Use this blog to participate both thoughtfully and frequently as you listen to the inner circle's discussion of Mark Twain's "The Damned Human Race."
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Enjoy!
45 comments:
Do you agree with Twain's theory?
so is this a new evolution theory? like twain-ism?
I wonder what you think may have provoked Mark Twain to write such a heated and strong essay, what could have pushed him over the edge?
I just have a reaction to start this off. I realized that his satire seems a lot more structured than satire of our day. Think Saturday Night Live. A lot of the time, our satire is pretty up front and sometimes kind of dumb humor. I feel like that goes with his idea that the human race is degrading.
Do you think that he actually believes in the things he says? Or is he just making fun of the things that maybe other people were saying?
alyssa- no i don't.
When reading this article I thought Twain was trying to be a devils advocate to make us think. Though, he did make many excellent points that provoked a lot of thought.
Does anyone agree with what Twain says?
maddie- that does really make sense. personally, i don't think human's are "degrading", but our humor is for sure.
Brennan- I believe he does believe in what he wrote. He seemed to be too passionate in this idea, for him not to believe in it.
Molly,
I feel as if it might have been something terrible he might have read about or learned. For example, maybe when he learned about that buffalo hunt, he started to think about how barbaric mankind can be
Personally, I found "The Damned Human Race" pretty funny. I can definitely delve into satire much easier than I thought was going to be possible. I found everything that Twain mentioned I felt was true, at least in my opinion.
This comment in the essay, -"It also seemed to suggest that the earl was descended from the anaconda, and had lost a good deal in the transition-" really brought me down to earth. It made me realize how arrogant and purposefully highly opinionated of ourselves we are. There is a sense of truth behind his words that I believe is something none of us wants to admit.
leslie- that could very well be what he was trying to accomplish. i don't know Twain so I can't say that he was, but some evidence points it to that.
aaron- exactly..I think we are capable of being above other species, but we choose not to be.
I was a little confused, what exactly was he making fun of? and does he actually believe that all animals are better than us? Also what clues does he give that lets the reader know that its a satire/
Molly- I guess it could have been anything. Just like what inspires people to write political songs, etc., he could have been inspired by the same type of thing. He may have been contemplating life, like people today or authors like Thoreau, and realized how disappointed he was with people. I hope that makes sense.
Maddie- I think that that fact reflects the evolution of every aspect of our society. Writing styles and the way we talk have changed so much, we are just a more no-nonsense culture today, so I think that this fits into this idea perfectly.
I think it's ironic that he displays humans as less human than animals, in a way. We always associated uncivilized people as animals while he views animals as having the ideal human attitudes.
I think (sorry about the term) that maybe he was having a bararic yawp about an event that occured during his life time. His thoughts and predicitons are too deep to be kind of carelessly thrown together for entertainment.
I think that what Twain is really making fun of is what we do with our time since, unlike other animals, we don't have to focus all our attention on just surviving.
Alyssa- I agree in a lot of ways. He makes a lot of good points and if you step back and honestly look at our society, it seems as if our morals have gone down the drain.
leslie-
I agree with the idea that Mark Twain was acting as a devil's advocate through satire to make us realize that the human race is not as perfect as we think it is.
I don't really think that Twain really believed in what he was saying. There are down sides and up sides to humanity, but no race is really "damned". We can't compare ourselves to other species. Between the species, we all have different moral senses. I doubt that he really believed in what he was saying. I beleive he just said this in order to show us how cruel we can be to each other. He is just trying to highlight the errors in human character.
alyssa-
If he did believe in it though, wouldn't he use more seriousness, instead of having people interpret it as a joke?
Does anyone agree with the statement "Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity (these are strictly confined to man)" ?
Nicole,
I think Twain was trying to point out the weaknesses and flaws of mankind. I think it was the sad truth he was pinpointing in his points
Ray
That's a good point, we see uncivilized people as animals and we see ourselves as civilized and better than the uncivilized who are like animals. Maybe Twain was just trying to make people see a different point of view.
Maddie T.- I agree! I think he is writing about true things, we just don't want to face those facts, because it reveals a dark side of us that we don't want to admit exists.
Leslie- I really like your Devil's Advocate comment, after all what he says throughout the whole essay doesn't always tie together, there are some weird contradictions (like in the talking about families) that I thought I saw, which could make you think that he is just trying to get people to think rather than to change their opinions of themselves and hate their own human race.
maddie-
i think that he's wrong in saying this, as every species is different, and they all have their own versions of these things. We're just familiar with what we think it is.
just kidding maddison not maddie
Clara- I agree. As far as we know, we are the only species that feel and think at the levels that we do. So while other species are preoccupied with instincts, we have to deal with all this feelings and thoughts, which can be both bad and good.
Brennan- I think he made it a satire to have people not take offense to it, so they would listen to him, instead of immediately rejecting his ideas, ans what he is saying.
erin- I hate to say it, but I think the human race is damned. We are constantly decreasing the earths supply of natural resources, we are drastically affecting other living things and even though it will probably not be in our life time, we will destory the Earth at this rate. If we do not change our ways, our race will be and is damned.
Alyssa S~
Exactly. Because we all know that our society has deep and dark faults. We just feel like none of them need to be dredged up. We don't want to face it, and we tend to focus on things that make us greater and things that make us happier. Do you think Twain believed in what he was writing?
Catherine- I love that connection! I think that this essay could definitely been a result of a 'barbaric yawp'-like realization. There really ARE such profound ideas beneath the humor and ridicule that could make one think that he really just unloaded all of his struggles and pent up ideas.
catc- but at the same time, aren't we advancing, getting smarter, inventing new things, finding new cures…?
alyssa and maddie- Yes, there are sad truths, but I don't think it is leading us to being "damned"... humans, sadly have always acted like this. There has been envy, greed, lust, etc. since the Fall. Many humans have lacked said morals before, and do now. We are not all "damned".
Maddie T.- I think he did believe what he was writing. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so passionate about making his point.
But are we really aware of when we doing wrong. Isn't that a matter of opinion? Would things really be better without right and wrong?
Hey Maddie T! I completely agree with you. I found this article to be funny. It was cruel in a blunt way, which when taken lightly is funny. I do think his comments have broughten us down to earth. They make us think about our actions and thoughts. My question is: Does it really matter if he agrees completely with what he is saying? I don't think so because no one ever really knows what is truly right and what is truly wrong. I just think this article is about highlighting what is considered right and wrong.
maddison- Yes we are. That is also why we are not "damned".
Like what other people have said the human race has many flaws and Twain points out the sad truths.
However hope is still on the horizon. Look at the accomplishments we have made.
Maddison-
I thought that too when I read it, that quote really stuck out to me because of the harsh truth it upholds. While there are other species the exhibit attitudes like this, like aggressive animals, there are none the realize and internalize and FEEL the repercussions of their actions.
Hey Cat! I am starting to agree with you. We are kind of damned in the sense. We are destroying our earth and the place we live, but this is self damnation. To me, Twain was taking about the de-evolution of humans. This is something that is heredity and done by passing trats for generations to generations. I think this is a long time damnation that Twain is drawing our attention to.
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