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Hidden Identities

Decent Essays

Hidden Identities Approximately sixty-one percent of all people posting comments online use a pseudonym or “pen name.” In the book The Gospel According to Larry, Josh Swensen unhesitantly decided to start an online blog where he wrote about controversial topics and used the name Larry to stay anonymous. Looking at literature other than online, Samuel Clemens used pen names in most of the books he wrote; his most famous pen name being Mark Twain. Josh Swensen and Samuel Clemens were alike and divergent in many ways considering that they both used a pen name and avoided having their work be directly associated with themselves, but Clemens did not feel as anxious about showing his true identity as Swensen. Swensen and Clemens used pen names …show more content…

Josh worked very hard to not include anything about himself in his sermons that would reveal anything too personal or give a clue about where he lives. In the book, Josh said “I already analyzed Larry’s sermons a thousand times before I sent them out, petrified I’d make some innocuous comment about street signs or great blue herons that could lead anyone to me” (Tashjian 116). Swensen remained very concerned about staying anonymous all throughout the book. He gave it his best shot but was not able to keep his real identity hidden forever. There was also an extensive list of controversial and sensitive subjects that Clemens covered in his books. “Twain was able to address the shameful legacy of chattel slavery prior to the Civil War and the persistent racial discrimination and violence after. That he did so in the voice and consciousness of a 14-year-old boy, a character who shows the signs of having been trained to accept the cruel and indifferent attitudes of a slaveholding culture, gives the novel its affecting power” (history.com Staff). Back in the time Clemens was around, slavery was a very touchy topic. Speaking or writing about these topics could cause other people to criticize his opinion. Utilizing pen names gave these two writers an escape from having their actual names associated with their works. Instead of saying Samuel Clemens had those …show more content…

Even when it became extremely hard not to tell someone that he was Larry, Josh still kept it a secret. In the book, Josh was thinking to himself about how he just could not tell his best friend Beth about his secret identity (Tashjian 126). Telling Beth could possibly ruin his relationship with her. He decided that not telling anyone about his secret would be the best choice. On the contrary, Samuel Clemens frequently gave lectures over his books as himself, not Mark Twain. History.com staff went further into this, stating “He went on his first lecture tour, speaking mostly on the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) in 1866. It was a success, and for the rest of his life, though he found touring grueling, he knew he could take to the lecture platform when he needed money” (history.com Staff). The amount of money he made from going on book lecture tours may have been the biggest incentive for publicly speaking about his books. All of the lectures he gave spread his word even more and allowed readers to further understand his messages. Either way, Swensen and Clemens both wanted to get their message spread even though they talked about sensitive subjects. Josh Swensen and Samuel Clemens were alike and divergent in many ways considering that they both used a pen name and avoided having their work be directly associated with themselves, but Clemens did not feel as anxious about showing his true identity

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