In his satirical essay, “On the Damned Human Race”, Mark Twain refutes Darwin’s claim on the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animal and instead asserts the descent of man due to moral sense. Twain backs his claim by analyzing the different characteristic features between the human race and animal nature, supplying ample ethos in the process, to demonstrate the retrogression society has made in order to pinpoint man’s flaws and reveal the fallacies of society. Through his revelation, Twain beseeches his audience to analyze their own morals when taking into account the problems that exist in the human world. Given the broad scope of his generalization, Twain intended his piece for the general public as a whole, not excluding any specific group due
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He claims that Man, or humans in general, have descended from higher animals instead of ascending from lower animals, as expressed by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. He argues that because of the weaknesses of Man, his cruel, violent and warlike nature,which he exposes through his series of “actual experiments,” humans are the true weakest links to society. For example, Twain explains what happened during one of his experiments involving an anaconda and an earl. He put these animals in separate cages with seven calves, the anaconda “immediately crushed one of them and swallowed it” however after this “it showed no further interest in the calves.” On the other hand the earl “ate seventy-two of those great animals; and ate part of one of them and left the seventy-two to rot.” In this case Twain concluded that “the difference between an earl and an anaconda is that the earl is cruel and the anaconda isn't; and that the earl wantonly destroys what he has no use for, but the anaconda …show more content…
First, Twain proposes Man is the sole animal that Blushes, he verifies his charge by stating Man has a “soiled mind” and feels the need to cover himself. Next, Man is the only animal that is cruel to its own kind. Twain backs this statement by giving the examples of slavery, war, and religion. Humans are set apart from other animals since they both enslave fellow humans and are slaves because of the work they do for wages or other purposes. He additionally explains that Man is the only animal that engages in organized warfare who purposely goes out and terminates its own kind in order to obtain land. Another reason Man is inferior to other animals is the constant conflict of different religions among humans. Twain goes on to explain specific times in history in which contrasting religions proved to be a serious issue such as the ages of Caesar, Mahomet, and Inquisition. Furthermore, Twain refutes the claim of Man being a Reasoning Animal by taking into consideration the history of Man which he considers a “fantastic record of a maniac.” Congruently he professes the foolishness of Man through comparing two of his experiments. He first caged a cat and dog as well as other animals and successfully taught them to be friends. Whereas his second experiment consisted of putting humans of different religions and geographical regions in a cage with the result of death for all nine specimens. The conclusion
He claims that Man, or humans in general, have descended from higher animals instead of ascending from lower animals, as expressed by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. He argues that because of the weaknesses of Man, his cruel, violent and warlike nature,which he exposes through his series of “actual experiments,” humans are the true weakest links to society. For example, Twain explains what happened during one of his experiments involving an anaconda and an earl. He put these animals in separate cages with seven calves, the anaconda “immediately crushed one of them and swallowed it” however after this “it showed no further interest in the calves.” On the other hand the earl “ate seventy-two of those great animals; and ate part of one of them and left the seventy-two to rot.” In this case Twain concluded that “the difference between an earl and an anaconda is that the earl is cruel and the anaconda isn't; and that the earl wantonly destroys what he has no use for, but the anaconda …show more content…
First, Twain proposes Man is the sole animal that Blushes, he verifies his charge by stating Man has a “soiled mind” and feels the need to cover himself. Next, Man is the only animal that is cruel to its own kind. Twain backs this statement by giving the examples of slavery, war, and religion. Humans are set apart from other animals since they both enslave fellow humans and are slaves because of the work they do for wages or other purposes. He additionally explains that Man is the only animal that engages in organized warfare who purposely goes out and terminates its own kind in order to obtain land. Another reason Man is inferior to other animals is the constant conflict of different religions among humans. Twain goes on to explain specific times in history in which contrasting religions proved to be a serious issue such as the ages of Caesar, Mahomet, and Inquisition. Furthermore, Twain refutes the claim of Man being a Reasoning Animal by taking into consideration the history of Man which he considers a “fantastic record of a maniac.” Congruently he professes the foolishness of Man through comparing two of his experiments. He first caged a cat and dog as well as other animals and successfully taught them to be friends. Whereas his second experiment consisted of putting humans of different religions and geographical regions in a cage with the result of death for all nine specimens. The conclusion