# XXI explained — Roughing It

> Chapter companion for Roughing It by Mark Twain.

## What happens

The narrator describes the final approach to Carson City, Nevada Territory, on the twentieth day of their journey. They express regret at leaving the adventurous stagecoach life for a mundane village existence. The landscape is depicted as a barren desert with sagebrush, alkali dust, and the skeletons of dead animals. Upon arrival, they observe the small wooden town, its plaza, and meet a Mr. Harris who engages in a gunfight. The chapter then details the notorious Washoe Zephyr wind, the humble Governor's mansion, and the narrator's lodging at Mrs. O'Flannigan's ranch. The chapter concludes with a chaotic nighttime incident where a roof collapses, causing a panic over imagined tarantulas.

## Themes in this chapter

### Frontier Myth vs. Reality

The narrator's disappointment upon arriving in Carson City contrasts the romanticized frontier with the dusty, barren reality.

### Humor and Exaggeration

The description of the Washoe Zephyr and the tarantula panic are classic examples of Twain's humorous exaggeration.

### Violence and Desperadoism

Mr. Harris's casual gunfight upon first meeting illustrates the pervasive violence in the mining frontier.

## Character check-ins

### The Narrator

Describes the journey's end, the landscape, and his experiences in Carson City.

### Mr. Harris

Engages in a gunfight shortly after being introduced to the narrator.

### Governor Roop

Mentioned as the Governor of Nevada Territory, whose palace is described.

### Mrs. O'Flannigan

The French landlady of the ranch where the narrator stays; brings a lantern during the tarantula scare.

### Bob H—

A boarder who wakes up and shouts 'the tarantulas is loose!' during the roof collapse.

## Key lines

> We were not glad, but sorry. It had been a fine pleasure trip; we had fed fat on wonders every day; we were now well accustomed to stage life, and very fond of it; so the idea of coming to a standstill and settling down to a humdrum existence in a village was not agreeable, but on the contrary depressing.

The narrator felt regret rather than joy at the journey's end, having enjoyed the constant excitement of stagecoach travel and dreading the monotony of village life.

_Expresses the theme of frontier myth vs. reality and the narrator's attachment to adventure._

> I never saw Harris shoot a man after that but it recalled to mind that first day in Carson.

The narrator notes that Harris's later shootings always reminded him of their first encounter in Carson City.

_Highlights the casual violence of the frontier._

> No warning ever sounded so dreadful. Nobody tried, any longer, to leave the room, lest he might step on a tarantula. Every man groped for a trunk or a bed, and jumped on it.

The shout of 'tarantulas is loose' caused immediate terror, with everyone scrambling onto furniture to avoid the imagined spiders.

_Illustrates the humorous panic and exaggeration typical of Twain's style._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/roughing_it_se/chapters/xxi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/roughing_it_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/roughing_it_se/chapters