Mark Twain's Roughing It

A myth may be more fully examined by the words that T.S. Eliot, author of The Wasteland, used to describe The Burial of The Dead, "What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow out of this stony rubbish?" (Eliot 19). This is yet but one perspective that will play into the context of the creation of the American Myth. One author in particular, Mark Twain, will be furthur examined from here on out. Twain does not neccessarily possess the level of sophistication (used lightly) in his writing as T.S. Eliot so forcefully showed in The Wasteland.

However, T.S. Eliot hailed from a later and perhaps more "refined" period in American history than did the subject of this paper. It was a time when opportunity seemed to be in the reach of all and not just the sophisticated. The masses were moving westward to a new dream and a new identity that would consume the culture of Americans for decades to come. This is where Mark Twain steps in and creates an indelible mark that is not only a prime example of regionalism, but as well as a classic in American frontier history. An impression so heavily felt that the line between fact and fiction becomes unclear. Fiction seldomly captivates the imagination of an entire society, and to Twain's advantage many of his novels have become classics in less than a century.

Mark Twain's Roughing It is rather the historical literary work of his penname, Samuel Langhorne Clemens. William Dean Howells called Clemens, "the Lincoln of our literature," Both Twain and the Lincoln automobile being portrayed as icons in the eyes of American history. The condensed and textually supported analysis of Roughing It that follows, provides the critical tools neccessary in order to prepare a means in which to deconstruct the Frontier Myth. Roughing It is but one novel that has a varied and masterfully created allusion of what the wild west was all about. The Wild West was the last frontier to conquer (or so most thought), after which it was tamed the invaluable resources and minerals were quickly consumed and manufactored in order to create a society which would dominate in the world market.

This is done in order to fully understand the core of American identity in modern times. History builds itself upon the backbone of past experiences and voices. Some of those voices are never heard and are lost in the ages. Others impact history so greatly that their influence cannot help but be discussed. Popular culture today is merely an example of reoccurring ideas, something is new, and this creates something that is old, something that must be discarded, and lastly something that must be consumed. Life in the frontier era, circa 19th century on to about the introduction of Henry Ford's famed, mass-producing production Line, was rough. We were an emerging nation, introducing innovative and exciting novel products. The novel takes place before all of this though, America had a dream, but they had to first tame the wild, wild, west. Mark Twain as we have come to know him, wrote about the experiences of many from one point of view, "Pretty soon he would see...buffaloes and Indians, and prairie dogs, and antelopes, and have all kinds of adventures, and maybe get hanged or scalped, and be a hero." (Twain 1)

What do you think Mark Twain is saying in his first page of the novel, Roughing it? For some it might appear dangerous but for the mind of Mark Twain, heroically said in an echoing voice; this is the chance of a lifetime. Anything was possible in the abundant west. Twain like most men of his time, saw opportunity everywhere he went. This drive consumed the age-old recitation, that indeed the grass is always greener on the other side. There was a high probability for death and disease but there was also cheap land, only somewhat inhabited by extreme accounts of savages. Not in Nevada though, some parts of this territory were so desolete that even nomads would avoid this stretch of land. Yet for some, much like Twain, the golden opportunity presented itself clearly. A chance at a new life, a new dream. A chance to be someone. Lastly though, the opportunity for a life that was sure to be filled to the brim with adventure. Mark Twain reinvented society as he lived in it.

Or should I say Samuel Langhorne Clemens? "It was shortly after the discovery of silver lodes in Carson County, in 1858, that this important official arrived in Carson City to establish a legitimately constituted government in the Territory, which already contained from twelve to fifteen thousand of a population and was rapidly growing every day, the mines being vigorously developed, and business of all kinds active and prosperous." (London). This leads into the actual beginning of Twain's adventure, "At 4:20 P.M., Sunday, we rolled out of the station at Omaha, and started westward on our long jaunt." (Twain 48). The excitement that must have been in the air after coming to terms that a new journey has begun. Across the Continent by coach then by rail. The wildness of this open country must have been a sight to remember and possibly get a B&W flash.

Many others besides Henry James and his brother, crossed by rail into the western side of a new empire yet as one problem is solved another arises. Hector St. John de-Creve-couer, as an outsider to this new world adds this, "human nature and the human condition remains something with which this 'new man,' called an American must wrestle, albeit with a somewhat different set of ideals, obstacles, and resources." This does however represent the opinion of a male who could never actually become the idealized American man (Moore 2). It does however represent a view that in the late 1700's was light years ahead of its time. America was one of the last unharmed stretches of land in the world, when European explorers came and saw it's bounty, they wanted it for themselves.

The uncivilized inhabitants were nothing to be concerned about. America eventually became a land of the people, yet some say even to this point in American history, that America is still attached to the chain of colonialism. Mark Twain however, represented the power of the individual. He set out on a mission to create a new American ideal, a new American man. A man that seeked to do it all in this new world, and unlike so many, he wasn't broken by the system of capitalism he did all he could. Twain encompassed the American dream and gave a new identity to the nation. Even in modern times, take for example The Davinci Code written by Dan Brown. A fiction-based book that is one of the bestselling in the U.S. This book distorts the line between truth and entertainment. Yet most Americans do not realize or care about the distinct difference between Fiction and Non-Fiction. "We soon learned to recognize the sharp, vicious bark of the coyote as it came across the murky plain at night" (Twain 52). For some, this is a common occurence, while to others it is a fearful thought.

Passages such as this one can still be heard today, yet wildlife is constantly being invaded by pollution and the invasive movement of Human nautre. This alone may aid in the frontier myth, wild country that even to this day is present although the wilderness is getting developed at a rapid pace, that was the wild west. Mark Twain was an uncommon man with a common view and he wrote for the mass population, which in turn created a market for the masses to swallow. Twain wrote some amazing accounts in fiction which ultimately gained the respect of the literate world. This frontier myth is one of the ideals ingrained into a capitalistic society. Without a dream, no one can become anything. His writing was that of a hero, "but as any Twain scholar can attest, Clemens' life was extraordinarily varied and rich and such a life needs little embellishment" (Felker). Mark Twain was an author that represented what the American man was. He had not been conquered by capitalism, yet rather left a much needed facelift to what being American was all about. What can be taken away from this? The objective was to allow a different point of view to be present. Mark Twain was an American author for the people.

Historically, many of the negatives in history become repressed. The complete genocide of many South American cultures and as well as Native Americans in the development of the American myth and more specifically, The frontier myth, has been thrown by the wayside. The greed, corruption, and inevitable environmental deteriotion of many societies needs to be more specifically focused upon. If in fact, history does build itself upon the backbone of past experiences and voices, only those voices who have have been preserved either orally or in writing will be remembered. The knowledge of those less fortunate narrators unable to continue their story, inevitably get lost in the ages. Under President Andrew Jackson, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which forcibly removed Indians from the population movement of a new culture. This is what lacks in the frontier myth. The truth. The fact that other human beings destroyed and killed a culture that lived in peace with it's environment. Only to rape and destroy and build a new empire. Besides this fact, Mark Twain aided in giving America another united voice that is capable of standing against the ages and of giving at least a faint impression of what life was like in the new frontier. It was rough, wild and of course full of opportunity.

The only aspect that has changed about the wild, wild west, is the fact that it is not nearly as wild as it once was. America has now become the leading nation in the world, not neccesarily in morals and values, but in economic and political power, not only upon the backbone of slaves but as well as the almost complete annihilation of an entire race. It is however the natural beauty that is still so hard to deny about the wild west, slowly turning into concrete and civilization. This is what captures the imagination and interest in the frontier myth, the decline and rise of a continent into a superpower. The wild west was merely the taming of a savage land and the plunder of so many natural resources, only to gain the American dream: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Felker, Christopher. Andrew Hoffman's Inventing Mark Twain. Online Posting. 12 April 1997. Mark Twain Forum. . Life in the western states. The London Examiner. 6 April 1872 . Moore, David K. "What is an American" and other letters from an American farmer. University of Northern Iowa, 2004. Date of Access: 30 March 2006. . Twain, Mark. Roughing It. New York: New American Library, 1962.