A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain (novel #223)

Here I was, a giant among pigmies, a man among children, a master intelligence among intellectual moles: by all rational measurement the one and only actually great man in that whole British world…

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. It is a fantasy satire, and I would also say Sci-Fi since it involves time travel. The eponymous narrator, mechanical engineer Hank Morgan, is transported from 1879 Connecticut to sixth-century England due to a heavy blow to his head.

 

It takes Hank a while to get his bearings and realize what has happened to him. He is quickly arrested and sentenced to death, but he uses his superior knowledge of science and history to convince Arthur and company that he is a powerful wizard. Merlin challenges him, but Hank always manages to outsmart the charlatan wizard.

 

Hank embraces his reputation, earns a position of authority in Arthur’s government, and sets out to improve the nation of “intellectual moles” he finds himself among.

 

…to banish oppression from this land and restore to all its people their stolen rights and manhood without disobliging anybody.

 

His aspirations are not merely scientific. Hank intends to end what, to his 19th-century mind, were outdated societal norms of serfdom, aristocracy, monarchy, judicial system, and the Catholic Church.

 

I was very happy. Things were working steadily toward a secretly longed-for point. You see, I had two schemes in my head which were the vastest of all my projects. The one was to overthrow the Catholic Church and set up the Protestant faith on its ruins – not as an Established Church, but a go-as-you-please one; and the other project was to get a decree issued by and by, commanding that upon Arthur’s death unlimited suffrage should be introduced, and given to men and women alike – at any rate to all men, wise or unwise, and to all mothers who at middle age should be found to know nearly as much as their sons at twenty-one.

 

As one would expect from Twain, there are moments of subtle and sublime humor. In much of the book, Hank and Arthur are traveling the realm incognito, and Hank, on several occasions, has great difficulty in coaching the king on how to act as a simple peasant.

 

The King looked puzzled – he wasn’t a very heavy weight intellectually. His head was an hour-glass; it could stow an idea, but it had to do it a grain at a time, not the whole idea at once.

 

Meanwhile, there is intrigue in King Arthur’s Court and treachery. There is a great contest between Hank and his few minions against the entrenched traditions of Knight Errantry, with a bit of pot-stirring by Merlin. I’ll spare the spoiler of how it ends.

 

Overall, I was disappointed. I’ve loved everything that I’ve read by Twain and wanted to read this for decades. I expected hilarious dialogue and farcical circumstances but found only a few bits to snicker at. But it wasn’t merely the doom of high expectations. I felt that Hank, and by proxy Twain, held humanity in contempt.

 

But finally it occurred to me all of a sudden that these animals didn’t reason; that they never put this and that together…

 

Well, there are times when one would like to hang the whole human race and finish the farce.

 

And yeah, there are times when I feel that way, but in this novel, that seems to be the prevalent theme. Not a fan.

 

Still, it was a read I needed to check off the list. I’m glad I read it, glad I’m done.

  

My Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

 

 

This novel satisfies the Chess Piece category in the What’s in a Name 2023 Challenge.

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (novel #130)

Who knows, he may grow up to be President someday, unless they hang him first! ~ Aunt Polly regarding Tom

I read this as part of the Back to the Classics Challenge 2019: A Classic from the Americas. 

Well, you don’t get much more classic, nor more American than Tom Sawyer.

As I did in my review of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I will refer to the novels as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and the characters themselves as Tom and Huck.

Tom Sawyer comes before (not properly called a prequel) Huckleberry Finn. I think Huckleberry Finn is considered Twain’s greater work, but not for me. I enjoy both, but if forced to choose, I like Tom Sawyer better.

It’s more fun. Huckleberry Finn is fun – but it’s also important. Tom Sawyer is just fun. And once in a while, “just fun” is better than fun and important.

If that doesn’t make sense – I sort of feel sorry for you.

Another reason I like it so much: I identify with Tom much more than Huck. I lived a pretty carefree, barefoot in summer, fishing, swimming, and playing cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, or soldier, much like Tom. Like Tom, and unlike Huck, I was also loved and nurtured.

Tom is a wild, mischievous, but good at heart boy growing up along the banks of the Mississippi River in the 1840s. I don’t believe Twain ever gives his age, or grade. My guess is about 12.

And, did I mention this? It’s just loads of fun. Tom has adventures with his friends Joe Harper and Huck Finn, he falls in love with Becky Thatcher, blows it by being a jerk, then redeems himself by taking blame, and a whipping, for Becky. He runs away and becomes a pirate, witnesses a murder, saves a convicted criminal, finds stolen treasure, and attends his own funeral.

What fun.

I know; there are some who think this book is inappropriate today. I understand and I disagree.

This at least the third time I’ve read Tom Sawyer. It doesn’t get old. Well, I mean it is old, but I don’t get tired of it.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

Excerpt:

“What's your name?"

"Becky Thatcher. What's yours? Oh, I know. It's Thomas Sawyer."

"That's the name they lick me by. I'm Tom when I'm good. You call me Tom, will you?"

"Yes” 

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (27 down 73 to go)

You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” but that ain’t no matter. ~ Huckleberry Finn

I’ve read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at least once before, maybe twice. It is a realist novel, satire, and the first-person narrative of Huck Finn regarding his adventures on the Mississippi River, early to middle 19th Century. 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the first books I read for pleasure, not a school assignment. I had just read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but I think that was assigned. I enjoyed it so much, that I followed with Huck Finn. This is appropriate, since that is the correct chronological order, and the order in which they were written and published.

For the remainder of this review, I will refer to the novels as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and to the characters as Tom and Huck.

I enjoy Tom Sawyer more than Huckleberry Finn, probably because I identify with Tom more than Huck. I had a pretty care free childhood, lived on a lake, spent summers roaming, swimming, fishing, camping, etc. Unlike Huck, I had a safe and wholesome home life. So, as I say, I enjoy Tom Sawyer more, but Huck Finn is a wonderful tale as well, and generally considered Twain's greatest work.

However, that is hotly debated. The American Library Association ranked Huckleberry Finn number 5 on their list of the 100 most-challenged books between 1990 and 1999.

I believe most of the objection is over the extensive use of the “N-word” I believe a secondary, and related objection, is the portrayal of African-Americans as ignorant through the person of the runaway slave Jim.

I can’t defend either objection. Twain wrote about a time and culture that he knew very well…his own. There are portions of human history and American history that are abhorrent. I don’t believe we should rewrite the portions we find distasteful, nor should we ignore them. Twain wrote about the way things were. Some of those things were horrible. I think it’s helpful to keep a record.

Speaking of a record, for the record, Twain was an ardent abolitionist. He once wrote: "Our Civil War was a blot on our history, but not as great a blot as the buying and selling of Negro souls."

Jim was ignorant, with good excuse. How could he not be? But for all Jim’s ignorance, Huck was every bit as ignorant: ignorant of the evil of slavery. So ignorant that his conscience burdened him with his dreadful sin of helping a slave escape.

In fact, I believe this was Twain’s intent. To show the awful ignorance that was once so prevalent. When you read Huck Finn, you grow to love Huck. He is innocence. He has a heart of gold. Yet, this innocent pure heart believes he is committing a dreadful sin, worthy of Hell-fire in his own words, for helping a slave to escape.

But the reader knows, he is doing a truly heroic thing.

Besides the theme of racism and bigotry, the novel paints a quaint picture of life on the Mississippi. Most of the story is Huck and Jim’s journey down river. Why would they be going south? Well for one thing, that’s the way the river runs, but for the more pertinent reason, you’ll have to read for yourself. They encounter iconic southern families, a country feud, and a pair of scoundrels: the King and the Duke. Thankfully, the great adventurer Tom Sawyer enters the tale. Jim is captured, and Tom develops a plan to free Jim. Tom makes the plan unnecessarily complicated, for style points demanded by the books of adventure he’s read. He’s a bit like Don Quixote is Tom.

If I had time, I’d read Tom Sawyer now, but with the exception of Huck Finn, I am in a daunting section of my list, filled with 1000 page novels. I recently took more than a month each for Don Quixote and The Brothers Karamazov. Now I’ve got Anna Karenina, and Gone With the Wind.

Quotations:

You can’t pray a lie—I found that out. ~ Huck

All right then, I’ll go to hell—and tore it up. ~ Huck as he decides NOT to turn in the runaway slave Jim.

But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before. THE END, YOURS TRULY, HUCK FINN.

Film Rendition: There were many to choose from. I picked the 1960 version with Eddie Hodges as Huck. I'm certain this was not the best version available. It was not very true to the book, leaving Tom Sawyer out entirely. I don't recommend it.

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