A Comparison of Two Mark Twain Short Stories
The Mark Twain stories, "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" and "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg," were published thirty-four years apart, in 1865 and 1899, respectively. What a difference a third of a century makes. Though both stories satirize vanity, the former pokes genial fun at human foibles; whereas, the tone of the latter is a great deal darker and more pessimistic. It clearly belongs to the era of Twain's greatest bitterness and, in fact, was published three years after the death of his beloved daughter, Susy. The characteristic Twainian irony pervades both tales, but the intervening three decades have made it more savage and unforgiving and the humor has come to be intermixed with tragedy. The goal no longer seems to be to excite the merry laughter of "children and anyone who has ever been a child," but, rather, to laugh derisively and point an accusatory finger at humanity.
