverend Mr. Burgess and the deceased Barclay Goodson isillustrative of this aspect of the work. Just as Mark Twain's
genius is demonstrated by his leaving the history of Huck
Finn's mother a blank, so it is also apparent in his makingthe influence of Goodson one of the strongest motivating
forces in The an that Corrup ted Hadlyur The conclusionis in the romantic tradition, with its come-back of virtuetested in the fire and the poetic justice of the deaths ofthe Richardses, chief offenders against the supposed moralimpregnability of Hadleyburg. 'Written in his old age, this
80
story may well serve as an example of Mark T ainI s continual
development in the story-telling technique.
In the matter of plot structure we have seen Mark Twain
as a versatile artist who composed novels of three types
of construction: the episodic, of which The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer is the prime example, the conventional, which is
represented by The Prince and the. Pauper; and the picaresque,
of which class The Adventures of Hucklebr Finn and A
Connecticut Yankee in K Arthurts Court are notable examples.
Wie have observed that his powers of invention were not with-
out limits and that he often depended upon historical and
autobiographical material from which to build his stories.
We have found, however, that Mark Twain was capable of plot
development from within, without the s timulus of outside
influence, as in The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg. In the
light of this knowledge, it is unjust to the one whom Howells
called "the Lincoln of our literature" to say that he was
merely a raconteur, an improvisator who began without plan
and rambled on and on. His outstanding fictional works
possess a structural unity which is enhanced by his free,
easy methods, and which will help to keep his books alive.
I
BI3LIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
DeVoto, Bernard, editor, ark Twain in Eruption, New York,Harper and Brothers, 1740.
Twain, Mark, The Works of Mark Twain, definitive edition,37 voIS.T, New Yok, Gabriel ells, 1922-1925.
Vol. VIII, _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, copyright,1875.
Vol. XI, The Prince and the Pauper, Copyright 1881.
Vol. XII, The Adventures of Huckleberry Copyright1884.
Vol. XIV, A Connecticut Yankee inKi Arthurts Court,Copyright 1889.~
Vol. XVI, Puddnhead Wilson, Copyright 1893-1894.
Vol. XVII, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc,CopyrighT .~ ~
Vol. XXIII, The 4an that Cor ted Hadleyburg, Copy-right 189.T
Vol. XXIV, _The 30,000 Bequest, Copyright 1872.
Vol. XXVII, _The ysteious Stranger, Copyright 1922.
Vols. JXIV and XXXV, Letters of Mark Twain, Copyright1917.
Works Cited
Brooks, Van Wyck, The Ordeal of Mark Twain, New York, E. P.Dutton and~ompany, 1937
Cowie, Alexander, The Rise of the American Novel, New YorkThe American ~BookE~Comp~y~,T1VT8.
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Dickinson, L. T., "The Sources of The Prince and the Pauper,"Modern Language Notes, LVIX (February, 1949), 103-106.
Erskine, John, The Delight f Great Books., Indianapolis,The Bobbs-ferrll Company,1928.
Ferguson, De Lancey, Mark Twain: Man and Legend, New York,The Bobbs -Merril Company=T9T47
Hemminghaus, Edgar H., Mark Twain in Germany, New York,Columbia UniverXa ryPress,~T939.
Howells, William Dean, My Mark Twain, New York, Harper andBrothers, 1910.
Knitz, Stanley J., and Haycraft, Howard, editors, AmericanAuthors 1600-1900, New York, The H. W. WilsonCompany, 7,38.
Masters, Edgar Lee, Mark Twain: A Portrait, New York, CharlesScribner's Sons, .
Paine, A. B., Mark Twain, A Biograph , in 3 vols. New York,Gabriel~FeillS,92i-1925. Included in the definitiveedition as Vols. .XI, J=,II, and II).
Paine, A. B., "The Prince and the Pauper," Mentor, XVI(December, 1928), 8-10.
Spiller, Robert E., and others, The Literary History ofthe United States, in 3 vols., New York,7amillan Company, 1948.
Van Doren, Carl, The American Novel, New York, The Mac-millan Company,1940.
'agenknecht, Edward, Mark Twain: The Man and His Jorks, NewHaven, Yale Univer-syTPr's~,T%3.
Works Consulted
Bradford, Gamaliel, American Portraits, 1875-1900, New York,Houghton Mifflin Company, 1922.
Clemens, Cyril, Mark Twain: Ut and. Wisdom, New York,Frederick EA. Soes Company, 1935.
>De Voto, Bernard, Mark Twaint s America, Boston, Little,Brown, and Company, 113".