I found Mark Twain's "Goldsmith's Friend Abroad Again" and "A True Story" quite profound and gut wrenching. What an uproar these works must have produced in their day. Both stories did an incredible job of describing and exposing the blatant horrors of abuse and discrimination inflicted on those powerless to protect themselves as individuals and groups as a whole.
Ah Song Hi, the main character of "Goldsmith's Friend Abroad Again,"exemplifies what America was, and still is, to so many people around the world - "The land of the Free and Home of the Brave." He eloquently states in the letter's to his friend why so many are willing to risk their lives to get here.
Once in America Ah Song Hi, despite the discrimination and abuse inflicted on him by others, continues to believe in the America he had dreamed of. His belief's and ideal's were greater than the injustices heaped on him by a seemingly few. .
I can not imagine his heartache, disappointment and regret when he realized this was not the America he had heard so much of. In his case, nationality, color and creed guaranteed.
oppression and suffering. .
Aunt Rachel, the main character of "A True Story," was for me, incredibly painful to read. Maybe it was my maternal instinct kicking in. What a fantastic job Mark Twain did when he wrote this. I truly felt as if I were Aunt Rachel.
I do not understand her closing line "I hain't had no trouble. An" no joy!" Her husband and children were sold off into slavery, her youngest literally ripped from her arms. She was enslaved and relocated as well. If this is not trouble, then I do not know what is. .
Though she had not seen her husband and six children in twenty-two years, she and Henry found each other thirteen years prior to the telling of this story. To have found at least one child, is that not joy? Maybe the "no joy" stems from the fact that she has not managed to be reconciled with the rest of her family.
