Roughing It · Chapter
XLII explained
The narrator, having failed at mining, receives an offer to become city editor of the Virginia Daily Territorial Enterprise at twenty-five dollars a week.
What happens
The narrator, having failed at mining, receives an offer to become city editor of the Virginia Daily Territorial Enterprise at twenty-five dollars a week. Despite his inexperience and past failures, he accepts out of necessity. He moves to Virginia City, adopts a more Christian costume, and receives advice from Mr. Goodman to always get absolute facts. On his first day, lacking news, he invents stories about hay wagons and a murder, filling two columns and earning Mr. Goodman's praise.
Themes in this chapter
Get-Rich-Quick Schemes and Speculation
The narrator's shift from mining to journalism is driven by the need for a steady income, contrasting with the speculative mining ventures.
Humor and Exaggeration
The narrator's first day as a reporter involves inventing news, such as multiplying a single hay wagon into sixteen items and fabricating an Indian fight.
Work and Labor
The narrator reflects on his various failed occupations and the necessity of work, ultimately finding his niche in journalism.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Accepts the city editor position at the Enterprise, reflects on past failures, and invents news stories on his first day.
- Higbie
Persuades the narrator to try mining once more, but the attempt ends in frustration.
- Mr. Goodman
Chief editor and proprietor of the Enterprise; gives the narrator instructions and advice on reporting.
- Dan
Former reporter whose methods (e.g., hay wagon stories) are cited by Mr. Goodman as an example.
Key passages
“Necessity is the mother of 'taking chances.'”
Being in need forces one to take risks.
The narrator justifies accepting the editor job despite his inexperience.
“Unassailable certainty is the thing that gives a newspaper the firmest and most valuable reputation.”
Absolute factual accuracy is what builds a newspaper's most solid and valuable reputation.
Mr. Goodman's advice to the narrator on reporting.
“I let fancy get the upper hand of fact too often when there was a dearth of news.”
I often let imagination override truth when there was a shortage of real news.
The narrator admits to fabricating stories when actual news was scarce.