CIW'TBR 'V'II I
CONCLUSION
Oh , this is the j oy of a r ose .
That it blows ,
And goes.
- -Willa Cather , In Rose-Time
In view
of
treatment
the
Mark Twain ' s short
of
themes and
techniques or
stories in the preceding chapter s , it i s
ea s7 t o uonclude that short s t or y was the most congruous
form for Mark
summed
Twain .
up below in
The main points or the
order
study
ar e being
to c or r oborate the point or
c onclusion.
Mark Twain ' s favourite branch of literature i s the
humor ous oral s t or y.
it s oral character .
c ongenial
a ct ivity
for i�rk
that
Even in i t s written shape , i t reta ins
This type of story
proved
t o be very
Twain because it was in t his field or
he co uld apply t o the maximum extent
critical theor ies .
his
own
He stressed the fact that the humorous
st ory has its own nub which i s latent and evasive.
In i t s
tendency t owar d s self-conscious use or language , alle gor y,
dramat ic form and its frequent reportorial t one, the s hort
s t or y offered Twain , a field , much in conformity with his
beliefs about fiction.
The short story was a form t o which
Twain could devot e himself with ease, because it responded
·- -
-
273
0�
spontaneous ly to his ....- inherently
The short s t or y
artistic
enab led
capacit ies t o
intr odu ce d
c on s c i ous
arti stic sel f .
Twain to expl oit his native
d o things , which, a s a writer he
into his art .
It
als o
empha si ze
allowed him t o
the dramatic con frontation and to concentrate upon a l imi te d
The shor t s t or y
ca s t or charac t er s .
oppor tunity to work
times ,
almost
pr o v ided Twain
out the scenes which
c ons i s t ,
Twain
c ould avoid hi s
weake st area a s a wri ter of f i c t i on ; i t a l lowed
e s cape the demands of
short stories plot s
extended
and complex
him
to
In t he
plo t ting .
could b e lurkin g , r elatively l imi ted and
well defined in scope.
the short
In a very real sense
placed unconsci ous r estraint s on Twain
the
many
ent ire ly or dial ogue.
It was in his short s t or i es that
lessened
an
which
s t or y
c onsiderably
c ha nc e s of his dri fting int o a direct ion whic h
generally prove disastrous tor the compactnes s of art .
Mark Twa in • s short
possible for
him t o
st or ies
on
varied themes
o ffer a g o od many deduc t i ons from his
s tudy of human natur e ; and his s tyle
s hows
that he has noted
the added pl easur e it gives t o an audi enc e t o
mishaps and follies of the speaker .
himself the her o of
hi s
in other s he turns t o
laugh
at the
He seldom ta ils t o make
thri l li ng , impossible adventures ,
laugh
and gracious s i mplicity •
. .
made i t
against himsel f with natural ease
2'74
It has been said that his humour is s ometiaes hard and
unsympatheti c, that a cynical strain is found in it .
But
even in the mos t sat irical moment s, Mark Twain maintains
good faith.
Xa t y leary, the family maid wh o was more than
thirt \' year s in Twain ' s home r emember ed , " I have never
1
Twain ' s idea wa s that there
kno1o111 a happier household . "
i s a moral les s on in ever y tresspass, in ever y vi olat ion.
Hi s good-humoured i dea wa s t o let all the p e ople commit all
the sins they c ould , and then everybody having suffered at
the bitter school of experienc e would become moral.
Thi s i s
the reason that he gives humour tinged with pathos or
melancholy.
His s ole aim i s t o make a per s on happy with
the instinct of a master and he often leads us to the verge
or tears to make the anti-climax more e ffective.
The short s tory is also
a
congenial form for Twain
because of its felicity t owards allegor y , satire and apocalyp se
Its limited range made it an effective vehicle for Twain ' s
later philosophical aphori sms .
There i s a n undefinable charm in the uns ophisticated
deliberatenes s of hi s mature s tori es .
They chain the
attention and demand applau s e and appreciat i on which would
not be conceded t o rhetorical artifice only .
His way or
narration is singularly quaint and entertaining.
When Mark
Twain reached hi s fiftieth birthday , Andrew Lang addressed
a p oem t o him, the closing stanza of which r eads :
•
275
Spirit or mirth , whose chime or b e l l a
Shakes o n h i s ca� 1 and sweetly avel l a
Acr o s s the Atlan t i c main,
Grant that ''lar k ' s lau ght er never die ,
1hat men , through many a centur y ,
May chuckle O 'er Mark Twain : 2
Poster i ty has b e P n saying hearty ' Amen ' t o thi s prayer .
I t s j ud gment ha s proved that Mark Twain s tands among the
l i t erar.v great ,
The oral story established b y Twain
/
and
tound
i t s way into li t E>ratur e, i s being r evived to-day in the f orm
of radio and t e l evi s i on s t or y ,
Babatunde Agiri says that
the oral traditi ons have bec ome so widespread that "one i s
tempted to describe it a s a movement, " 3
The ball set in
motion by Twain ha s now run a circuit and stands on
fascinating thre shholds ,
The short story , a s a literary
genre has proved t o be mos t agreeable to
Twain ' s natur e ,
tastes and outl ook and ha s als o enabled American short story
t o find its own voice in the twenti eth century.
REP'ER!liCBS
1ct,
National
2
Th e Rev, Anthony
by Divers Hands , n . s . 1 4
, p . 110,
Essa)"
n.d,
Noel Cfr ove 1 "'''ar k l wain I Mirr or o t America , "
Geographic , 148 ( September 1975) 1 380•37 .
Cited by
3
�Twain , " in
Deane , " •..,.rk
(London s O:xtord Uruv. Pre s s ,
Baba tunde Agiri 1 ''Oral Traditions and the Study
Africa , '' Amerigan 3tuu.es International , 17
(Winter 1979) 1 67-71 .
u. s . and
ot