The Autobiography of Mark Twain · Chapter
New York, January 12, 1906 explained
Twain recounts a meeting of a club at Rev.
What happens
Twain recounts a meeting of a club at Rev. Frank Goodwin's house where the topic of dreams is discussed. He describes the speaking styles of various members, including Colonel Greene, the elder and younger Hammersley, Joe Twichell, and others. He also tells a humorous story about a box of bad cigars that caused guests to flee with pretexts, and reflects on the habit of closing speeches with piety.
Themes in this chapter
Character and Morality
Twain examines the speaking styles and personal qualities of club members, highlighting honesty, piety, and the contrast between substance and style.
Hypocrisy and Human Nature
The cigar incident reveals the polite pretenses and excuses people make to avoid discomfort, while Twain's commentary on piety underscores a performative aspect of morality.
Characters to notice
- Mark Twain
Narrator and host of the gathering; reflects on the club members' speaking styles and the cigar incident.
- Joe Twichell
Club member who often gives his speaking turn to others; known for his honesty and occasional pretexts.
- Charles Dudley Warner
Delivered views on dreams in a smooth, pleasant, and humorous manner.
- Frank Goodwin
Host of the club meeting where dreams were discussed.
- Livy Clemens
Mentioned in the context of breakfast the morning after the cigar incident.
- Patrick McAleer
Referred to as 'George' in the cigar story; the butler who served the bad cigars.
- Henry C. Robinson
Governor and club member; described as a brilliant and eloquent speaker who always closed with piety.
Key passages
“Colonel Greene discussed the dream question in his usual way—that is to say, he began a sentence and went on and on, dropping a comma in here and there at intervals of eighteen inches, never hesitating for a word, drifting straight along like a river at half bank with no reefs in it; the surface of his talk as smooth as a mirror; his construction perfect and fit for print without correction, as he went along.”
Colonel Greene spoke about dreams in his characteristic style: he would start a sentence and continue without pause, inserting commas every eighteen inches, never searching for a word, his speech flowing smoothly like a river, perfectly constructed and ready for publication.
Twain describes Colonel Greene's monotonous but grammatically flawless speaking style.
“I told him to go to bed and try to sleep it off. I went to bed myself. At breakfast in the morning, when George was taking a cup of coffee from Mrs. Clemens’s hand, I saw it tremble in his hand. I knew by that sign there was something on his mind.”
I sent George to bed to recover, and I also went to sleep. The next morning at breakfast, I noticed George's hand trembling as he took coffee from Mrs. Clemens, which told me he was troubled.
Twain observes the butler's distress after the cigar incident.
“To my thinking, there was never much body to what he said, never much juice in it; never anything very substantial, to carry away and think about, yet it was always a pleasure to listen to him.”
In my opinion, his remarks lacked substance or memorable ideas, but listening to him was always enjoyable.
Twain critiques Charles Dudley Warner's pleasant but insubstantial speaking.
