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Summary: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Review: I thought that A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court By Mark Twain touched a lot of important aspects that our culture and society faces today while also satirized the times of Camelot. It also contrasted and showed the differences between the medieval times and the nineteenth century.
But unfortunately I found this book hard to follow and had trouble getting into it. I felt that Twain often drug on certain topics or ideas. I think that I would have found this book to be a lot more interesting if Twain would have been more forward and to the point. I guess this book just wasn't for me, but others might find it interesting.
But I do have a lot of respect for Twain for writing this. I'm sure that this book caused a lot of controversy since he wrote about a lot of sensitive topics, especially earlier in his time.
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Summary: Good Book
Review: I really liked this book very much. I never have had my mind go so crazy before. It was like having a movie play in your head and it was great. I would recomend this to anyone who loves to read Mark Twain!
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Summary: BEWARE -- Print in this edition is terribly small!
Review: I was excited to get a copy of A Connecticut Yankee, since I hadn't read it in twenty-five years, but to my dismay, the print is eye-strainingly small. The story is just as classic as always, and to it I give a galaxy of stars. However, to the knuckleheads at Bantam, I have only condemnation. The print is as small as I have ever seen. My thirty-something eyes are still strong, and are aided by glasses, but I find that after a half an hour, I must put the book down. Spend a little more money, and do yourself a favor, and buy a different version of this wonderful book.
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Summary: English teacher's opinion
Review: Twain provides a philosophical proposition within an interesting plot. My students did not reach the philosophical level and became caught up with the story line. Both levels are accessible and provides viable means of studing the work. It depends on the view of the reader and it is perfectly acceptable to read just for the story.
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Summary: Truly biting satire
Review: Although this book's concept is no longer novel - one may now even call it cliché - its "time travel" aspect was - at least in the sense that it is used in this novel - a fairly new concept in fiction at the time Twain wrote it. No less a science fiction authority than Robert A. Heinlein even goes so far to say that Twain "invented" the time travel story. Now, this is certainly stretching the truth a bit, but one can see how Heinlein was heavily influenced by Twain from reading this book. This novel's time travel aspect is not used for science fiction; no, it is a purely satirical vehicle. Twain transplants an "aw shucks", no nonsense American smack dab in the middle of The Dark Ages. By having his character attempt to transplant American ideas of technology, government, and morals into this staunch, backward (anyway, by our standards) British society, Twain is clearly forging an attack upon monarchy - which he once called "surely the grotesquest swindle ever invented by man." That said, we see from the devastating ending (which surely no one who has read this book wasn't surprised by) that the book is as much a satire on American arrogance and idealism as it is on the British. One may not always agree with Twain's politics, but one must at least respect them. He also demonstrates in this book the oft-forgotten truism that one's tribal customs are not the laws of nature - and what business do we have trying to force ours upon anyone else's? A devastating satire all around.
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Summary: Amusement vs Learning
Review: This book was at first a huge disappointment. I went into to it expecting a humorous, light-hearted Mark Twain book. However, this was far from what I got. The story begins as a narration through the eyes of Hank Morgan, a 19th century factory manager. The plot starts when Hank is knocked out by an employee and wakes up in the 6th century. After dropping the idea that he is in a dream, he tries to make the best of the situation by improving the lives of the people. Using the knowledge he has of the future and his formal education, he wins the social rank known as "The Boss" and begins to educate a small group of people. His goal is to set up a republic and to destroy the overruling church officials. As time progresses, he sees the life of the people through their position (sees the life of a knight as a knight) and his desire to create an equal, yet effecient civilization increases. He tries to introduce the new ideas of his present time to them and the effect is something to read about. In the end, he learns that trying to change the atitude and customs of a large group of people is not as easy as he at first thought. The Yankee observed some very dark and distrubing facts about people. The book was not the most entertaining book, but the insight to humanity makes it well worth the read.
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Summary: Revolution by The Boss
Review: You might wonder what prompted Mark Twain to sidle from "straight" fiction into the realm of outright fantasy. Twain transports a Connecticut shop foreman twelve centuries into the past [and 5 000 kilometres!] to Camelot and Arthur's court. Initially confused and dismayed, Hank Morgan's Yankee practicality is quickly aroused and he becomes a major figure among the panopolied knights. With the title of The Boss, his rank equals The King or The Pope with its uniqueness. His elevation doesn't distract him from a more profound impulse, however. Hank's Yankee roots and wide experience evoke an ambition - nothing less than revolution. He wants to sweep away the monarchy and aristocracy and establish an American-style republic in Arthurian Britain. Mark Twain's scathing criticism of the sham of hereditary monarchy bolstered by an Established Church makes this among his choicest writings. He resents the condition of a Church which "turned a nation of men into a nation of worms." A fervent believer in individual freedom, Twain uses Hank to voice his disdain of Britain's royalty. It's no more than might be expected of a man who boasted of but one ancestor - who sat on the jury that executed Charles I. Hank knows revolutions never succeed when implemented from above. Revolution be achieved only when the individual's attitude changes from meek acceptance to
self assertion. Hank's method reaches people through clandestine schools and factories, publication of a newspaper and establishment of a telephone system. These new forms of manufacture and communication become the foundation by which Hank expects to abolish the ancient, mis-named, chivalric tradition. Does he change the course of history? Twain relocates the roots of American democracy from the heart of the frontier yeoman farmer to the brain of the urban industrial worker. Here the man of wide, practical experience shows how to survive compared to those with a formal education. Hank has a simple ambition - establishment of a republic - but utilizes a broad spectrum of ideas to bring it about. He would gladly replace the Established Church of Rome with his own Presbyterian ideals, but is aware that it would be swapping one evil for another. "Each man should select his own religion, or make one" he contends. Yet, finally, it is this dread force that impairs his desire for change. The final sequence stands as a peer to the biblical Armageddon, Twain wallowing in a frightful bloodletting unseen in any of his other works. Mark Twain contrasts the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution with the centuries of slavery, serfdom, and poverty that killed countless more people than that spasm of excising of aristocracy. What else spurred him to write of human rights with such passion? He had written of slavery before, but this book is especially wrathful in describing the "peculiar institution" eliminated in his homeland but a generation before. He forces the king to experience the slave's condition, a form of degradation he would have all aristocrats endure. Every feature of the human condition is examined in this timeless treasure. He challenges you to follow his gaze, considering whether today's societies, monarchical or not, will endure the scrutiny.
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Summary: It starts off fine enough, but gets gruesome fast....
Review: This book may seem like a perfectly innocent book that you would want your children to read. Mark Twain's a fabulous American author, right? Well, "Connecticut Yankee" starts off innocent enough.... Hank Morgan, a factory owner in 19th century Connecticut is hit over the head with a crowbar by a rowdy employee. He is knocked out, and when he awakes he finds himself with Sir. Kay, one of the knights in King Arthur's Court, who brings him back to Camelot to be executed. The beginning of the book shows off Mark Twain's obvious distaste for 6th century society in Britain, but also has a few of its more humorous moments. We learn that the knights of the round table are nothing more than Vulgar Braggarts, we witness the destruction of Merlin (the yankee's enemy)'s tower, the cruelty of Queen Morgan LeFay, and the antics as Hank and Sandy go on a quest to find several captive princesses (who are nothing more than hogs!)
Hank impresses everyone by institutionalizing modern conveniences back into that era (trains, telephones, guns, newspapers....) Anyway, the book takes a darker turn when King Arthur and Hank travel incognito as peasants and witness the downtrodden and oppressed peoples. One of the more touching moments of the book is when King Arthur carries a dying girl out of a hut to her mother, risking getting infected with smallpox. It gets even darker when Hank murders 10 knights with a pistol, then later when he and a handful of other men kill off 50,000 knights with high-voltage electric fences, land mines, and trenches with sharp spears sticking out on the bottom, only to almost die from the stench of the dead. This book is better for the mature reader because it deals with many issues of society, such as discrimination between social classes, and not accepting other cultures. I definetly wouldn't reccomend this for: SQUEAMISH PEOPLE, PEOPLE WITH LIMITED READING SKILLS, AND PEOPLE WHO LACK MATURITY. Despite all of the defects of this novel, it sure is a classic!!!
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Summary: A historical, hysterical tale of anachronisms
Review: Mark Twain likes protagonists that are cynics, that think outside the lines, question authority, challenge the status quo, and use their ingenuity to outwit their adversaries, making wisecracks all the while. While Tom Sawyer tricks his friends into doing his chores for him and Huck Finn sails against the tides of 19th Century American bigotry, Hank Morgan, the hero of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," rallies against feudalism, idle aristocracy, and a Unified Church. Hank is a 19th Century Hartford blacksmith who receives a blow on the head and wakes up in 6th Century England. He is taken to Camelot, King Arthur's court, and imprisoned, soon to be executed. However, he manages to trick the court into thinking he's a magician by pretending to conjure an eclipse and blowing up the tower of Merlin, the resident court magician. Thus proving his mettle, Hank is given a special post at the court and proceeds to introduce many 19th Century technologies, including firearms, explosives, newspapers, and a telephone network, continually upstaging Merlin in the department of wizardry. While in Camelot, Hank has "traditional" adventures, too. He accompanies a young wench named Alisande ("Sandy") to rescue some princesses from a castle guarded by ogres (a joke with an excellent punchline) and meets Morgan Le Fay, Arthur's wicked sister, on the way. Later, he and Arthur go undercover as peasants to get the lay of the land, which gives Hank opportunities to observe the ignorance of the common folk and the social injustices wrought by the combined tyranny of the church and the nobility. Even if Twain's sense of humor isn't your cup of tea, it's hard to dismiss the urgency and conviction of his social commentary, which this novel does little if anything to disguise. And Twain is smart enough to end the book with these capricious nuggets of irony: Hank's efforts to separate church from state and replace the monarchy with a republic serve as much to destabilize the political climate as save the common folk from oppression, and his technological advancements serve as much to increase wartime killing capacity as raise the standard of living. Civilization advances no faster than the weapons to destroy it.
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Summary: enjoyable also in the 21th century
Review: A classic read, a man from the modern age is displaced in time winding up in Camelot.
Mark Twain makes plenty of fun of chivalry and middle-age wizardry.
The book first appeared in 1889, but it's an entertaining read today. The novel is filled with humor and at times takes an optimistic stance on technology and modern age versus middle age, but there're also some touching moments and more than meets the eye at a first stance. When considered at a deeper level, it can lead the reader to think about ancient times and their real connections to our current society. What was Mark Twain's perception of history, and what are the main influences on this perception? Anyway, it's not compulsory to ask such questions, and the novel is enjoyable from a purely "entertainment" perspective. The book is suited both for kids and adults.
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