Roughing It · Chapter
LXII explained
The narrator returns to San Francisco broke, takes a job as a correspondent for the Enterprise, then accepts a position writing letters for the Sacramento Union, sailing to the Sandwich Islands on the Ajax.
What happens
The narrator returns to San Francisco broke, takes a job as a correspondent for the Enterprise, then accepts a position writing letters for the Sacramento Union, sailing to the Sandwich Islands on the Ajax. He describes the colorful passengers, especially the retired whaleman known as 'the Admiral,' a profane yet tenderhearted man with a talent for inventing history. A fellow passenger, Williams, cleverly out-argues the Admiral by using his own invented history against him.
Themes in this chapter
Humor and Exaggeration
The Admiral's invented history and Williams's counter-invention are prime examples of Twain's use of tall tales and absurd humor.
Identity and Belonging
The Admiral's shifting political allegiance and his role as a beloved figure among the Sandwich Islanders highlight themes of personal identity and community.
The Absurdity of Pretension
The Admiral's self-importance and his bogus historical claims are deflated by Williams's flattery and counter-invention, mocking pretentiousness.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Returns to San Francisco without money, becomes a correspondent for the Enterprise, then sails to the Sandwich Islands for the Sacramento Union.
- The Admiral
A retired whaleman, seventy-two years old, profane and tenderhearted, a Union man turned secessionist, heavy drinker, inventor of false history.
- Jack Williams
A cheerful passenger on the Ajax who cleverly defeats the Admiral in an argument using invented history.
- Tom Quartz
Mentioned as a cat in a story told by Dick Baker, but not present in this chapter.
Key passages
“When my credit was about exhausted, (for I had become too mean and lazy, now, to work on a morning paper, and there were no vacancies on the evening journals,) I was created San Francisco correspondent of the Enterprise”
Nearly broke and too lazy to work on a morning paper, I was appointed San Francisco correspondent for the Enterprise.
Narrator's financial and professional situation upon returning to San Francisco.
“He was a roaring, terrific combination of wind and lightning and thunder, and earnest, whole-souled profanity. But nevertheless he was tenderhearted as a girl.”
The Admiral was a loud, profane storm of a man, yet as gentle as a girl at heart.
Describes the Admiral's contrasting nature.
“The Admiral knew only one narrow line of conduct to pursue in any and all cases where there was a fight, and that was to shoulder his way straight in without an inquiry as to the rights or the merits of it, and take the part of the weaker side.”
In any fight, the Admiral would always jump in and side with the underdog without considering who was right.
Illustrates the Admiral's impulsive sense of justice.
“He took a level tumblerful of whisky every morning before he put his clothes on—'to sweeten his bilgewater,' he said.”
Each morning before dressing, he drank a full glass of whiskey, claiming it sweetened his bilgewater.
Example of the Admiral's heavy drinking and colorful language.
“This sweet spoken creature who swallowed his fraudulent history as if it were the bread of life; basked in his furious blasphemy as if it were generous sunshine; found only calm, evenhanded justice in his rampart partisanship; and flooded him with invented history so sugarcoated with flattery and deference that there was no rejecting it, was 'too many' for him.”
Williams, by accepting the Admiral's false history and flattering him, then defeating him with his own invented history, proved more than a match for the Admiral.
Describes how Williams outwits the Admiral in argument.
