Twain and the Damned Human Race Essay

68.8 percent of people in the United States and 30 percent of the entire global population are obese. “Obesity today is officially an epidemic; it is arguably the most pressing public health problem we face, costing the healthcare system an estimated $90 billion a year.” said Michael Pollan in “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.”

In his essay, “The Lowest Animal”, Mark Twain attempts to prove a pessimistic opinion of his. He compares humans to animals, and explains how contrary to widespread belief, humans are a lower animal to other species. While he makes some valid points about greed, selfishness, and violence, he misses the overall picture of human nature. I firmly believe that the human race is made of not only civilized, but caring human beings. If humans were as abominable as Twain attempts to make us out to be, we would not have countries, communities, or any other caring and loving, individual connections. We would also have countless amounts of prisons, prisoners, high mortality rates due to violence, and lower life-spans. Twain writes from a subjective point of view, allowing his opinions of

Mark Twain, one of the most famous and influential American writers, was born in Hannibal, Missouri on November 30, 1835 and died April 21, 1910. Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, he eventually adopted his famous pseudonym in 1863. Shortly after his father's death in 1847, when Clemens was twelve, his father passed away. After his father death, he applied for an apprenticeship at the local-printing shop. While working in the printing shop, Twain learned the skills required to be a printer and developed an aptitude for witty short essays and responses. Mark Twain was enthralled by his opportunity to develop his skills as a printer, and later he realized that he had a unique talent for writing. By working as an apprentice printer, he

Mark Twain has been seriously accused by many including Toni Morrison of being a "racist author," whose writing is offensive to black readers, which spreads cheap slave-era stereotypes.

Mark Twain’s logical fallacies wash over his readers like depression in the mind. They creep in like a soft voice heard just by the ears at first, but soon they take over the entire limbic system. Attacking the amygdala in a verbal hijacking, rendering the host unable to feel conversely. Satire is by definition Mark Twain’s View of the man in “The Damned Human Race.” It’s his use of ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices and follies to scorn (Merriam-Webster.com). Mark Twain’s approach to prove his hypothesis that; man is at the bottom of evolution, is enticing but not successful.

The true nature of human action remains as an enigma for many and it is question whose answer is everywhere in the civilization that we have all collectively built. The author Jane Austen in persuasion believes that each person is self serving and kind when it 's in their best interest. Contrary to Austens’ belief, Mark Twain with“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” shows a more optimistic view of human nature where the guilt and sense of sympathy are the driving emotions behind every action. Similarly, in the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith identifies the empathy and duty as a primary cause for the kindness in each person. Every person is hardwired to be a social and inherently good person driven by the emotional consequences and

Mark Twain is important to American literature because of his novels and how they portray the American experience. Some of his best selling novels were Innocents Abroad, Life on the Mississippi, Huckleberry Finn, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In these books, Mark Twain recalls his own adventures of steamboating on the Mississippi River.

In Mark Twain's “ The Damned Human Race” the behavior and lifestyles of animals and humans are compared. Twain spent much time experimenting and watching comparisons. He saw a big difference when he experimented with the anaconda and the Earl. The anaconda was given seven animals to eat, but only ate one and didn't bother the others. On the other hand, the Earl along with his group , hunted a large amount of buffalo. After hunting, they only ate a small portion of a single buffalo. This brings Twain to believe that humans do things such as hunting animals and wasting the meat, as a pleasure for themselves. He concludes that humans will always take more

Within his essay of The Damned Human Race, author Mark Twain powerfully declares that the human race is both flawed and corrupt, and that people actually should be classified as 'lower animals' rather than the formerly known 'higher animals.' Twain does not hold claim to a Darwinian or creation standpoint, but rather draws conclusions from his own observations in performed experiments. He states that 'man is the cruel animal,' and that we can attribute this to his moral character. However, there appears to be another side which contradicts his findings. Perhaps man is indeed the 'highest animal,' but possesses something which other animals do not.

In “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” humanity is portrayed as cruel and insensitive. Mark Twain’s purpose is to paint a picture of the hypocrisy of society and human nature during this time period. He does this in many ways, specifically by, giving a drunken father custody over his child, skewing Huck’s view of morals, and twisting ideas of justice. The context of the story is that a young boy fakes his own death to escape his abusive father and travels down a river with an escaped slave.

The essay that I have chosen to talk about and discuss is “The Damned Human Race” by Mark Twain. Within the essay “The Dammed Human Race” there is a clearly stated thesis statement. The thesis statement says “I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the lower animals (so called) and contrasting them with the traits and disputations of man. I find the result humiliating to me.

Synopsis: Mark Twain was born Samuel L. Clemens in Florida Missouri on November 30, 1835. He used the name Mark Twain as a pen name and wrote two american literature classics, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” He was also a riverboat pilot, lecturer, journalist, entrepreneur, and inventor. Mark Twain died on April 21, 1910 in Redding, Connecticut.

"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure" (Twain). This quote is from Mark Twain. He is a very famous author who has written such classics as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain’s real name is Samuel Clemens, and was known to have experienced different many things in his lifetime. He has worked as a miner, printer, river pilot, and more (www.cmgww.com). This tells us that he must have known many things, and possibly how he came up with this quote.

In the biography Mark Twain: The Divided Mind of America's Best-Loved Writer by David W. Levy it was made clear that Mark Twain was very involved with all the society changes in his time period. Many of his novels have a theme circulating around the different changes and problems in society including slavery and racism. Mark Twain has been through the years preceding the Civil War, the Gilded Age and industrialization, this book explores his attitude and actions during the time period. This book is very good with explaining and going into detail about what happened in Mark Twain’s life in the 18th and 19th century.

As Humans we want to be on top establishing superiority over other living species. Man does not realize the impact ones doing has on one another. At times Man enslaves others, forces his religion on others and, is cruel. Twain makes many great arguments swaying me to agree with his main topic, Man is the Lowest Animal. As Twain points out the many flaws we have as human beings he does not state the opposing great things we do and, have accomplished. The bad out weighing the good causes me to side with Twain, in agreeing that man does more harm than good in the society we live in.