Mark Twain Resources
Picture of Mark Twain Playing Pool
A Modern Tale
Mark Twain's Cannibalism of the Cars is two stories wrapped into one-- the physical and the suggested. The physical story being the comical narration told through the eyes of the madman, the suggested being the story behind the story that more or less depicts politics as a system that metaphorically feeds off itself. Through structure Twain is able to intertwine the two into a coherent whole, and in the end, left me with an unforgettable image of Congress.
When the train slows down until the point it can no longer advance through the snow, a sense of urgency sets in. The train, representing the embodiment of Congress, plows through the snow with increasing difficulty. The barren land, a white ocean, characterizes the unpromising political landscape. As congress tries to solve its problems, they face this desolation. They try to move through their problems, until they all but stop. The end result-- they are "captives in a snowdrift." The passengers need to devise a plan for survival. Senators quickly nominate their enemies-- their actions are self-serving. Due to the failure of individualism, a committee forms that will oversee the process of choosing candidates. Politics seem to become collective, no longer embracing individual ideals.
What is Twain trying to tell the reader? On the surface, Cannibalism of the Cars, is the story of a man's experience while he is trapped on board a train during a Chicago winter; behind the surface, Twain's voice booms. Twain values the virtue of the individual, opposing the overpowering strength of the group. The committee drowns the individual. No one hears him. No one cares.
Metaphorically, the senators feed off the system; they desire bulk-substance. Account of the first supper:
I liked Harris. He might have been better done, perhaps, but I am free to say that no man ever agreed with me better than Harris, or afforded me so large a degree of satisfaction. Messick was very well, though rather high-flavored, but for genuine nutritiousness and delicacy of fiber, give me Harris.
Harris and Messick were devoured by the system. Their substance fueled the political machine on:
Well, well-after that we had Doolittle, and Hawkins, and McELroy (there was some complaint about McElroy, because he was uncommonly short and thin), and Penrod, and two Smiths, and Bailey (Bailey had a wooden leg, which was a clear loss, but he was otherwise good), and an Indian boy, and an organ-grinder and a gentleman by the name of Buckminster....
The names never stop. The system feeds off countless people. This idea, this dark image, ironic in its nature, is what Twain is famous for.
Like politics, the surface on the outside has nothing to do with the reality. An example is Newt Gingrich. The Ethics Committee investigated accusations against him concerning his financial dealings. Gingrich gave his word that he would not premeditate his answers or aid other senators in their responses to the committee. Later, an audiotape surfaces; the tape clearly implicates Gingrich and other senators working together to stage a defense to the committee.
Mark Twain's story, Cannibalism of the Cars, is a modern tale. Surface is never reality. To think that a system would prey on the individual, strangling its independence; To think that a system would feed upon itself like a hungry vulture, ripping into its own sinews-- this portrayal of Congress is what only Twain could deliver.
--Aaron Armstrong
