The Mysterious Stranger II

After having finished this tale, I do not feel any more resolved one way or another. After Margret and Father Peter got sorted, there seemed to be just more incidents of Satan's interference in the course of events. Each trip, each event only emphasized the smallness of humanity. It only made human beings seem more and more like to the insects that Satan keeps comparing them to. It really is a very dim tale. I cannot help but wonder about Mark Twain after having read this. Does he endorse this view of humanity or is he dramatizing and romanticizing it?

I think the most interesting aspect of this tale is the way Mark Twain defines and uses the "Moral Sense." Contrary to what the reader may be inclined to think, Satan talks about the ability to judge right from wrong in a decidedly negative way. Moral Sense, for Satan, explains the cruelty in life, the confusion, the hate, the bad ends that people make for themselves and one another. I think that, apart from presenting this argument in possibly the most morbid way EVER, Twain is making "good judgment" relative to a particular person, time or place. In this way, Twain is troubling the notion of the existence of a (capitalized) Moral Sense; there are only moral senses. Twain takes a bleak view of this relativity and, through Satan, shows that the absence of an absolute Truth of morality must mean that there is no morality at all, that humanity is doomed no matter what sort of judgment a person uses.

I do not believe in any absolute truths; there are some things that are true in my mind, and others that are not. I think there are very few things that can be true for every member of humanity because, as Mark Twain says, training is everything. However, I do not know how such a morbid view of this sort of relativity came into being! I do not believe the philosophy on life that Twain is advertising. I do not buy into it. I think it comes from a selfish, jaded place.

On the other hand, I liked the creativity of the piece and found it engaging. I think it will be a good while before I ever want to read it again, though. It is so depressing!

Along the lines of depressing strangeness, below is a clip from a clay-animation kid show about "The Mysterious Stranger." It is pretty disturbing; it shows the scene from the beginning where Satan makes the tiny clay people and then smashes them like flies when they become annoying.

"The Mysterious Stranger"

I have read 50 pages of this story, but I am still waiting to find out how it is a romance. Other than that, I think the story is engaging and an interesting view of humans' encounters with Satan. I was especially struck by Satan's argument that even though God sees every sparrow that falls from the sky, Satan says that it falls anyway, so what it the point of seeing it. It was an interesting sentiment for how people believe in God even though suffering exists in the world. Twain does not make a resolution about this (so far) because the woman becomes distracted by the money in her pocket and forgets her faith arguments for the moment.

I want to finish this book so that I will find out what the point is! I like how Twain is bringing up so many questions about faith and the nature of suffering. I just hope that he ends up resolving things or at least answering his questions. Twain tends to leave things open-ended and unanswered, which can be good and stimulating, but in this case, I may really need/want answers in the end!

The Turning Point of My Life

This piece of writing follows Puddn'head Wilson well, but this time Mark Twain is turning his critical lens of social constructivism on himself. Twain wrote this at the end of his life, and with the whole of his life weighing down upon him. With most of his family dead, Twain tended toward bitterness and was much less self-important than he was in his younger days. In this writing, which was his last published work, Twain shows some humility in celebrating the ties in his life. He mentions his family and upbringing as more responsible for how he became Mark Twain than his own agency. This stands in contrast with the Mark Twain I thought I knew. For reading his stories and listening to his biography, I had come to view Mark Twain as a person suffering from arrested development. I thought he was a man who had never fully matured out of his Tom Sawyer phase. I felt sorry for his wife and children for having to deal with his antics and immaturity. I felt like Twain chose to do whatever he wanted without much regard for his family. His life out west seemed very sporadic and unplanned. He did not mellow when he moved East and settled down with Libby. His defiant, rebellious nature is evident in his writings.

But this piece is different. This piece does show a mellow Twain; albeit, he still maintains a critical eye and a sense of irony. He traces his identity to the people around him and his experience with others. He celebrates the connections between himself and other people. This is not the Twain that got run out of towns in the West, nor the Twain that had misadventures in Europe. This is a more likable Twain, a more mature Twain, a Twain that has finally been able to soften and reflect upon himself. I think that the deaths of his beloved family members helped him understand just how much joy they brought to his life during their lives.

I also think that Twain could no longer hide from his own age and growing frailty. I think that old-age was a scary reality for Twain, and that he did not want to face it. While he surrounded himself with children, he could pretend to be one of them. I think the "angelfish" helped him try to feel young again and they reminded him of being surrounded by his wife and daughters.

"The Turning Point in My Life" is a very appropriate piece for Twain to end with.

Puddn'head Wilson Revisited

More than any other we have read thus far, Puddn'head Wilson makes me think. Despite having read it, reread passages, and seeing clips from the movie, I am still curious about what it is that Mark Twain is trying to say. I do not feel as though I have closure at the end of the story. I can appreciate that effect because I think it is a sign that the story is well-written and engaging. However, it is rather bothersome that it will not leave my mind.

I think that the way that Twain incorporates racial issues is much more subtle in Puddn'head Wilson than in Huckleberry Finn. I think that the additional exploration of gender issues and gender as performative complicates the issue of race. Chambers and Tom also perform race in the same way gender is performed. Though Puddn'head Wilson's quote, "training is everything," flavors the entire story, I cannot help but question the ways in which Twain is problematizing concepts of race and gender as essentialist.

For the most part, the townspeople represent the larger social dynamic of Twain's day. The idea that a gentleman occurs through "good breeding" was prevalent. Likewise, a person as white as Roxy was believed to be a slave just because of a tiny amount of Black blood in her ancestry. "Tom" (Chambers) is brought up as a gentleman, but he grows up to be irresponsible, rash, selfish, and deadly. Meanwhile "Chambers" (Tom) was raised like a slave, but is meek, modest, polite, and patient. I think that "Chambers'" character fits the model for "training is everything" more than "Tom." Chambers was a faithful, dutiful slave to Tom because that is what he was raised to be. When he found out that he was a "gentleman," he could not automatically come to embody the education and social formalities that that role entails. He felt estranged by his new identity and place in life. For him, his "training" defines who he is.

Tom complicates this argument because Twain is trying to make a second argument with his character. While Tom's training does shape who he is in that a slave would not be expected to act out with the kind of agency Tom shows, Tom does not fulfill the role of "gentleman." Judge indicates that he never was able to reform Tom to fit the role he desired for him, the role of a gentleman. Through Tom's character (and even the Judge's violent nature) Twain is questioning those thing that make a man a "gentleman." For example, a duel is considered chivalrous, but it is only ritualized brutality. At first the reader is lead to believe that Tom's (Chambers') tiny bit of Black blood has prevented him from learning to become a gentleman, but then Twain debunks many of the aspects of what makes a gentleman to show that Tom's behavior was really not so uncommon even among the gentry. Even after Roxy reveals that she is really Tom's mother, which makes him a slave, Chambers continues to act the part of "Tom." This emphasizes the aspect of social roles being performative. Tom shows that gender roles can be acted out as well through cross-dressing.

But Twain also points out through Roxy's character that the ability to change roles does not hold true across the board. As a "gentleman," Tom is at the top of the social ladder. He can become a woman or a slave. However, Roxy cannot perform anything but a slave despite her appearance. Likewise, the real Tom cannot perform the role of "gentleman," because he began as a slave.

I am still intrigued with this story!