Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Personification in Mark Twain
Personification is everywhere in Mark Twain's short stories. One story that is based on this literary technique is "What Stumped the Bluejays". In the text Jim Baker gives several animals human characteristics, but none that compare to the bluejay. The main ability that these animals have is communication with one another. Jim Baker claims that he has witnessed all animals speak to other animals. He preaches that the bluejay has the best grammar and could out-swear any human or animal. "Baker said, that after long and careful observation, he had come to the conclusion that the bluejays were the best talkers he had found among birds and beats." Another short story that shows Twain's use of personification is "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Caleveras County". In this piece of work, Twain gives the jumping frog personality traits that wouldn't normally be associated with an animal. "You never see a frog so modest and straightfor'ard as he was, for all he was so gifted."
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I love Twain's frequent use of personification and I think that it is funny or interesting how the animals even become more human than his human characters. I mean this in a sense that the animals are less corrupted than the humans. Twain uses the animals to show the various ways that man has strayed from "pureness" maybe, for lack of a better word. Or maybe, "goodness?" For instance in "The Notorious Jumping Frog" you pointed out that the frog was "modest...sraightforward...gifted" all pretty admirable traits that are contrasted with the greed of the Stranger and the pride of Smiley. It is hilarious, really, that a frog might be able to be more human than a human and really exaggerates the self-destructing distractions of mankind in the era.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the personification of animals, the "Adam and Eve" story is interesting in that the animals are nice and talkative (in a way) before the Fall, but afterwards they seem to become more like beasts. Perhaps this use of personification and then it's removal is to emphasize the humanity of Adam and Eve?
ReplyDeleteBesides animals, an instance of personification that really stood out to me (mostly because it was really funny to me) was in "The Canvasser's Tale" at the very end. "I bought two double-barreled echoes in good condition, and he threw in another, which he said was not salable because it only spoke German. He said, "She was a perfect polyglot once, but somehow her palate got down."
It's interesting how in his personification of animals, Twain still focuses on communication or how the animals would express themselves if they could clearly communicate with us. And once he gives the animals the ability of speech, they still make mistakes, like the bluejay assuming that he's found a bottomless hole. I'm not sure if I'm just reading to much into it, but it's interesting.
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