Mark Twain's Industrialization Of Sixth-Century England

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The late nineteenth century in the United States saw the peak of buzz and commotion that is commonly referred to as the Industrial Revolution. Caught deep within the gears of this mechanized movement, both socially and financially, was one Samuel Langhorne Clemens, best known as Mark Twain. Twain's ideas on industrialization were based on practical experience, due in part to heavy investment in, and loss from, a newly developed type-setting machine as well as an acute interest in the universal ramifications of such modernization (Kaplan 12). It is among such an economically turbulent and technologically elevated era that Twain conceived, wrote, and published the critically complex A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court. Twain's vision of sixth century England is seen through the eyes of "Yankee" Hank Morgan. This image is the setting for biting social commentary on what was occurring throughout the United States, especially in the Northeast. Technology was not the only area experiencing rapid growth, but new political and economic theories thrived and Twain did not adhere to those…show more content…
Hank's determination to shift national focus from religion and superstition toward technology is either an amazing venture in capitalism or simply a reused, fiscally sound "opiate of the masses." Mark Twain's roots in the South show through as he pokes at all things aristocratically established, from religion to slavery. In a sense, "A Connecticut Yankee could be taken as the expression of an international crusade for democracy," with a support for both industrialization and free enterprise (Smith 76). However, Twain's personal experiences give away the deterrent tone toward such a generalization of his outlook towards humanity, which, if A Connecticut Yankee serves as an archetype for the human race, appears dismally
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