What I Learned

Overall, I learned a lot in this course this semester. I was always interested in Twain both as an author and as a person. I knew he was revered and greatly respected. After reading a good amount of his works, I see that he was a compassionate man who stood up for his beliefs and he defended the less privileged. He wasn't one of these crazy transcendentalists who questioned everything, he was arguably the most influential author in American history. He was a family man as well who cared deeply for his family. His "angelfish" in his later years showed me he was a loving man till the end, even after all his personal tragedies. he stood up for slaves, women and stood against imperialism and racism. He was bold in his writing and was as influential as anyone could be.

The Mysterious Stranger

The Mysterious Stranger was quite the reading for me, and I understand why Dr. Williams chose it for the very end of the course. We developed our analytical skills and it was a good yet melancholy close to our readings. We all know what the piece is about, so the real question is, was the devil right?"It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream - a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought - a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!"He vanished, and left me appalled; for I knew, and realized, that all he had said was true" ( Twain). The core of me wants to refute this and ignore it; it makes me want to say that through God or my religion, this does not apply to me. But as a scholar, I have to take this seriously. What if this world the devil speaks about with nothing but ourselves is true? Don't some people live just like this? I believe that there are some dark truths out there in the world, but through good company and good morals one can overcome the darkness.

A Dog's Tale

A Dog’s Tale is a rather touching yet melancholy story. As with previous short stories by Twain, we can expect to learn some moral lesson to go home with. In this story however, I get the feeling the satire here is more of a social commentary on the inhumanness of people along with their hypocrisy and disrespect towards life. The story follows a dog that has learned lessons of honor, respect, and purpose from her mother. When she is separated from her mother and joins a human family, she puts her lessons to work. When she drags the baby out of her crib, the mother of the family think she has gone crazy and beats her before she realizes that Aileen saved the baby from a fire that had ignited because of the fireplace. This goes to show how people are quick to inflict physical pain on an animal and assuming the worst- two sad traits of the human being. When Aileen gives birth to a puppy, it isn’t long before the husband of the family kills Aileen’s puppy because of a scientific experiment testing optics. The message at the end of the story is clear, like many of Twain’s stories. It gives abused animals a voice, shows how people are relentlessly cruel and hypocritical, and shows the loyalty of man’s best friend.

Huck Finn..again

After reading Tom Sawyer for the third time in my academic career, I realized a couple of things. Firstly, I have no idea why such a complex novel was assigned to me in middle school, and secondly I never realized Twain had so many commentaries on social issues within his books. While I had always known the book to be controversial, I never realized that he was strongly opposed to racism and slavery as a whole. I believe that Twain used these texts to try to enlighten people/ readers not only on his opinion but perhaps to sway their opinions. After all, Twain was a big supporter of imperialism before he realized what the truth was and then vehemently opposed it. Huck Finn seems like an innocent story when you read it young, but as an adult you realize there is a whole lot more going on than you originally thought. I think this is a great book to keep in the course and should be essential to TCU Core Curriculum.