Analysis Essay On Mark Twain'S "The Lowest Animal"
Analysis of Mark Twain’s “The Lowest Animal”
Background: This essay was written by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. The successful journalist from Hannibal, Missouri was known for his humor in which was well depicted in this satire. The 7 page essay was published in 1962 by Harper & Row.
Thesis: Mark suggests that man isn’t as important as we are made out to be. He believes that we are all for ourselves for that we are the lowest species on earth. He states, “In all ages the savages of all lands have made the slaughtering of their neighboring brothers and the enslaving of their women and children the common business of their lives” (p 1248).
Reasons: Throughout Twain’s essay he has included his reasons for believing man are the lowest animal. Some of his reasons were: (1) all of the wrong we do in which is apart of society, “Hypocrisy, envy, malice, cruelty, vengefulness, seduction, rape, robbery, swindling, arson, bigamy, adultery, and the oppression and humiliation of the poor and the helpless in all ways have been and sill are more or less common among both the civilized and uncivilized people of the earth” (p 1248) and (2) how we are the only animal that are cruel with knowledge of it, “ Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. It is a trait not that is known to the higher animals” (p 1250).
Evidence: Twain’s argument was backed by tons of persuasive evidence to help plead his case. He used many studies, experiments and several of his own opinions and beliefs to present his case. In one of his studies he says, “I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the “lower animals” (so-called), and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man” (p 1248). Among Twain’s experiments was to teach the “higher animals”, which was dogs, cats, etc., to be friends. He states, “They lived together in peace: even...
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