| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立清華大學 === 外國語文學系 === 102 === Abstract
Many scholars believe that Mark Twain is a well-known humorist; however, according to my observations, his writing style changes throughout the course of his career. If one is to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,” and “The $30,000 Bequest” in chronological sequence, it becomes apparent that Twain’s views change from optimism, to doubt, and finally to pessimism. This thesis will focus on Twain’s major works to discuss the novelist’s observations regarding human nature by drawing on Twain’s autobiography to support my argument. The novelist’s observations of human nature include a double meaning, namely temperament and conscience, which he writes about in his major works.
My thesis begins with an introduction to my observations about Twain. In the second chapter, I examine the novelist’s early work, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, to illustrate his optimism towards human nature; I also use Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments to strengthen my argument. In this novel, readers can see clearly that Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn represent all that is good about human nature. Both characters possess many good qualities, for example, sympathy and reason. Moreover, the reader can also ascertain the narrator’s confidence in social justice, as a ruffian must face his deserved punishment in the end. It is worth noting that Huck and the other villagers have a noble conscience and have the ability to distinguish between good and evil. In the third chapter of my thesis I will point out, however, what Huck learns about goodness is challenged in the The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a novel written during the middle stage of the author’s career; thus, this chapter will focus on this novel as a means of exploring Twain’s doubts about the goodness of human nature. It is undeniable that Huck leads readers to think about the issue of slavery. In this novel, Huck helps Jim to escape several times; however, each time after he does so, he always feels confused about his action. One can also see some contrasts between the white and black characters, such as the two deceivers (the duke and king) and Jim, as well as Huck’s Pap and Jim. These contrasts illustrate Twain’s doubts about human nature. It should also be noted that the novelist does not continue to write from an objective third person point of view; conversely, he adopts a brutal and straightforward writing style during the later stages of his writing career; hence, the fourth chapter of this thesis will focus on “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” and “The $30,000 Bequest,” as a means of examining Twain’s pessimistic view on human nature. In these short stories, one can see people’s ugly flaws, such as greediness, vanity, and cunningness. In view of these flaws, it is quite likely that the novelist began to feel pessimistic about human nature in the last part of his life. In other words, later in his writing career Twain began to feel pessimistic about human nature and came to believe that humans are evil, riddled with flaws, and lack the ability to distinguish between good and evil.
To conclude, I hope my thesis can assist scholars to see how Twain’s views on human nature changed from optimism, to doubt, and finally to pessimism in his writing career, which may contribute to a better understanding of Twain’s works.
Key words: Mark Twain, optimism, doubt, pessimism, human nature.
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