Mark Twain의 社會批評 = MARK TWAIN'S SOCIAL CRITICISM

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

It is my thesis that Mark Twain's social criticism was firmly based on his Americanism, not on such ideas as are proposed by Maxwell Geismar, who seems to suggest that Mark Twain declare the fall of his country. I think this is too much. Twain's social criticism was influnced, first of all, by his intense Americanism, the love of his country. In fact, Twain's strong Americanism showed itself in many ways; at times, he became quite jingoistic. His bitter and serious criticism of the American civilization is nothing but his explosion of the conflict between appearance and reality of democracy.
Although Twain could find nobility and goodness in individuals, he regarded the human race collectively as stupid, mean, and despicable. He hated its sham and pretense, its hypocrisy, its vain pretensions, its cruelty and injustice, its lust for killing, its moral cowardice, its peversity. Twain's "damned human race" attitude was most pronounced in his later years when he was beset by a number of personal tradegies, traces of it can be found in his early sketches. These traces have been collected in this paper.
Unedrneath the sparkling humor lay important moral and social criticism. It was unfortunate that he was regarded as a professional "funny man" without no particular literary ability except his unique sense of humor. His masterful use of language, the sharpness of descriptive detail, his vivid portrayal of character in his writings are to be emphasized; yet, his role as moralist and social critic should be pushed to the front, since his writings present much incisive comment on human society.
Twain's acceptance of the philosophy of mechanistic determinism was never a complete one, and as a result there always remained a strange dichotomy in his view of man. On the other hand, his heart was filled with pity and sympathy for doomed mankind, the victim of forces beyond his control. He also raged at the human race, thus tacitly admitting a glimmer of hope for human betterment. The ambivalence of Mark Twain's view of man is reflected in his writings. But at heart Twain was also a romantic idealist and he believed that man's ideal could be trained upwards within the limits prescribed by his make. It was this glimpse of hope for mankind which prodded him into his role as moralist and social satirist.
In this paper, Twain's Americanism, his ideal of democracy, his ideas for individual and society and his strong hatred for monarchy hove been investigated. He is a sharp and critical examiner of life, and his writings abound in incisive comment; however, he seldom has the patience to get to the core of the matter. This is his weakness as a social critic. As a result he frequently jumps to conclusions before he has thoroughly explored all aspects of the problem. His hasty judgements frequently lead him to hold contradictory views simultaniously. Thus, for instance, he repeatedly states his determinstic concept of man as a machine, but at the same time he reiterates his belief in the possibility of fostering higher ideas through training. In conclusion, I would like to add that Mark Twain's moral and social criticism suffers from his hit-and-run technique. This defect in him gives the impression of superficial thinking, even though he is a more profound thinker than most people realize.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ.머리말
• Ⅱ.미국 정신
• Ⅲ.미국 민주주의
• Ⅳ.개인과 사회
• Ⅴ.맺는 말