The Innocents Abroad · Chapter
XIV explained
The narrator describes his experiences in Paris, including visits to the Louvre, the Bois de Boulogne, the Morgue, and various gardens of entertainment.
What happens
The narrator describes his experiences in Paris, including visits to the Louvre, the Bois de Boulogne, the Morgue, and various gardens of entertainment. He reflects on the old masters' adulation of patrons, observes the Emperor and Sultan, witnesses the cancan dance, and attends a performance by Blondin the tightrope walker. A humorous incident occurs when he mistakenly compliments a young lady in English, thinking she is a foreigner.
Themes in this chapter
American vs. European Culture
The narrator contrasts American and European attitudes toward art, morality, and public spectacles, such as the cancan and the preservation of historical sites.
Satire of Tourism
The narrator satirizes tourist behavior, including his own mistake of assuming a young lady is a foreigner, and the morbid curiosity of visitors to the Morgue.
Religion and Hypocrisy
The narrator critiques the worship of artists and the miraculous claims surrounding relics, such as the key thrown into the Seine and recovered by an angel.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
The narrator reflects on art, Parisian life, and makes a social blunder by complimenting a young lady aloud.
- Dan
Dan is addressed by the narrator during the embarrassing compliment incident.
- Ferguson
Ferguson shows the narrator the tree where an attempt was made on the Russian Czar's life, and later guides the group to the Jardin Mabille and Asnieres.
- Young George
Young George is mentioned as part of the group during the visit to the Morgue.
- The Doctor
The Doctor is present during the visit to the Morgue.
Key passages
“Gratitude for kindnesses is well, but it seems to me that some of those artists carried it so far that it ceased to be gratitude and became worship.”
The narrator feels that some old masters' expressions of thanks to patrons went beyond gratitude into outright adoration.
Reflects the narrator's critique of the old masters' sycophantic depictions of patrons.
“I committed an error which I find myself repeating every day of my life. Standing right before a young lady, I said: 'Dan, just look at this girl, how beautiful she is!'”
The narrator makes a social mistake by loudly complimenting a young woman in English, only to realize she understands him.
Highlights the narrator's recurring tendency to assume others are foreigners.
“The idea of it is to dance as wildly, as noisily, as furiously as you can; expose yourself as much as possible if you are a woman; and kick as high as you can, no matter which sex you belong to.”
The narrator describes the cancan as a wild, immodest dance involving high kicks and exposure.
Illustrates the narrator's shocked but fascinated reaction to French dance culture.
“We knew that the body and the clothing were there for identification by friends, but still we wondered if anybody could love that repulsive object or grieve for its loss.”
The narrator reflects on the dehumanizing display of a drowned man at the Morgue, questioning whether anyone could mourn such a ghastly sight.
Shows the narrator's contemplation of death and human connection.