A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Rating:
Summary: Witty yet serious.
Review: A Connecticut in King Arthur's Court gives the reader a feel for how someone must adapt to a new surrounding they are put into. Mark Twain shows that in the Yankee, as he gets more involved in the community as the novel goes on. The book starts in an upbeat comical mood. Jokes are being thrown, and people are having fun times. Thenn the mood of the book starts to get darker. The flaws of Camelot and the King start to come out. Twain does a great job using detail in the story, setting, and characters. He must have done some research while writing. The beginning of the book will hook you in to keep reading. I couldn't wait for the next adventure or squabble to pop up.

Rating:
Summary: Fun story but suffers from distorted worldview!
Review: A "modern" (late 1800s) man named Hank Morgan, after getting into a fight with a subordinate at his factory and being knocked on the head, is mysteriously transported back to Britain, 19 Jun 528 AD, the heyday of Camelot, King Arthur and the Knights of the Table Round. The book is presented as a kind of diary of his experiences there.

Hank is able to use his modern knowledge to perform feats which awe the locals and their king and is promoted to being the king's right hand man. Hank goes about making various improvements, with an eye toward eventual revolution to free the common people from the oppressive social system. He starts secret "man factories", recruiting those real men (and women) who seem to have an inkling that they can and should break free of domination and live in freedom and independence.

A main thrust of the story is to disabuse the reader of any romantic notions he may be harboring about this era of history. The author clearly portrays the barbarism, filth, injustice, senseless violence, backwardness and brutality of this time and these people, often mocking their ignorance and superstition in the light of our more enlightened ways.

A particular gripe is the humble but ignorant reverence of the common folk for King, Church and nobility. He vents that the terrible violence of the French Revolution pales in comparison to the centuries of depredations imposed on the common people who, in his view, were fully justified in that bloodletting. He rails against the Catholic Church of the day as a chief enemy of the freedom of the common people, encouraging them to remain humble toward authority (however unjust) and comtemplate the higher, God-ordained reasons for their sufferings.

Among my favorite of the host of bit-part characters to make an appearance in the book is Sir Ossaise of Surluse, "a brave knight and of considerable celebrity" resulting from significant skill in past knightly jousting tournaments. He is one of the many knights that Hank has put to work as traveling salesmen, wearing bulletin-boards front and aft advertising Hank's many innovative products, such as tooth-wash and soap. Hank explains that Sir Ossaise was "of a light and laughing disposition, and to him nothing in this world was serious," which is why he has chosen him to advertise his stove polish (there are no stoves yet). When we meet him, Sir Ossaise has played a trick on another salesman (of toothbrushes) by sending the latter after a group of "likely customers." After a long, hard chase, that energetic knight discovers the group consists of five poor souls released the night before from a long dungeon imprisonment, it having been "all of 20 years since any one of them had known what it was to be equipped with any remaining snag or remnant of a tooth."

One touching scene happens when Hank and King Arthur disguise themselves as commoners and travel throughout the kingdom to assess what's really happening there. Along the way, they are captured for the purpose of being sold into slavery (since they cannot prove their status as freemen and the ancient Roman law holds that they are slaves until proven otherwise). Hank is able to play along, knowing he'll eventually work out a way to get free. The king, with his high-born pride, keeps his chin up and maintains an attitude of resistance and defiance, refusing to yield to the abusive slave trader. Hank observes that the king truly knows how to act like the free man he is, regardless of circumstances.

While early in the book it seems we are headed in a promising direction toward a happy and virtuous end, Twain later turns the plot in darker directions. Hank stages a "final battle" between the forces of Chivalry (about 30,000 knights) and his own forces of republican progress (himself and 52 boys!). The Battle of the Sand Belt is an outright slaughter of the larger reactionary force. Unfortunately, the evil Merlin has the last laugh and puts Hank into a 13-century sleep, even as his co-conspirators are trapped in their cave fortress and being sickened by the 30,000 decaying corpses of the opposition (so much for a light-hearted and happy ending).

In the last scene, Twain has finished reading the manuscript given to him by Hank back in the 19th century. It is toward morning at the lodge where they are both staying and Hank is sleeping fitfully and making noises in the next room. When Twain checks on him, Hank is muttering about his beloved 6th century life (including a wife and child), apparently relieved that his 19th-century experiences were "just a dream." We, of course, are left assuming that Hank's 6th century experiences were the dream (but of course, there IS that written record ... hmmmm). Before he wakes up, Hank dies in his sleep, so we'll never know for sure.

The author clearly holds the misguided assumption that religion is hostile to freedom (see The Theme is Freedom by M. Stanton Evans for a full treatment of this error). He sees morality, human nature and society as being malleable by human reason, rather than as following fixed norms created by God. This way of thinking sees a strong affinity between the (very different) American and French Revolutions and interprets both as a throwing off of the shackles of religion and tradition which are believed to encumber the pure, relativist, rationalist and optimistic vision of liberty. In summary, its a fun story, but suffers from incorrect assumptions about reality.

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Summary: Time travel with a twist ' meet the REAL King Arthur!
Review: Who hasn't heard of King Arthur and the knights of his Round Table? Along with Robin Hood, the tales of King Arthur are the most exciting tales that British history has produced ' tales of grand chivalry, as gallant knights in shining armour rescue damsels in distress, and fight for courage, truth and justice. But were the knights really so noble and courageous? Through the eyes of a nineteenth century Yankee (Hank Morgan) who goes back in time to King Arthur's sixth century court, Mark Twain suggests that the sixth century wasn't quite so glamorous. Here's a taste of his delightful humour: 'As a general thing ' as far as I could make out ' these murderous adventures were not forays undertaken to avenge injuries, nor to settle old disputes or sudden fallings out; no, as a rule they were simple duels between strangers ' duels between people who had never even been introduced to each other, and between whom existed no cause of offense whatever.' Twain compares it to boys going at it on the spot: 'I had always imagined until now, that that sort of thing belonged to children only, and was a sign and mark of childhood; but here were these big boobies sticking to it and taking pride in it clear up into full age and beyond. Yet there was something very engaging about these great simple-hearted creatures, something attractive and loveable. There did not seem to be brains enough in the entire nursery, so to speak, to bait a fishhook with; but you didn't seem to mind that, after a little, because you soon saw that brains were not needed in a society like that, and, indeed would have marred it, spoiled its symmetry ' perhaps rendered its existence impossible.' (p16) As for the quest for the Holy Grail? 'The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was several years' cruise. They always put in the long absence snooping around, in the most conscientious way, though none of them had any idea where the Holy Grail really was, and I don't think any of them actually expected to find it, or would have known what to do with it if he *had* run across it ... Every year expeditions went out holy grailing, and next year relief expeditions went out to hunt for *them*.' (p54)

Sound wickedly funny? Hank Morgan doesn't stop there with his nineteenth century heroic arrogance. Using his superior knowledge of solar eclipses, blasting powder, reading and writing, and electronics, he soon becomes The Boss who single-handedly helps sixth century Britain take a short-cut to nineteenth century civilization. Chivalry becomes a thing of the past, and the knights of the Round Table are converted to more worthwhile endeavours as baseball-players and business men ' some commissioned on more nineteenth century style quests as 'missionaries' to advertise soap and toothbrushes on sandwich boards. It helps, of course, that the magician Merlin is a faker and con-artist, and that hero Hank can do much more impressive 'miracles', which are nothing less than elaborate scientific stunts with blasting powder and cement. Camelot soon finds itself with a functioning telephone system and newspaper. All is wonderful, until our hero is commissioned to go on a quest to rescue forty-five princesses locked in a castle by three ogres. He discovers that being a knight isn't as glamorous as it's made out to be, because you can't even use your handkerchief, and you get dust in your nose. Along with the dim-witted King Arthur, Hank's plan to walk around in disguise as a peasant backfires when they are nearly executed as rebellious slaves, rescued only when Launcelot and the boys arrive in the nick of time - on brand new bicycles.

Twain's irreverence in dealing with the beloved Arthurian traditions garnered him a great deal of criticism at the time of publication. Yet as the peels of laughter fade, it becomes clear that Twain is using his humor to make a very serious point. Is he merely critiquing the vices of medieval feudalism and warning against over-sentimentalising the past? If he is critical of King Arthur, surely it is not a criticism directed at the monarchy or the noble virtues that the knights of the Round Table pursued, but rather at the vices of an unbalanced class structure. Or is Twain using a comparison between the sixth and the nineteenth centuries to make an argument for or against the scientific machinist age of the nineteenth century? It is clear that the protagonist ' the first person point of view used by Twain to embrace the reader in sharing his convictions ' embodies one set of ideals and arrogantly looks down on King Arthur who embodies another set of ideals. The sixth century holds fast to the concept of greatness and position being attained by birth, whereas the nineteen century has little reverence for rank and file, replacing it by a respect attained by achievements alone (p46ff). Morgan is sharply critical of injustices created by the medieval class structure, where people are slaves to 'King and Church and noble' (p74ff), and is especially negative towards orthodox Christianity (specifically the Catholic church), feeling it safer for power not to be concentrated in one single organization (p56,108). He also mocks the simplistic medieval beliefs in the supernatural, and his own scientific 'miracles' appear to be a reflection of nineteenth century liberalism and atheistic philosophy, where beliefs in supernaturalism were exiled through the advance of scientific naturalism, and where the Christian God was dethroned and replaced by science. The failures of the faker Merlin appear to be symbolic of the failure of medieval supernaturalism, since it is Morgan's scientific knowledge that can perform the true miracles. What Twain unconsciously shows is that faith in natural science is just as much a religion as faith in supernaturalism, because the protagonist doesn't convert King Arthur's court to naturalism. By projecting himself as a supernaturalist, and taking advantage of King Arthur's court ignorantly attributing his scientific miracles to the supernatural, Morgan proves to be just as much a political manipulator as Merlin or the established Church.

I cannot believe that Morgan is totally a mouth-piece of Twain, or that Twain uses this work to advocate Protestant America over against Britain, since Twain was in fact an opponent of American imperialism. It is true that eventually Morgan proclaims and defends a republic with electric fences, revolvers and dynamite, exterminating the whole chivalry of England and replacing it with American imperialism and technology. But in the end it proves to be a hollow victory, with Morgan on his death-bed having second-thoughts about his technological achievements, and speaking about medieval chivalry with emotional longing and passionate love. The nineteenth century symbols prove to have the same destiny as those of the sixth century ' they are conquered and die. Is Morgan's death a symbol of the fate of the Western machine age, and is Twain asserting that nineteenth century American arrogance over earlier civilizations is misplaced, because it will share their destiny? The final cynicism in which the novel ends can not be overlooked, and is a suggestion that society's optimism and faith in technology and science are misplaced because these can never improve humanity. Twain's disenchantment with technology and progress is a reflection of the failures experienced in his own life: science in the end is not mankind's god or saviour

To get maximum enjoyment and understanding of Twain's humour, I highly recommend reading a version of the Arthurian legends before Twain's parody. He occasionally quotes Malory's fifteenth century classic 'Morte d'Arthur' ' deliberately assigning a very different context and meaning to what was originally intended. To appreciate the conventions and ideals he is mocking, a read of Malory is essential, such as the English rendition produced by Sir Frank Knowles.

It's a brilliant concept, and makes William Goldman's farcical and popular 'The Princess Bride' look like inferior literary fodder for kindergarten kids. Not only is it funny, but there's a great deal of depth beneath the surface, which Twain uses to convey a great deal of seriousness. Yet even while critics argue about just what it is that Twain is being serious about, there is no doubt that this is thoroughly enjoyable and humorous work, just as enjoyable today at the end of the twentieth century as when it was written at the end of the nineteenth. It is not so much the dark and serious underlying tone that has made this work a classic but Twain's brilliant humour, creativeness, and story-telling.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting novel
Review: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is definately a departure from what one might consider "normal" literature, exploring the possibilities of a regular man going back in time to visit the grand kingdom of Camelot. The story starts with a man telling of a fight in a factory in which he was foreman, and how he was knocked out. Upon waking he was in the land of Camelot, though he didn't realize it. Being put up for burning, he used his knowledge of the past to save his skin, using an eclipse to bestow his "magical powers."

This display was extremely impressive for the people of the day, who that main character described as a childish race, always exaggerating tales for their own glory. After being given all the power in the land, next to the king of course, he set out on a quest to bring the land of camelot into the realm of the modern with such things as the telephone and telegraph, the railroad, and steamboats. All these monumental changes in the world were taking place without the general public's knowledge of it, and was gradually being mixed into the culture, in the main character's goal of removing chivalry from the cultural mix.

After performing several "miracles" to his people, and going off on several grand adventures, the main character has the church turn on him, and try to bring the entire populous back to its simpler time, of swords, castles, damsels in distress, and the quest way of life. That is where I leave it up to you to find out the rest of the plot, if you really want to read it.

In my overall opinion, the book seems to be rushed by Mark Twain, where he tries to mix his general opinions of humanity, his ideas for its future, and just a fun story line all in one, too quickly. The story unfolds hurridly and seems to lack direction at times, and needs a bit more development. A great read if for enjoyment, but don't use it for your overall future plan for humanity, as it is a bit lacking there.

This book will likely appeal to school kids in the middle to high school range, because of its fair amount of depth and hidden meaning, but will also enjoy quite a good story, and a fair bit of insight as to what life was like back in the old days. It seems that Mark Twain had done a fair bit of research as to what life was in the age of Camelot before having gone out to write this book. Almost everybody will enjoy this, even if for no particular academic reason. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A Conneticut yankee in King Arthur's Court
Review: Language difficult for my 13 year old.

Rating:
Summary: A Humorous Story
Review: The book gives a humorous description of what would happen if a modern man was transported to the court of King Arthur. It had a realistic beginning. The part where he "cloaks the sun" to get out of being executed was done nicely also.

Rating:
Summary: YANKEE
Review: The book is a great kids book. It is one of the best books I've ever read. It is about Medieval Times and King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. I can't tell you about, the whole story you can read it for yourself.

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Summary: Castle park learning if Twain
Review: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an interesting novel written by Mark Twain. This is a fantastic book for the high school level reader, but would be entertaining to adults as well. In this novel the main character, Hank Morgan, is mysteriously transported from the nineteenth century in Connecticut back to the fifth century in England. During his time in medieval Britain, he keeps a journal which is what most of this book is. The preface and afterwards are both the narration of Mark Twain who writes as if he has found Hank's journal, and is merely writing it down in a book. As the journal starts out, Hank is introduced to King Arthur and after narrowly escaping death and becomes the country's most powerful advisor. Hank introduces many modern wonders to this feudal society. He is hailed a magician, being able to perform wonderful "miracles" and "magic", when it really is only modern science. It is very entertaining to read about how the feeble-minded people of that time react to these feats. In the end, there is a tremendous battle with many exciting episodes leading up to it. If a reader is partial to battle scenes of high caliber, this is a book for him! Of course, Hank has many other battles as well. Once of his biggest enemies is the Church of England. The big question the reader asks themselves during this book is "Will Hank return to his time and if so, how?". It was exciting for me to ponder this question throughout the novel. During Hank's travels through medieval Britain, he meets many people. The people he meets who think a government ruled by the people in Britain (his ultimate goal) would be a good idea, he sends to Camelot where he has schools set up which teach people about modern governmental ideas. Schools were also set up to teach people how to produce his wonders of modern science. These few enlightened people remain loyal to Hank until the very end. I thought it an entertaining notion that people, who were trained from birth to believe in one thing, could realize its faults and begin to believe another things. I really enjoy this book because it brings a lot about human nature into question. It discusses the vast differences of beliefs, manners, and life styles between one hundred years ago and fourteen hundred years ago. I also thought the differences between classic Arthurian legend and Mark Twain's perspective of the time was very interesting. Hanks training of these idealistic people he runs across plays into the large political aspect of this book. Since Hank's ultimate goal is to transform Britain into a country ruled by the people, he starts factories producing modern goods, which greatly changes the lives of the Britons. I enjoyed the descriptions of the people's reaction to these modern products of science thirteen centuries before they would be invented. Throughout the entire book commentary and philosophizing concerning the comparison of the fifth century feudal system of Britain and the nineteenth century democracy of the U.S. by Hank Morgan is common. This political aspect is typical of Twain's works. It gave me great pleasure to read this aspect of the book and to comprehend it's meaning. Through Hank Morgan, Mark Twain is able to depict vivid images in the readers mind. Whether it is a person, scene, or sensation felt by Hank Twain describes it in a way that puts a solid picture in the imagination of the reader. I have not seen the movie of this novel, but I have heard it isn't very well done and it is nothing compared to the book. I believe this is because Mark Twain paints such a realistic picture in the mind of the reader, it is nothing compared to what some director can film. From Mark Twain's great descriptions and writing style to the unique ideas presented, the novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a fantastic novel. There are so many aspects of it to enjoy, and it is just an all around entertaining book. I give this book four out of five stars and I recommend it to any one interested in fantasy, especially if they want a different perspective on King Arthur.

BY: Christian J. Vazquez

Rating:
Summary: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Review: In this book, It was easy to notice all the small detail such as the accents, rooms of the court's detail and the description of life in Camelot. All those were so detailed it made me think about all the work Mark Twain put into this. This book's detail alone blows any other King Arthur book out of the water. After just reading the first 200 pages, this book has hooked me as its favorite. The beginning was terriffic and will hook you into reading the rest in suspicion about what the Narrator's next adventure will be. The book has taught me (and will teach anyone who reads it) a lot about Camelot and what it would have been like to live there. If you love to read historical fiction books, you'll love this book.

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Summary: An American Cynic in Dystopia
Review: Mark Twain's satiric fantasy "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" sets up the premise of a 19th Century American being transported (via the application of a crowbar to his skull) to the legendary Camelot, where he initially suffers culture shock in the extreme. The novel's immediately obvious flaw (and I assume Mark Twain was aware of it but simply ignored it) is the 19th Century hero's ability to communicate with Britons of the 6th Century. They, of course, would have been speaking an English similar to that in "Beowulf"; the book has them talking like characters in "Hamlet". The opening chapters are comic in mood, complete with limp jokes. (When one character introduces himself as a page, the Yankee replies: "Go 'long, you ain't more than a paragraph." Oh, Lord.) However, the story quickly becomes dark and then increasingly darker. The degraded condition of the masses (which the modern hero compares to 18th Century France) culminates in a tour (with King Arthur disguised as a peasant) of a oountryside corrupted by monarchy and the Church, both of which were loathed by Mark Twain. Feminists should be warned that the author's misogyny is given free rein here: all the ladies of the court are thoughtless twits, and Morgan Le Fay is a shrew who habitually and casually kills her servants. The heroine Alisande (who, of course, becomes Sandy) is a tiresome chatterbox, whom the hero abruptly marries as a sort of social condescension. But his attitude towards women is merely a part of his general misanthropy, leading him to write at one point: "Well, there are times when one would like to hang the whole human race and finish the farce." Once the protagonist has established himself as Arthur's right-hand man (he's called "The Boss"), he exercises his Yankee ingenuity to industrialize the realm. With the genius of Gutenberg, Morse and Bell at his disposal, he sets up a newspaper and introduces the telegraph and the telephone to the Middle Ages. (Just how he devises the technology to accomplish this is not made too clear.) At any rate, The Boss is considered a great wizard, and Merlin (or Brer Merlin, as the Yankee calls him) is treated like a fraudulent fool. Motivating all this is a somewhat smug sense of 19th Century superiority. Actually, the Yankee goes beyond his own century and into the 1900's. When Guenever's treason causes the civil war which divides Britain, The Boss drills a group of cadets (his West Pointers, he calls them) that he leads off to battle against the anti-Arthurian knighthood. The result is a blood bath presciently and repulsively similar to the trench warfare of 1914-1918. (The novel was published in 1889.) If this is meant to be an indication of future efficiency, it's an extremely pessimistic vision. But then, the whole story is Mark Twain's gloomy statement on Mankind's uneasy place in a dysfunctional world, be it the Dark Ages or the somber present.