Corn-pone Opinions by Mark Twain

Mark Twain is one of the most well renowned writers in American history. He was able to gain wide acclaim from the people of his time and even of today with his literature, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Today, he is known as “The Father of American Literature.”

“Corn-pone Opinions” is about the human need of others’ approval in order to have self-approval. He claims that people never come up with their own unique ideas or opinions, and instead, they conform to the ideas and opinions of others in order to fit in. This piece was written in 1901, a time when racism was wide-spread in the south. Growing up in Missouri and living through slavery, Twain was able to see first-hand the terrible things that happened to African-American people. The reason these ideas were able to spread and be maintained was because of this idea of conforming to public opinion. Based on this theory, it would be rare that people would step up against slavery and racism in the south since most people would just accept the ideals of a society at that time. Twain is aiming this passage to the American people, especially those of the south, who supported slavery, racism, and other ideals that hurt people but are caused by others conforming to them. His purpose is to “expose” human nature, which prevents people from coming up with unique, independent ideas, and to express that it is important to come up with their own.

To achieve this purpose, Twain uses many tools and devices. Firstly, he opens up the passage by using an anecdote from his childhood that showcases his rebellious, non-conforming nature. The anecdote depicted when he used to watch an African American male give speeches about conformity, regarding him as his friend. Twain says, “I had a friend whose society was very dear to me because I was forbidden by my mother to partake of it” (1). Instead of conforming to the ideals of racism, Twain created his own viewpoints. This sentence almost seems paradoxical since it does not make sense to have a forbidden friend. This also introduces humor into the passage.

Another device that Twain uses is repetition and anaphora. He says things such as, “We know why Catholics are Catholics; why Presbyterians are Presbyterians; Baptists are Baptists…” (4) and “The think with their party, not independently; they read its literature, but not that of the other side; they arrive at convictions, but they are drawn from a partial view…” (5). This use of repetition and anaphora helps to drill the idea of conforming into the readers’ minds and allows them to understand the central ideas better.

Overall, I believe that Twain expresses his ideas clearly and effectively since he is able to give many examples to support his claim that it is human nature to conform to public opinion and not have independent ideas.

Conforming to The Styles of Others
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