Hi all,
Please post a question or area of interest for discussion on 6/4 here by Wednesday @ 6 pm. We'll be covering the rest of Twain's No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger and Poe's "Mellonata Tauta." Feel free to pose questions/areas of inquiry around one or several of the texts, in relation to larger class themes, or in response to each others' posts.
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So what was the point of building up the magician's reputation?
ReplyDeleteI really like this book, I think it's fun to read. I'm still pretty confused about whats up with 44. I finished it, and it still makes to sense. is he human? robot? alien? dream? what the heck?
ReplyDeleteI find Twain's interest in writing southern characters into his books to be extremely interesting, and his inclusion of an African American southerner as 44's guise towards the book's end is no exception. I wonder why Twain saw fit to make such inclusions; was it because he was adding things that he knew very well or was it because the public responded to Twain's associations with the South in quantity of books he sold?
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteSo I was just wondering how everyone felt about the end of the book in relation to the rest of the text. Did it clear anything up for anyone else? I felt like it left us with a lot of unanswered questions, but at the same time a lot to ponder about. It also made me wonder about Twain's religious convictions, does anyone have any information about that?
-Holland
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI see No. 44 as a form of new technology. I also see the print-shop workers as religious fanatics trying to drive the new and innovative technology away, and amidst their striking, they forget their true purpose (finishing the Bible project). Does anyone else feel this way or is this too outlandish?
-Laura Weiss
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteIn relation to No. 44 The Mysterious Stranger, I was wondering if the names of the characters symbolize anything or tells us (the reader) something about the characters?
For example, Adolph means "wolf" and it's from German origin, August means "Revered, Exalted" and its from German origin, Katrina means "pure" and its from German origin too, what do the meanings of these names tell the reader? if anything.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI would like it if we could talk more about the theme of the duplicate within No.44. It comes up so often within the book and I was having trouble keeping track of all the different things that the duplicates came to personify for the waking self.
I agree with nat.pinto and think it would be interesting to discuss the origins of the characters names and their meanings.
ReplyDeleteAlso, who is 44 and could he be a figment of imagination? How does he subtly control the other characters throughout the book, and what examples of his manipulation can people see?
"No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger" has a lot of strong references to the theme of duplicates but it also seems to be a criticism of religion and religious fervor. Which do you think it represents more and what best represents each?
ReplyDelete-Alexis Robles
i was wondering whats up people thought about the so-called existential ending. i mean, yeah it does seem to end on a "it doesn't even matter" note, but then what was the point of setting up all the characters so well. what is the purpose of self undermining? does it have something to do with the duplicates motif?
ReplyDelete-D.I.S
I thought Mark Twain was consistently satirical and ironic in his writing throughout the novel, but I was wondering if anyone thought that the ending changed the genre of the book and made it darker? more meaningful? less meaningful?
ReplyDelete-Esther
I was wondering what the significance of 44 and the narrator being young boys is. Professor brought it up in lecture but I do not think there was a satisfactory answer.
ReplyDelete