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Slavery In A Connecticut Yankee At King Arthur's Court

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In “A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court”, Hank Morgan often compares the issues of slavery in Camelot to the issues of slavery in the American South. However, since Hank Morgan is a “Connecticut Yankee”, the images of Southern slavery, are directed from Mark Twain’s own personal viewpoint. A deeper analysis of slavery in, “A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court”, gives us insight into Mark Twain’s personal stance in favor of anti-slavery, which helps clarify his purpose as a writer.

Mark Twain’s views in favor of anti-slavery, stem from his early life in the South, where he grew up in Missouri, a slave state, in which slave trade was prevalent. His uncle, John Quarles, owned 20 slaves, so he witnessed the practice of slavery first-hand. Also, when he was still a young boy, he was deeply moved when he witnessed the brutal murder of a slave in his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, by a white man throwing rocks, for the crime of "merely doing something awkward." (Smith) In Mark Twain’s personal life, he may have in his early life, held racist ideas due to his upbringing in the south, “In my schoolboy days I had no aversion to slavery...the local pulpit taught us that God approved it.” (Popova) However, Twain’s kindness and realization that slaves were just ordinary people, evolved over time, “All the Negroes …show more content…

Throughout the novel, Mark Twain tries to convey a message against slavery and racism in southern white society, by showing the lack of knowledge and wrong doings of society at the time, and by making comments on major social issues, in the form of an adventure tale, Twain makes the topic of slavery, easier to discuss and

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