Roughing It · Chapter
LXXVII explained
The narrator encounters a compulsive liar named Markiss on the island of Maui, who repeatedly interrupts conversations with increasingly absurd tall tales.
What happens
The narrator encounters a compulsive liar named Markiss on the island of Maui, who repeatedly interrupts conversations with increasingly absurd tall tales. Despite the narrator's attempts to avoid him, Markiss appears everywhere, spoiling social gatherings with his fabrications. Eventually, Markiss is found dead under suspicious circumstances, and a jury's verdict highlights the ironic consistency of his dishonesty.
Themes in this chapter
Humor and Exaggeration
Markiss's absurd tales, such as a chimney with caked smoke and a 415-foot tree, exemplify the tall-tale tradition and Twain's use of hyperbole for comedic effect.
The Absurdity of Pretension
Markiss's desperate need to one-up every story highlights the ridiculousness of pretentious boasting and the social annoyance it causes.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
The narrator is the main perspective, recounting his frustrating encounters with Markiss on Maui.
- Markiss
A compulsive liar who interrupts conversations with outlandish stories, eventually found dead under mysterious circumstances.
- Captain Cook
Referenced as 'Cap Saltmarsh' in Markiss's tale, though the name is a playful misattribution.
- John James Godfrey
Mentioned in Markiss's story about a mining accident involving a crowbar and a blast.
Key passages
“Oh, that was certainly remarkable, after a fashion, but you ought to have seen my chimney—you ought to have seen my chimney, sir! Smoke! I wish I may hang if— Mr. Jones, you remember that chimney—you must remember that chimney!”
Markiss interrupts to claim his chimney was so smoky that the smoke caked inside and had to be dug out with a pickax.
This is the first of Markiss's exaggerated stories, establishing his character as a compulsive liar.
“But, my dear sir, there was nothing remarkable about that horse, or the circumstance either—nothing in the world! ... Bless your heart, if you could only have seen my mare Margaretta; there was a beast!— there was lightning for you!”
Markiss dismisses the narrator's story about a horse and boasts about his own mare outrunning a storm.
Markiss's pattern of one-upping continues, showing his need to dominate conversations with fabrications.
“John James Godfrey was hired by the Hayblossom Mining Company in California to do some blasting for them—the 'Incorporated Company of Mean Men,' the boys used to call it. ... he kept on going up in the air higher and higher, till he didn't look any bigger than a boy—and he kept going on up higher and higher, till he didn't look any bigger than a doll—and he kept on going up higher and higher, till he didn't look any bigger than a little small bee—and then he went out of sight!”
Markiss tells a tall tale about a man who was blasted into the sky by an explosion and landed back in the same spot, only to be docked pay for the time he was gone.
This story exemplifies the extreme exaggeration and absurd humor characteristic of Markiss's lies.