Another Twain Sighting

Okay. So. I'll admit it. I have an unabashed Mark Twain addiction. Every week, I'm reading something by him or about him, whether I've read it before or not. Sometimes I can get my fix as easily as reading a few Twain quotes, but other weeks I need to delve into Connecticut Yankee again. He is a lot like God to me; everywhere I look, I see some whisp of Twain. Every time I read his work, I learn or perceive him in a different way. I'm forever delighted with each new shade of the Southerner I discover.

When I was home sick earlier this week, I didn't have much of a concentration level. My attention span was no larger than that of a gnat. Unfortunately, I hadn't had much time last week to read some Twain, just a few quotes--a sparse hit for an addict. On Monday, I started to get the mental itch, the inner craving, the rabid blindness peculiar to addiction. By Tuesday, I had lost all sense. I had gone into a mental fit the night before and now I lay on the couch, dejected and apathetic to anything but Twain. I turned on the television and listlessly flipped through the channels. Then, there it was! My heart leapt with the joy of a believer meeting the Creator! Tears came to my eyes. Turner Classic Movies was my Christ. It saved me from imminent insanity with its own unique cross: The Adventures of Mark Twain! A movie biography on the author himself! Sure, it was made in 1944, sure it was highly inaccurate, but it had his quotes, vaguely sketched out his life, and was new to me! I was saved. Thank you, TCM. Mark Twain (and Samuel Clemens to a slightly lesser degree) truly is mi pan de vida.*

By now you're probably wondering how on Earth this is at all related to the AP English classes of this week. You're saying, "Jess, what are you even doing? This is completely absurd. Your fever must be back." I may be absurd, but Twain is completely relevant to class.

I found him whilst reading The Sound and the Fury. One of my favorite scenes in the book so far is when Caddy is put in charge of the kids while Damuddy is sick. The bickering between Jason and Caddy is so childlike and typical of siblings that one has to laugh. It reminded me strongly of Tom Sawyer and the quintessentially Twain youth found whenever in his writings he finds a chance to play a child. The natural arguments Caddy and Jason have in this section are a much-needed reprieve from the bizarre nature of the rest of the novel.

I see myself and Vicky arguing about who's listening to who right away. FINALLY, I can connect to the novel in a way I understand. See, Vicky has always been bigger than me, even though I'm the oldest. Naturally, she had a greater aversion to doing what I said because of her size. I remember once Mom and Dad had stepped out to go get milk or something from the grocery store. They said that Vicky had to "mind" me. Right after they left, Vicky started jumping on our already broken couch. I told her to stop. That started the same argument Caddy and Jason have.
"Vicky, you're supposed to listen to me. Mom and Dad said so."
"I don't have to listen to you! You're not Mom!"
"You're still supposed to listen to me!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yess-huh!"
And so on and so forth. The bickering ended with Vicky disowning me and lasted until they came back from the store. When Caddy rebukes Quentin for not eating by saying, "You've got to eat if I say you have," I'm right there with her going, "Respect her parentally-deigned authority, kid!" I'm sure Vicky would take Quentin's--and especially Jason's--side.

The natural rivalry between Jason and Caddy reflects the author's understanding of the usual when all we the readers have known is his mastery of the strange. Twain and Faulkner (when necessary) can capture the life and heart of a youth so well that one would think he was nine. I ask of Faulkner, as Quentin might (though minus his animosity), "Did he have a sister?"

Admittedly, the scene turns a little creepy once we learn that Quentin has/had incestual thoughts about Caddy. But whatevs. (737)

I would like to note that my word count is unintentionally also a kind of plane. Awesome!

*I realize that you may not understand this reference. Here is an explanation: "Pan de Vida" is one of my favorite eucharist songs that talks about how God is the substanence of life and how we should follow what He does by sacrificing himself for our life. Entiendame? It's really a great song.

Hope you enjoyed the blog.