The Innocents Abroad · Chapter
XXI explained
The travelers journey by steamer down Lago di Lecco and then by carriage to Bergamo, observing the Italian countryside, its shrines, and its people.
What happens
The travelers journey by steamer down Lago di Lecco and then by carriage to Bergamo, observing the Italian countryside, its shrines, and its people. The driver tells a medieval legend about Count Luigi, a crusader who left his castle forty-two years ago, and his brother Count Leonardo, who has since tyrannized the land. The legend culminates in a dramatic rescue when a troupe of harlequins, revealed to be knights, saves Luigi's wife and daughter from Leonardo.
Themes in this chapter
Satire of Tourism
The narrator's observations of Italian peasants and their 'happy, cheerful, contented ignorance' mock the tourist's condescending view of foreign cultures.
The Past vs. the Present
The legend of Count Luigi and the medieval castle contrasts with the narrator's modern, pragmatic journey through a sleepy, unchanging landscape.
Religion and Hypocrisy
The gory roadside shrines and the corrupt, violent Count Leonardo (who roasts priests) highlight the hypocrisy and brutality within religious contexts.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Describes the journey through Italy, the landscape, and the people; recounts the legend told by the driver.
- Dan
Interrupts the driver's introduction of the legend with a humorous remark about Count Luigi's name.
- Count Luigi
The noble crusader who left for the Holy Land forty-two years ago; his wife and daughter are imprisoned by his brother.
- Count Leonardo
The cruel brother who usurped the castle, oppresses the people, and holds Luigi's wife and daughter captive.
- The Good Lord Luigi
Referenced in the peasant's speech as the former benevolent ruler of the castle.
Key passages
“We were in the heart and home of priest craft—of a happy, cheerful, contented ignorance, superstition, degradation, poverty, indolence, and everlasting unaspiring worthlessness.”
We were at the center of priestly power, surrounded by a populace that seemed blissfully unaware of its own misery and lack of ambition.
The narrator expresses a mix of contempt and condescension toward the Italian peasants, viewing them as content in their ignorance.
“How can men, calling themselves men, consent to be so degraded and happy.”
How can people who consider themselves human willingly accept such a lowly yet contented existence?
This rhetorical question underscores the narrator's bewilderment at the peasants' apparent satisfaction with their impoverished lives.
“They were not respectable people—they were not worthy people—they were not learned and wise and brilliant people—but in their breasts, all their stupid lives long, resteth a peace that passeth understanding!”
These people lacked education, wisdom, and social standing, yet they possessed a profound inner peace that defies explanation.
The narrator contrasts the peasants' lack of conventional virtues with their inexplicable tranquility.