Twain the Optimist

            Mark Twain has an underlying theme of optimism throughout a lot of his short stories. In order to find this optimism one needs to look deep into the meaning behind his stories because on the surface, many of them can seem cynical or even tragic. This can be highlighted most intensely I think by the story “A Day at Niagara.” The first story’s optimism is less apparent and can only be seen by first acknowledging the faults in society and the negatives of tourism or commercialization. He makes a social satire about the American culture just following the beaten path laid before and missing out on the actual beauty of something like Niagara Falls. I will go more in depth with this and where optimism comes into play in the following paragraphs.

            First, I will talk about “A Day at Niagara.” Twain is often a critic of the corporate or commercialization side of America. This can be seen with statements throughout the story such as. “It is worth the price of admission to hear the guide tell the story nine times in succession to different parties, and never miss a word or alter a sentence or gesture” (Twain, 17). Here, Twain effectively uses sarcasm here by saying it’s worth the price to hear the same mundane story to every group that takes a tour. The commercialization comes in by taking something as beautiful as Niagara Falls, one of the seven Wonders of the World, and making it seem like just another product to sell.

            One can take this two ways, the first being that Twain is at the height of cynicism with the commercialization idea. Or the second, which is that really Twain is making a commentary that we shouldn’t be a “hackful of small reptiles was deemed temporarily necessary to fill a crack in the world’s unnoted myriads… and decades of ages after they shall have gathered themselves to their blood-relations, the other worms, and been mingled with the unremembering dust” (Twain 17-18). Here, the writer suggests that all the visitors on this tour are “small reptiles” (Twain, 17) which is quite cynical. But what I believe he is really trying to get at is the fact that people need to break from this commercialized path and yes, take in the touristy stuff, but also admire the complete natural beauty of the Falls. This is the optimism that Twain embeds in the story. I think he believes that people are innately looking for this beautiful experience and the tour is just a superficial tool created to try and achieve this.

            In usual Twain fashion, he likes to pose problems but no solutions, or a solution so ludicrous that it would never actually happen. Later on in the story, the main character actually gets thrown into the Falls and taken around 44 times. I believe this is Twain’s way of alluding to, again, the idea that one needs to experience the beauty of the Falls in their own way. Preferably not by deciding the answer is to throw one’s self over a cliff and into one of the largest waterfalls in the entire world. But, nonetheless he is a humorist and there couldn’t be a serious commentary in his stories without it being poked fun at as well.

Works Cited

Twain, Mark.  The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain.  New York: Bantam Books, 1957.  Print.