There isn't anything I can write about Mark Twain that someone hasn't already written about, so whatever I write will (more than likely) echo your feelings about America's best writer. I'm ashamed to say that after reading Huck Finn, I assumed that everything he wrote would be centered around ignorant white and black people but I was wrong. I read Extracts from Adam's Diary and Extracts from Eve's Diary, and boy are these two short stories hilarious. He creates stereotypical scenarios about men and women and makes them comical.
The opening paragraph has tons of sarcasm, "This new creature with the long hair is a good deal in the way. It is always hanging around and following me about. I don't like this; I am not used to company. I wish it would stay with the other animals." The way Twain structured his sentences is like he is mocking Adam's speech. It also tells us how annoyed he is by Eve's lack of leadership or by the responsibility of being a husband, "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God."
Twain also writes about the annoyance most men have when girls don't shut up and does it in such a comical way, "Built me a shelter against the rain, but could not have it to myself in peace. The creature intruded. When i tried to put it out it shed water out of the holes it looks with, and wiped it away with the back of its paws, and made a noise such as some of the other animals make when they are in distress. I wish it would not talk; it is always talking."
Twain makes fun of women who are obsessed with their reflection via Eve and the pond, "She fell in the pond yesterday, when she was looking at herself in it, which she is always doing. She nearly strangled, and said it was most uncomfortable. This made her sorry for the creatures which live in there, which she calls fish, for she continues to fasten names on to things that don't need them and don't come when they are called by them, which is a matter of no consequence to her, as she is such a numskull anyway; so she got a lot of them out and brought them in last night and put them in my bed to keep warm, but I have noticed them now and then all day, and I don't see that they are any happier there than they were before, only quieter. When night comes I shall throw them out-doors. I will not sleep with them again, for I find them clammy and unpleasant to lie among when a person hasn't anything on." Isn't that the funniest thing ever?
Twain writes about the selfishness and laziness of men and how we like to control women when they are doing things out of kindness, "She will be useful. I will superintend."
In Extracts from the Diary of Eve, Twain mocks the talkative nature of women, "When I found it could talk I felt a new interest in it, for I love to talk; I talk, all day, and in my sleep, too, and I am very interesting, but if I had another to talk to I could be twice as interesting, and would never stop, if desired." I don't understand where Twain was going by constantly implying that men are dumber than women or that women learn quicker than men but after Eve talks just hours after being created, Adam couldn't further more, he writes about the possessive nature of women too when Eve takes over Adam's house, naming the animals, places etc. Also, he writes on how women tend to lie to men so that they don't feel insecure,"...I study to be useful to him to him in every way I can, so as to increase his regard. During the last day or two I have taken all the work of naming things off his hands, and this has been a great relief to him, for he has no gift in that line, and is evidently very grateful. He can't think of a rational name to save him, but I do not let him see that I am aware of his defect. Whenever a new creature comes along I name it before he has time to expose himself by an awkward silence. In this way I have saved him many embarrassments."
I love how Twain uses his intelligence and wit. I don't know how I've wasted my time reading things by local writers before Twain.
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