Hank the Celebrity

Throughout Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court it has been difficult to decipher the motives behind the actions of the story’s main character, Hank. Although he has vastly improved the lives of the citizens in Arthur’s kingdom, he takes advantage of their naiveté in order to gain a celebrity status. He often seems more focused on pleasing the crowd with his flashy displays than improving the kingdom. For example, Hank easily fixes the well, but is dissatisfies because it does not require an impressive show. Despite its simplicity, he waits for a large crowd to form so that he can set off fireworks to impress the citizens. He loves being a spectacle and being admired by everyone in the kingdom. However, with every advancement he introduces he maintains his superiority by failing to educate the people. Hank takes advantage of their naiveté by claiming that everything he does is magic instead of trying to explain the mechanics. In doing so, he hinders the kingdom by making them perpetually reliant on his knowledge instead of being able to do things for themselves. If Hank does not inform the people as to how to build and fix things for themselves they will fall back into the cycle of being dependent on the monarchy as soon as Hank leaves. Therefore his time spent there would ultimately be useless. By failing to educate the citizens Hank is also comparable to the monarchy and the church, which he was originally fighting against. I wonder if, by the end of the book, Hank will realize this mistake and stop using his knowledge for flashy shows and celebrity status.

Social Discrepancies Between Centuries

Throughout different eras and time periods major cultural and social trends are established which influence the mannerisms of the inhabitants of the time. In Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court these discrepancies are clearly present when an industrialized, nineteenth century Yankee finds himself in King Arthur’s court. The Yankee’s tendencies are quite surprising, as he plans to manipulate the kingdom due to his advanced intelligence. He believes this dubs him superior to the rest of the citizens. His industrialized lifestyle has engrained in him the need to conquer others in order to be successful. Immediately he begins plotting and planning the ways in which he can save himself from being executed while manipulating the people in hopes of one day becoming the ruler. This position is not a far cry from his original nineteenth century position as an arms factory superintendant. The Yankee does not even regard the citizens as people as he often refers to them as savages or animals. The Yankee’s focus is primarily on himself and what he can acquire from this opportunity. The factory working, industrialized era in which he once lived instilled in its citizens the importance of getting ahead and desensitized them to the needs of others. The citizens of the sixth century, however, are vastly different than the Yankee. Being under the rule of a monarch has caused them to lose themselves and become mere stepping stones for the advancement of the king. The time in which they live has taught them not to question and not to stand up for themselves. The boy who befriends the Yankee is evidence of this because, while he may not be the most intelligent person, he practically renders himself a servant in order to accommodate the Yankee and avoid his wrath. The citizens’ acceptance of everything outlandish wizards like Merlin claim to be true is also a testament to the ways which they are scared into obedience. Because of these cultural differences, the Yankee is presented with a perfect opportunity to manipulate and take over the kingdom.

Black Metropolis

“They hate him for revealing the shaky, class foundations of their society, for reminding them of their sundered consciousness, for flaunting their hypocrisy, for sneering at their hesitations, for manipulating their racial hatreds to a degree that they had never dared.”(page xxiv). According to Richard Wright’s Black Metropolis, America’s attitudes and actions toward “Negroes” in post slavery times much resembled Hitler and his Nazi regime during World War II. Wright intensifies his presentation of the problem in America by frequently cataloging the feelings and plights of the African Americans. The piece has an unmistakable tone of dissent throughout its entirety and Wright’s view point is made very clear. However his purpose of bringing attention to the mistreatment of African Americans becomes slightly overshadowed by the end of the piece due to his criticism of the white citizens. Instead of focusing on the hardships of black citizens, Wright begins to waiver toward the end of the passage. The focus becomes shifted to blaming and generalizing white Americans and even to comparing them to Hitler. While there is no doubt in my mind that a vast majority of white Americans severely mistreated blacks, this shift ultimately detracts from the original point. The beginning of the piece translates Wright’s feelings much more effectively due to his intense descriptions. This stirring of emotion holds much more weight with the reader than the end of the passage which seems to digress and lose its effectiveness in some parts. The approach of pulling the reader into the heart of the problem is much more telling than involving him in an endless cycle of blame.