The Yankee and the "Texan"
Hey Folks,
If you have been following along with the periodic postings from Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, you may have been struck, as I was, with its eerie and sad similarity to our own, present circumstances.
To be perfectly honest, I was taken by surprise in this regard. I knew from earlier readings that the story contained many biting insights into the continuing human condition – that is why I chose to post it - but I was blind-sided by the larger statement exploding before my eyes and in my heart as everything collapses in the last two chapters.
The comparison is chilling.
The Americas of the 19th and 21st centuries have so much to offer the backward, superstitious peoples of the world, and – at least to some extent on some level – both had good intentions. However, in the novel and in the reality of our lives, the road to hell is paved with those “good” intentions
The disparity between the science, technology, and power of the Yankee, on the one hand, and the superstition, broadswords and pikes of the knights, on the other, suggests the technological disparity between the “one remaining” super-power’s death-dealing arsenal and the terrorists’ tinker-toy devices.
The Yankee’s naïve faith in his ability to establish a republic in Arthur’s England, the Bush administration childish faith in its ability to establish “democracy” in the Middle East; the willingness of both to use force to achieve their ends; the willingness of both to kill - and to kill as many as is required; the egotistical pride of the Yankee and the Neo-cons, and their refusal or failure to severely examine their own motives; the perversion of the good they could offer, turned to deadly ends; all this and more thunder through the caverns of irony and echo back again.
According to literary critics, Twain originally intended to have fun with his Arthurian adventure, and we can see that in the story, but the reality of his characters inevitably turned a utopian dream into a nightmare. Likewise, the happy and democratic utopia the Neo-cons and Bush believed they could so easily and quickly bring into being has become a Frankenstein’s monster feeding on its master.
In both cases as the bodies pile higher and higher, victory is declared – mission accomplished. In the novel, though, a point is reached when reality can no longer be denied. As Clarence says in the end, “We were in a trap, you see – a trap of our own making.” They had gotten themselves into a situation from which they could not escape; the diseased corpses of their victims would kill them if they stayed, and the living enemies remaining would destroy them if they left. In the end, all was lost.
We are not quite there yet, but – the Bush rhetoric notwithstanding – we are close. The bodies pile higher – ours and theirs – the declaration of “mission accomplished” rings hollow, and louder with each passing day. The optimistic predictions of happy people celebrating their liberation and showering our troops with candy and flowers seem demented now. The administration’s Tom Sawyer / Madison Avenue marketing productions sold Americans but not Iraqis; and contrary to the Whitehouse’s preference, the reality of the situation is not controlled by imperial edicts.
Just as the Yankee failed to think his scheme all the way through; and, thus, ends up without an “exit strategy”; the Bush regime has placed our nation in a deadly war which – we are told – could last a generation. Likewise, even if we leave sooner, we will pay a dear price. As with the Yankee’s fifty-two boys, our utopian scheme has created, encouraged, and increased the numbers of so many enemies (as well as demonstrating to them the ACTUAL power of the “one remaining superpower”) that the likelihood of financial, technological, and terrorist animosity and belligerence is terribly multiplied.
Worst of all, as we watch the Yankee in his death throes, we realize that he has lost all the things he loved and treasured in life: peace, love, and peace of mind; his wife, and child – lost! Gone! He dies dodging the nightmare he himself has conjured.
For our part, the utopian schemers in Washington have destroyed or degraded so much that America has always claimed to treasure. The military industrial complex is enriched while the middle class is being decimated and the working class impoverished. We have, like Hitler, embraced "preemptive war." The Geneva Convention is declared “quaint” and “outdated.” The Constitution is described by the President as “just a piece of paper.” Prejudice, fear, and hatred are valued political tools. Voter rolls and electronic machines are manipulated and various “difficulties” manufactured to thwart honest elections. All this and more.
Well, the Yankee had one benefit that is denied to a nation: he escaped to death and got free of the nightmare. The nation will carry on, stuck with what George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Kkkarl Rove, and the Neo-cons, et al have wrought.
- Uke Man
p.s. Soon I will compile the entire Yankee postings into one posting for anyone who missed out or would like to read them all consecuatively..
If you have been following along with the periodic postings from Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, you may have been struck, as I was, with its eerie and sad similarity to our own, present circumstances.
To be perfectly honest, I was taken by surprise in this regard. I knew from earlier readings that the story contained many biting insights into the continuing human condition – that is why I chose to post it - but I was blind-sided by the larger statement exploding before my eyes and in my heart as everything collapses in the last two chapters.
The comparison is chilling.
The Americas of the 19th and 21st centuries have so much to offer the backward, superstitious peoples of the world, and – at least to some extent on some level – both had good intentions. However, in the novel and in the reality of our lives, the road to hell is paved with those “good” intentions
The disparity between the science, technology, and power of the Yankee, on the one hand, and the superstition, broadswords and pikes of the knights, on the other, suggests the technological disparity between the “one remaining” super-power’s death-dealing arsenal and the terrorists’ tinker-toy devices.
The Yankee’s naïve faith in his ability to establish a republic in Arthur’s England, the Bush administration childish faith in its ability to establish “democracy” in the Middle East; the willingness of both to use force to achieve their ends; the willingness of both to kill - and to kill as many as is required; the egotistical pride of the Yankee and the Neo-cons, and their refusal or failure to severely examine their own motives; the perversion of the good they could offer, turned to deadly ends; all this and more thunder through the caverns of irony and echo back again.
According to literary critics, Twain originally intended to have fun with his Arthurian adventure, and we can see that in the story, but the reality of his characters inevitably turned a utopian dream into a nightmare. Likewise, the happy and democratic utopia the Neo-cons and Bush believed they could so easily and quickly bring into being has become a Frankenstein’s monster feeding on its master.
In both cases as the bodies pile higher and higher, victory is declared – mission accomplished. In the novel, though, a point is reached when reality can no longer be denied. As Clarence says in the end, “We were in a trap, you see – a trap of our own making.” They had gotten themselves into a situation from which they could not escape; the diseased corpses of their victims would kill them if they stayed, and the living enemies remaining would destroy them if they left. In the end, all was lost.
We are not quite there yet, but – the Bush rhetoric notwithstanding – we are close. The bodies pile higher – ours and theirs – the declaration of “mission accomplished” rings hollow, and louder with each passing day. The optimistic predictions of happy people celebrating their liberation and showering our troops with candy and flowers seem demented now. The administration’s Tom Sawyer / Madison Avenue marketing productions sold Americans but not Iraqis; and contrary to the Whitehouse’s preference, the reality of the situation is not controlled by imperial edicts.
Just as the Yankee failed to think his scheme all the way through; and, thus, ends up without an “exit strategy”; the Bush regime has placed our nation in a deadly war which – we are told – could last a generation. Likewise, even if we leave sooner, we will pay a dear price. As with the Yankee’s fifty-two boys, our utopian scheme has created, encouraged, and increased the numbers of so many enemies (as well as demonstrating to them the ACTUAL power of the “one remaining superpower”) that the likelihood of financial, technological, and terrorist animosity and belligerence is terribly multiplied.
Worst of all, as we watch the Yankee in his death throes, we realize that he has lost all the things he loved and treasured in life: peace, love, and peace of mind; his wife, and child – lost! Gone! He dies dodging the nightmare he himself has conjured.
For our part, the utopian schemers in Washington have destroyed or degraded so much that America has always claimed to treasure. The military industrial complex is enriched while the middle class is being decimated and the working class impoverished. We have, like Hitler, embraced "preemptive war." The Geneva Convention is declared “quaint” and “outdated.” The Constitution is described by the President as “just a piece of paper.” Prejudice, fear, and hatred are valued political tools. Voter rolls and electronic machines are manipulated and various “difficulties” manufactured to thwart honest elections. All this and more.
Well, the Yankee had one benefit that is denied to a nation: he escaped to death and got free of the nightmare. The nation will carry on, stuck with what George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Kkkarl Rove, and the Neo-cons, et al have wrought.
- Uke Man
p.s. Soon I will compile the entire Yankee postings into one posting for anyone who missed out or would like to read them all consecuatively..
1 Comments:
Hi Tom,
Yes, it is chilling. Mark Twain was a brilliant man and so are you. Thanks for all the work you've done to provide us with the series and your insightful interpretation. Sondra
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