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Mark Twain's Essay 'The Lowest Animal'

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When you think about humans do you imagine caring compassionate creatures, or do you paint the horrendous image of society? Mark Twain wrote a satirical essay “The Lowest Animal” to satirize the differences between humans and animals further proving his general idea of evolution compared to the Darwinian Theory. Twain uses an assortment of trials to prove that Man has descended from the higher animals.

Twain uses human behavior to prove his belief that humans are in fact not superior to any animal. When expressing his theories, Twain noted “The hunters killed seventy-two of those great animals; and ate part of one of them and left seventy-one to rot (Pg. 1, Line 38-40)”. This proved that mankind is selfish, wasteful, and barbaric. The hunters see killing as a form of entertainment and are careless about it by leaving a murderous mess behind as if the great animals were never alive to begin with. …show more content…

The grateful reptile immediately crushed one of them and swallowed it, then lay back satisfied (Pg.1, Line 41-44)”. The anaconda no longer showed interest in the calves and only took what it needed. The anaconda proves its position is much higher than that of a man because man would have slaughtered them all merciless.

Twain claims that man is the only animal that has a burning passion for revenge. Not only do they want revenge, but they seek opportunities to inflict harm on others both physically and verbally. Twain argues “Men keep harems, but it is by brute force, privileged by atrocious law, which the other sex was allowed no hand in making (Pg.2, Line 70-73)”. Man, and rooster do not compare because the rooster is selfless, and man is selfish. Humans make excuses to cover up their inhuman actions while animals remain

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