In the short stories “Eve’s Diary” and “Extracts from Adam’s Diary”, author Mark Twain takes a comical approach on the lives of two characters from The Book of Genesis. These characters, known as Adam and Eve, write diary entries every day as they take on the undiscovered world and fall in love. Without each other, there would be no balance, only chaos. Throughout the stories, Twain conveys an central message that although men and women are completely different, they need each other. The usage of humor and stereotypes within “Eve’s Diary” and “Extracts from Adam’s Diary” help project this important message.
The short stories “Eve’s Diary” and “Extracts from Adam’s Diary” are riddled with areas exhibiting humor. There are many types of humor …show more content…
Stereotypes subject the characters to act in a fixed way that goes along with the widely held ideas of their genders. As the reader goes along in the stories, they discover Eve to be overly emotional and caring as seen when Twain writes: “My first sorrow. Yesterday he avoided me and seemed to wish I would not talk to him” (Twain 202). Eve refers to first sorrow as the day Adam ignored her and showed no interest in talking. She was quickly saddened and took his actions to heart. If Adam were to be ignored by Eve, he would think indifferently and not care. Females being overly emotional and males being insensitive are commonly known gender stereotypes. Twain used these stereotypes to create the difference between the two genders and how differently the react to situations. Another stereotype that Mark Twain uses in these writings is that women are the child caretakers. Towards the end of “Extracts from Adam’s Diary”, Eve is shown to be taking care of Cain when Twain writes: “At such times the water comes out of the places in her face that she looks out of, and she pats the fish on the back and makes soft sounds with her mouth to soothe it, and betrays sorrow and solicitude in a hundred ways” (Twain 194). Eve always has Cain with her and refuses to let Adam experiment with him. She watches over him and nurtures the child as it continues to grow, even though they are unsure of what kind of creature Cain is. Eve’s motherly qualities fit with stereotype of women being designated caretakers of their children. Without Eve portraying this stereotype, there would be no offspring for the characters and the human race would not exist. In the two short stories, Twain puts multiple stereotypes to work to show not only how different the genders are, but how they need each other to create a balance and
The short stories “Eve’s Diary” and “Extracts from Adam’s Diary” are riddled with areas exhibiting humor. There are many types of humor …show more content…
Stereotypes subject the characters to act in a fixed way that goes along with the widely held ideas of their genders. As the reader goes along in the stories, they discover Eve to be overly emotional and caring as seen when Twain writes: “My first sorrow. Yesterday he avoided me and seemed to wish I would not talk to him” (Twain 202). Eve refers to first sorrow as the day Adam ignored her and showed no interest in talking. She was quickly saddened and took his actions to heart. If Adam were to be ignored by Eve, he would think indifferently and not care. Females being overly emotional and males being insensitive are commonly known gender stereotypes. Twain used these stereotypes to create the difference between the two genders and how differently the react to situations. Another stereotype that Mark Twain uses in these writings is that women are the child caretakers. Towards the end of “Extracts from Adam’s Diary”, Eve is shown to be taking care of Cain when Twain writes: “At such times the water comes out of the places in her face that she looks out of, and she pats the fish on the back and makes soft sounds with her mouth to soothe it, and betrays sorrow and solicitude in a hundred ways” (Twain 194). Eve always has Cain with her and refuses to let Adam experiment with him. She watches over him and nurtures the child as it continues to grow, even though they are unsure of what kind of creature Cain is. Eve’s motherly qualities fit with stereotype of women being designated caretakers of their children. Without Eve portraying this stereotype, there would be no offspring for the characters and the human race would not exist. In the two short stories, Twain puts multiple stereotypes to work to show not only how different the genders are, but how they need each other to create a balance and