Mark Twain's Essay, The Lowest Animal

Famed author, Mark Twain, asserts in this excerpt of “The Lowest Animal” that as a result of man’s greed and incessant need for more, it makes man less than animals, who have no such insatiable hunger for all things in excess. Many would disagree arguing in the contrary to Twain. Although some people, Mark Twain for one, believe that man’s thirst for more is what degrades us, the reality is that it is what builds up the species as a whole and is what has gotten us to our current elevated standing with advancements in medicine, technology, and society.

What makes a being more evolved? Who are we to say that humans are the most evolved or even the least? It is believed by some that we are descended from the "higher animals", whereas others believe that we have ascended from the "lower animals". In Mark Twain's essay, "The Lowest Animal" (1896), he portrays the idea that the human race has no hope, as we have too many flaws. It is undeniable that we have our flaws, but what creature on this planet does not? The human race may not be perfect, or reaching perfection anytime soon, but it does progress and develop as time goes on. As humans, we are neither substantially higher nor lower than animals. Although foolish actions are performed towards each other and our planet, we have also

In “The Lowest Animal”, Mark Twain uses satire to demonstrate that mankind is cruel. In his writing, Twain states, “Man is the only animal that robs his helpless fellow of his country—takes possession of it and drives him out of it or destroys him” (Twain 6). This is a key example of Twain using satire to demonstrate that mankind is cruel. Twain is stating that man is the only animal that takes land and possessions from its own kind, as well as that man is the only animal that destroys his own kind. This is an obvious cruel action and Twain is poking fun at it because humans take part in this action and animals do not. Twain is ridiculing humans as he is stating that mankind is the only animal that acts in this manner, which is a key representation

Last week in class, we read an essay called “ The Lowest Animal” by Mark Twain. In this article, Twain uses satire to effectively get his point across on why humans are more superior than animals. He also uses lots of sarcasm to mock the people who are on the opposing side of the topic. Just like Twain, I will do the same in my essay but changing the topic. I will be explaining “Why Video Games Make Adolescents Misbehave” in a mocking way and to make it clear that I do not agree with this statement.

In a section of Mark Twain’s work “The Lowest Animal”, Twain writes about humans and their greedy nature to always want more than what they need, not hesitating to take from the less fortunate, while animals only take what is needed no matter the situation. I disagree with Twain’s argument that only humans are greedy creatures, and that animals aren’t. Not all people are as avaricious as others, just like some animals don’t always take just what they need, animals can just as selfish. One reason why I disagree with Twain is because people are not always greedy and taking from others to push themselves up. I have seen studies that show that the poor are far more generous than the rich.

Samuel Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri, the sixth of seven children. At the age of four, Sam and his family moved to the small frontier town of Hannibal, Missouri on the banks of the Mississippi River. Missouri, at the time, was a fairly new state (it had gained statehood in 1820) and comprised part of the country's western border. It was also a slave state. Sam's father owned one slave and his uncle owned several. In fact, it was on his uncle's farm that Sam spent many boyhood summers playing in the slave quarters, listening to tall tales and the slave spirituals that he would enjoy throughout his life.

Greed, a noun. Intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. According to Mark Twain’s “The Lowest Animal,” this is what humans, and humans only, are. Although some people may argue against it, this is the harsh reality of mankind.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, is perhaps the most distinguished author of American Literature. Next to William Shakespeare, Clemens is arguably the most prominent writer the world has ever seen. In 1818, Jane Lampton found interest in a serious young lawyer named John Clemens. With the Lampton family in heavy debt and Jane only 15 years of age, she soon arried John. The family moved to Gainesboro, Tennessee where Jane gave birth to Orion Clemens. In the summer of 1827 the Clemenses relocated to Virginia where John

The human race can be criticized in many different ways on how we act, why we make the choices we do, and how we treat one another. In the two writings “Living like a Weasel”, written by Annie Dillard, and “The Lowest Animal”, written by Mark Twain, these types of criticism are very evident throughout each. However not only do they criticize the human race they bring about ideas about how we should act, how we should make choices, and how we should treat one another. Although both authors have respectively different views, it will be made clearly how evident how realistic the criticism is and whether or not the suggested behavior can become an attainable goal.

In the literary piece The Lowest Animal Mark Twain sarcastically states that mankind is the lowest animal on the evolutionary scale. He supports this statement by listing examples like when he tells the story about the man who kills 72 buffalo and they only eat one. On the other hand, when an anaconda is offered 7 calves, he only kills and eats one. The literary piece includes more sarcastic examples of why mankind is the lowest animal on the evolutionary scale. Just because there are bad

One of the most influential celebrities that people looked up to was, Samuel L. Clemens, an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer, who was better known as Mark Twain. Mark Twain originally wrote “The Lowest Animal” in 1896 but it was not published until 1962, due to his death in 1910 he never got to officially publish his work. In Twain’s essay, “The Lowest Animal,” he exercises techniques of direct comparisons and irony to justify that man is the lowest animal by describing that man has significant faults, like cruelty, compared to other animals and how man is the “unreasoning” animal, which is the root of his devious nature.

In the essay The Lowest Animal by Mark Twain, Twain elucidates that “Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it… Man is the Cruel Animal. He is alone in that distinction.” (text #5).

“All you need in life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure” (Twain). This quote by Twain is explaining that to become successful, you don't have to be the most intelligent person ever, you just have to be confident in what you do know. This quote could also be taken as a satire or in order to be successful, you have to look and act confident.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens better known as, Mark Twain was born on November 30th, 1835 in the town of Florida, Missouri on the banks of the Mississippi River. The banks and towns of the Mississippi will become the setting of two of the world's most translated books. These books are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain’s life as a child and a steamboat pilot before the civil war shaped his writing in the two most known books past and present, using realism set him far ahead in the curve for American Authors.

In Mark Twain’s article “On the Damned Human Race”, Twain elaborates on how humans are humiliating in our world. Twain contrasts humans to other species of animals and how humans are hurtful, seek revenge, create war, and have created petty ideas in our world today. Twain uses many rhetorical strategies such as character traits, word choice, and structure to portray how animals are of a higher classification of humans. In this article, one of the main rhetorical strategies is the use of character traits.