Man is the only living thing that has done evil acts for their own purpose of pleasure and to gain power over others. Man is the only one that commits acts of torture. He is the only one that uses pain as a method of punishment. Not only do men use pain as punishment but they also use it to gain an advantage over others. According to Mark Twain’s satirical essay, “The Lowest Animal”, he expresses “Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, suggest anacondas, cats and squirrels have a mutual trait. That mankind has descended from these animals, contrary to the popular Darwinian Theory that humans are the most evolved animal species. Twain opposes Darwinism with effective pathos and logos, while comparing human and animal nature, and classifying mankind as the lowest creature of all. Twain claims; indecency, vulgarity and obscenity are qualities associated with the useless moral sense existing sole in mankind. Therefore, human’s cruel qualities and erratic behavior are inferior to animal species, which is exactly what Mark Twain defends in the sarcastic evaluation of humanity named, “The Damned Human Race.”
“Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity (these are strictly confined to man); he invented them” (Twain). In this satirical essay Mark Twain discusses his ideas about mankind’s useless morel sense. He observes that humans are the only species to possess a moral sense, yet they use it to perform evil. He states after comparing animals to humans he is humiliated to conclude that man is the least evolved of all species. Despite his use of satire, false authority and hasty generalizations, his piece was successful.
The “greatest American humorist of his age”, Mark Twain once said, “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.” From Missouri to Nevada, apprentice to father of American literature, short stories to novels—Twain became the well-known author he is today because of the impact his life adventures and trial had on him (5). Author of the excerpt from A Presidential Candidate, Twain often used humor and wit to illustrate his stories and make his point known. Through his use of satire, irony, and rhetorical questions, Twain exposes the perceived truths of the Presidential campaigns and candidacies. In his excerpt, Twain uses satire to illustrate how anyone can run for President regardless of experience (14).
Bryce, I read through your discussion of Mark Twain's "The Damned Human Race" and agree with the points that you make. In addition to his negative tone in the essay, I said that he also used satire to express his voice. Helping to explain your point that Twain uses a negative tone, you use many concrete examples where he does this. The two examples of the rotting buffalo and the anaconda only killing what it eats are great examples of his negative tone. When reading his essay and thinking of the points Twain makes, do you agree with him?
Mark Twain uses satire to portray different issues that were going on during the time period. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author Mark Twain uses Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer to represent romanticism and realism. Doing so formed the characters into two drastically different persons. Mark Twain uses satirical elements to contrast the two main characters in their personalities and views. Tom Sawyer is a child who is blinded with fictional literature and the worlds view on slaves.
Mark Twain is a famous American author of the 19th century, best known for his works The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In his writing, Twain masterfully uses literary devices to convey his ideas to his readers, and he does this especially well in his work “The Lowest Animal”. In The Lowest Animal, Twain writes satirically about the state of Humankind as a species in comparison to the rest of the animal kingdom. Twain argues that humanity is not inherently better than the other animals, and that we are actually, in many ways, worse.
What is the issue Twain is satirizing? In this text Twain is satirizing the advices adults give to their children, and also how to become a better liar to deceive your parents. What techniques does Twain use to create his satire?
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain, was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri and grew up Hannibal, Missouri on the banks of the Mississippi River. Jane Lampton Clemens and John Marshall Clemens, Twain’s mother and father, had seven children with Mark being the sixth of seven. John Clemens, a lawyer, died in 1847 when Twain was just twelve years old. After his father’s death, he had to stop formal study and begin apprenticing for local newspapers. He eventually began to work for his brother, Orion Clemens, who owned multiple newspapers.
Throughout the essay, Mark Twain proposed many different questions and performed many experiments and what their results were and then he included them in the essay. One of his main questions that he wanted to explain was “Are human beings the lowest form of life?” (Twain) While reading, “The Damned Human Race” the reader’s attention is automatically grabbed with Twain’s efforts to satirize the theory of evolution.
The Lowest Animal by Mark Twain shatters the illusion that the human species is superior in every way to animals. The essay satirizes that animals are superior to the human species through the use of made up experiments. Twain utilizes these experiments to demonstrate the parallels between the behaviors of animals and man. These experiments showcase how animals are the “higher animals”. Even more, the experiments are attempting to prove how we, as man, have descended from these higher animals only to lose a few of their favorable traits.
On The Lowest Animal by Mark Twain, he implies numerous times that human beings are the lowest animal, also implying that other animals or species are more comprehensive and cooperative with each other and to other animals unlike human beings. Mark Twain lists an abundance of reasons of why men are the lowest animal. A great amount of narcissistic people believes that human beings are the highest animal there is but in reality human beings are naturally very crucial to all classes of animals and their actions will never be prevented in the future. Men are the lowest animal because human beings are crucial. On The Lowest Animal, Mark Twain stated, “man is the only one that is cruel.
History have shown many rebels fights for what they believed in. They fought for their freedom, their rights, and their dignity. But there are some people who selflessly fought for others, and one of them is Mark Twain. Samuel Langhorne Clemens or Mark Twain was born November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He is one of the most iconic figure in literary.
Mark Twain's Use of Satire in Huckleberry Finn Throughout his pieces of literature, the famous American author Mark Twain portrays his personal views of society using satire and irony in his stories. He makes fun of broken parts in the American society relentlessly and makes sure the readers understand how outrageous some acts were during the early-to-mid 1800s. Twain seems to target specific aspects in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn such as how young people could be conflicted between morality and legality, the loss of self-respect for money, and the effects of herd mentality. He has an interesting approach at giving the reader insight, but his main ideas for the theme shine through and are clearly depicted.
In “The Lowest Animal”, Mark Twain explains man’s morals and ethics as they compare to the “higher” animals, while in the poem “Ethics” by Linda Pastan, a simple situation is given to show what a person believes is right and wrong; both works reveal the theme hope. Mark Twain takes an interesting approach to explain human nature in his work, “The Lowest Animal”. For example,“[h]e is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it” (Twain 538). People understand that hurting another human being is wrong, whether that be physical or mental abuse. However they sometimes do it anyways for the satisfaction that the action provides.
