Corn-pone Opinions - Mark Twain Analysis

Corn-pone Opinions - Mark Twain Analysis

“Fads are the kiss of death. When the fad goes away, you go with it.” - Conway Twitty

Author Mark Twain, who is well known for various writings such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Prince and the Pauper, exhibited anecdotes in Corn-Pone Opinions to share a story that stayed in his memory, even into old age. He begins his tale by telling his audience about a friend that he had at the age of fifteen. His friend was an intelligent black slave that worked near his Missourian home. Twain spoke of how his friend would give sermons outside of his window while he was doing his master’s work. Although his mother did not want him to listen to the man, Twain explains that he believed that the man was “one of the greatest orators in the United States.” One of the man's teachings stuck with him for fifty years; “You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I’ll tell you what his ‘pinions is.”

This essay’s argument revolves around the thought of public opinion. Twain uses allusion when he mentions the hoop skirt. He uses this as an example of public opinion. He explains that at first everyone thinks the hoop skirt is an outrageous and insane idea, but then when one person starts to wear the hoop skirt, others start to adopt the hoop skirt even though they thought it was a crazy idea. Twain also uses hypophora to get his audience to understand that our society is made up of people that follow, rather than lead. “Why? Was the resentment reasoned out? Was the acceptance reasoned out? No.”(Twain 2.)

I strongly believe that Mark Twain achieved his goal. He led his audience in the 1900s to think about the way humans naturally conform and even makes audiences today realize that humans conform to fads and trends easily, even if the trends were thought to be outrageous.