Ted Hoover
October 26, 2000

The Composition of Connecticut Yankee

To understand exactly what Twain was trying to accomplish in writing A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court we must first understand exactly what was occurring during this time period (late 1880's). First, the industrial revolution was in full effect, leading to vast urbanization and technological advances. Second, there was a movement among radicals in England to further the technological education of the lower, working class. We must also understand Twain's absolute disgust for the English's "fetish for nobility."

His Own Words: Thoughts of the Future

In The New Dynasty, an article he read to the Monday Evening Club on March 22, 1886, Twain states that, "[p]ower, when lodged in the hands of man, means oppression..." (Clemens 284). In this article, Twain emphasizes that the few oppress the many and that the many are, in fact, a nation that should, and could, rise to oppress the few and ultimately rule fairly (Clemens 286-8). Many of the ideas in this article are, in fact, found in A Connecticut Yankee. Twain, at first glance, seems a revolutionary of great proportion in writing this article. However, there were many more to come that attacked, with far more specificity, the English and their "fetish for nobility" (along with their criticisms of America).

The Inspiration

According to a friend, Twain purchased and read, in a rather short period of time, Malory's Morte de Arthur. Upon reading this, Twain began to take notes for a book. With this work under his belt, Twain could now use his disgust for the fantasy-like admiration of nobility in England (especially in the 6^th century) and his admiration of good old American "know-how" to create a piece of work that contrasted, with the advantage to the "know-how," the two time periods. In a letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks, Twain states that, in November of 1886, at the beginning of his writing, that he is writing this book for hobby, creating something that simply points out the contrasts in daily life of the two time periods, emphasizing the "salients" of both (Clemens 296). The conditions of the Middle Ages as a whole, according to Twain, were simply atrocious when compared to life in the modern world (Clemens 304).

Other inspirations for Twain came in the form of several ground breaking books of the time and, in fact, the legislative movements in 19^th century England. In an article written by Howard G. Baetzhold in 1970, Baetzhold observed that, "many of the improvements that the Yankee came to propose for Arthurian England were those which Britain's Liberals...were currently advocating" (Clemens 348). Twain seemed to keep at least one eye on the current issues of England at all times. In addition, The People's History of the English Aristocracy, a book detailing the lurid activities of English nobles, gave Twain ammunition in the defoliation of the English aristocracy throughout the book (Clemens 350). He now had further evidence to support the idea that the nobility were actually not that noble.

Legislative movements were abound in England to further the technological education of the poor (Clemens 356). Clemens included this in his novel as the Yankee's proposal for a "teacher-factory." In perhaps the best example of the issues that Twain found necessary to include in this novel, Baetzhold says:

...technological backwardness, aristocratic opposition to education, abuses in the military system, reverence for hereditary rank, and the close association of

Church and State in matters of aristocratic prerogatives–Clemens molded

Especially skillfully into the Chapter Twenty-five...(Clemens 357).

This was Twain's attempt to establish the stupidity of the aristocratic norms that existed not only in medieval times but in the present day as well. This is a story of a man with no aristocratic background competing to become an officer against two dim-witted aristocrats.

From the beginning, where Twain seemed satisfied merely to present a story in contrasts, to the end, where it seems that Twain is more willing to simply emphasize the great injustices of nobility, we see inconsistency in Twain's intentions for the novel. This inconsistency is due in part to the increased enthusiasm that Twain felt as his writings continued. What started out as a hobby quickly became more of an urgent need to draw a picture of injustice and stupidity.

Bibliography

Baetzhold, Howard G., The Composition of A Connecticut Yankee, (NY: W.W. Norton And Co., Inc., 1982).

Baxter, Sylvester, Mark Twain's Masterwork in The Boston Herald.

Clemens, Samuel L., The New Dynasty, (NY: W.W. Norton and Co., Inc., 1982).

Clemens, Samuel L., Letters about A Connecticut Yankee, (NY: W.W. Norton and Co., Inc., 1982).

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