Henry David Thoreau and Waldo Emerson will always be known as important in American culture, for their inspirational essays and detailed poems of change and nature. However, it was authors like Mark Twain who delved into political and social aspects of the United States.His writings were extremely successful, and he eventually became America's first "celebrity". But there was more to his books than a simple story. In "Huckleberry Finn", he blatantly insulted racists and the southern way of life. And in "Tom Sawyer", he poked fun at the popular dime novels that were sold across the country, advertising unrealistic stories of adventure.
Twain's style of writing was one of a "satirist", or someone who uses sarcasm or dry humor. In his case, he aimed this sarcasm at the corrupt political parties of the age and at unjust cults such as the KKK. This was especially important due to the racism that was spreading throughout the country, influenced from the culture and tradition of the south and the Jim Crow laws.
One of the clearest samples of his satirism is in his essay "A Presidential Candidate". It's full of irony and mockery as Twain takes a look at the personal lives of political congressmen.
"I have pretty much made up my mind to run for President.
What the country wants is a candidate who cannot be injured
by investigation of his past history, so that the enemies of the
party will be unable to rake up anything against him that
nobody ever heard of before. If you know the worst about
a candidate, to begin with, every attempt to spring things
on him will be checkmated. Now I am going to enter the
field with an open record. I am going to own up in advance
to all the wickedness I have done, and if any Congressional
committee is disposed to prowl around my biography in the
hope of discovering any dark and deadly deed that I have
secreted, why—let it prowl."
Twain goes on to list horrible, ridiculously inhumane things that he has done: shooting his grandfather in the legs repeatedly because he snores, running away at the Battle of Gettysburg, the burying of his dead aunt literally in his backyard. All of these are fictional, of course, and extremely sarcastic, meant to make fun of the dishonest politicians of the age: Grover Cleveland, for example, who was elected president during Twain's lifetime and who was found to have fathered a bastard.
While stating his personal opinions on social, economic, and political conflicts throughout America, Twain was still able to build stories that were entertaining, enjoyable, and surprisingly emotional. The main reason for his popularity was his ability not only to write, but his ability to interject the struggles of the United States in the 1890's into that very same writing.
What American author today can you think of who does the same? Any? Do authors today tend to shy away from prominent political conflicts, or confront them head-on? Which would you prefer they do, and why?
A short video biography on Twain's life can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuQMBWjmlHk
Happy APUSHing!
