A Review of The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today’ by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley
In 1873, Mark twain and Charles Dudley Warner wrote the novel ‘The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today’. This is said to be not one of Twain’s well-known work but it has appeared almost 100 times in different editions since publication in 1873. There are two reasons as to why this book is remarkable:
- This novel is the only one that Twain wrote in collaboration with the another writer
- The title is said to have become synonymous quickly with materialism, corruption and graft in the public life.
History:
Charles Dudley Warner was a close friend of Mark Twain, who himself was an editor and writer. He was the neighbor of Mark Twain in Connecticut. History says that Warner and Twain’s wife challenged their husbands to come up with a novel which should be better than what they read mostly. Accepting the challenge, Twain was known to write the first 11 chapters while rest of the 12 chapters were completed by Warner. The complete novel was written between 1873 February and April.
Contemporary Critics doesn’t consider this collaboration much of a success as they say that the stories written by both were independent and so didn’t blend well. Even in 1874, it received bad reviews.
Summary:
The theme of novel is based on the greed of getting rich using the land speculation which pervades in the society.
The novel revolves around a Tennessee Family who is in constant effort to gain wealth by getting the right time for selling 75,000 acres of land. This unimproved land was acquired by Si Hawkins, their patriarch. Going through a lot of adventures, the family is unsuccessful in selling the land and their patriarch dies. For the rest of story the focus is on an adopted daughter, Laura, by Hawkins who is very beautiful. Laura then goes to become a lobbyist in Washington. Using a senator’s help, she is able to enter a society and tries to persuade the congressman to convince federal government to buy the land.
Parallel to this story, a story by Warner runs which is related to upper-class men, Henry Brierly and Philip sterling. They both are seeking fortunes in the land. Philip and Henry both have different natures. Henry is a salesman and natural lobbyist while Philip is plodding fellow but good natured. Philip is in love with Ruth, a doctor. Another character that emerges is Beriah Sellers.
Story mainly takes place in Washington DC and gives the insight of how the governing class is greedy as well as corrupted.
At the end of the story, Laura is unable to acquire enough votes for passing a bill for the federal government to buy the land of Hawkins. She kills her lover and dies disheartened and broke after failing at a lecturing career. On the other hand Philip and Ruth are together now and Philip finds coal with the help of his engineering skills on a land which is purchase by the father of Ruth. Sellers and Henry is presumed to live gaily using their intelligence while others to pay up their bills.
This book is said to be not match the theme of modern ‘gilded age’ for the reason that maybe it was written in the very beginning. Nowadays, modern ‘gilded age’ is based on corporations, industrialization etc
Questions and Answers
Article Tags:
the gilded age
,gilded age
,a tale of today
,tale of today
,mark twain
,the mark twain
,mark twain book
,mark twain stories
,mark twain literature
,mark twain story
,mark twain summary
,works mark twain
A term paper can be defined a piece of writing that reflects information drawn from different information sources on a specific topic or subject.
If you are one of those females who really like to study connection guides during your lunchtime time, at the seaside, or while holding out in traffic or a film line, then you may be probably a connection junky.
It is incumbent on all Americans now as we wind down into the election cycle to stand up for ideals, to improve the lot of others, and to strike out against injustice to send forth ripples of hope to sweep down the mighty walls that resist and oppress us. Peaceful Protests is a book that delivers hope to Americans and all of the world to help them sweep away injustice peacefully. Download your copy today at the iTunes store.
Pineapple Sam has left the laid back days of surf and sand in Hawaii for the war riddled jungle of South Vietnam. His days now consist of sitting in a muddy, humid foxhole waiting for the enemy to launch out from behind the trees or squatting in a ditch waiting to ambush the Viet Cong. Only daydreams of life and love on the beach are able to offer comfort among the blood and destruction of war. Delve into this nightmare from a first-hand account.
Petrotex Global HSE Solution takes an active role in managing the whole HSE aspect of a project.Our successful training programs provide businesses with a wide range of consultancy services.safety management in construction,construction companies in india,project management companies in india,safety courses in india
Many people are wondering, if we want to install solar energy system, what do we need to consider? What are the factors that can impact the performance of a photovoltaic system? There are a lot of people spent thousands of money to install the system in their residences, however it ends up the system does not produce enough energy as expected to power up the whole house.
Mark Twain once said, "To believe yourself to be brave is to be brave; it is the only essential thing." Twain is famous for "Tom Sawyer," "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," and other books, along with essays, critical work, and more. Twain’s writing is also known for realism of place and language, memorable characters, climax and conclusion. Twain have strong hold over Fiction, non-Fiction .He also wrote couple of poetry as well. Some of his famous books are as follows.
In 1876, Mark Twain published “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”. It was such a success that he decided thereby to write a sequel. The sequel, which was much more difficult than the original was published seven years later in 1883 and was titled as “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”.
Twain made a lot of money through his writings. Some of his famous workings were The Gilded Age, Life on the Mississippi, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Tramp Abroad, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and Huckleberry Finn. A large portion of this money was lost due to bad investments. These investments were mainly due to investments in new technologies especially the Paige typesetting machine.
Discuss this Article
