Response #1: Mark Twain and 19th Century Journalism

            I believe that Mark Twain’s short stories, “Journalism in Tennessee” and “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once,”  show many instances of irony and journalism of the era, even though they are both fairly hard to analyze. We can also see that Twain is fairly critical about the practice of journalism at that time.

            “Journalism in Tennessee” tells us the story of the narrator’s trip to Tennessee for his health. He starts work at a small local newspaper company, and realizes after writing his first article and a prolonged stay at the office, that the state’s journalism is biased, violent, and only caters to a specific demographic. He comes to the conclusion that the periodical never seeks the truth through its inquiries. Once the narrator brings this up at the newspaper office, many acts of violence and name-calling are directed to him. Soon after, he quits his job and leaves Tennessee. He is modest in his opinion of Tennessee, ironically stating that it’s “stirring.” It is ironic that he came to Tennessee to save his own life, but almost loses it on his first day of work there. It is apparent that Twain did not base this story on reality; all one has to do is look at how flat and boring some of the newspaper’s stories seem to be. The quote, "Thunder and lightning! Do you suppose I am going to speak of those cattle that way? Do you suppose my subscribers are going to stand such gruel as that? Give me the pen!", demonstrates how sensitive people are in the story when it comes to content. It also sheds light on the long-standing customers that the newspaper had to keep happy. It really focuses on how easily people got upset about newspapers at the time. At no point in the story do the characters even consider the events as odd, everything is told in a serious tone. Elements that are opposite of today’s real world journalism occur when the chief editor revises the narrator’s first article on the railroad. He cuts and changes many parts of the article, turning it into something unusual. What remains makes little sense to the reader. In this instance, the inverted pyramid is completely ignored. His focus is on the background information and minor details instead of the who, what, when, where, why, and how. One could say that the newspaper is guilty of reverse yellow journalism. Ultimately, I feel that Twain is showing the reader the common struggle between the journalist and his editor, who often strips their articles down and completely changes them. Twain is also showing us the day to day politics, arguments, and grudges held between members of journalistic offices through the displays of gratuitous violence.

            “How I Edited an Agriculture Paper” describes Mark Twain’s experiences after taking over an agricultural paper. The overarching theme here is a satire of the newspapers that criticize things they know nothing about. Also it seems that putting the narrator in charge of anything is never a good idea. The narrator’s decision to write this story around agriculture is a great one, because most people depended on it for their food in 1870.  At first, he is tasked with presenting his article on agriculture, something that he knows nothing about. An old man soon comes in and criticizes the narrator’s statements on Turnips, causing the man to go hysterical. As expected, violence ensues all over the place and the man storms off. Soon the paper’s real editor arrives stating that while the paper’s reputation has been ruined, it has gotten very popular. This increase in popularity is due to the crazy things stated in the paper. The editor continues to berate and accuse the narrator, he ends his monologue saying that he’ll never go on a vacation again. The narrator then calls the editor names (after vegetables), and argues that a man doesn’t need to know anything about a subject to write an article on it. He proceeds to give many examples, such as: book reviewers, financial leaders, and experts on Indian campaigns. The less a man knows about his assignment, the more pay he’ll receive and attention will be garnered.  He asserts that a man should be able to state whatever he wants in his article, no matter how ridiculous, and never be constrained by the actual facts on the matter at hand. The narrator feels that ignorance is key and that truthful articles are dull and lifeless. He soon quits, stating that he did a good job by getting the paper more viewers. In my opinion, the irony and satire in this short story are even more apparent than in “Journalism in Tennessee.” Once again the inverted pyramid of journalism is blatantly ignored, with an emphasis on random details in the agriculture article. True yellow journalism is at work here, where quality is set aside for quantity. The narrator’s quote, “a solitary individual who could tell a watermelon tree from a peach-vine to save his life,” hilariously demonstrates general ignorance (these two fruits are not grown by these respective methods). In this instance, Twain is satirizing the people who are considered “experts” in the media. The people who are not very qualified in their area of work. These people are talking the talk, while the real experts are walking the walk (scientists, engineers, etc.). The most striking journalistic satire comes from the editor’s lecture on how to write the article; the person who has no skill or business writing articles in the first place. I feel that Mark Twain is critical about journalism in this respect, because authors lose their creative control as soon as the editor steps in.

            Overall, Mark Twain makes some grand gestures of irony and satire in his short stories: “Journalism in Tennessee” and “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once.” One can easily identify the 19^th century American journalism in his stories. Depending on the clientele, the papers in question tend to be made into exciting or boring passages. This shows us that writers are often at the mercy of their editors, a frustrating circumstance that Twain is critical of.

Works Cited

Gahr, Elton. "Short Story Reviews: How I Edited an Agriculture Paper, by Mark Twain." Helium. Helium, 24 Sept. 2010. Web. 04 June 2012. <http://www.helium.com/items/1963461-short-story-reviews-how-i-edited-an-agriculture-paper-by-mark-twain>.

Gahr, Elton. "Short Story Reviews: Journalism in Tennessee, by Mark Twain." Helium. Helium, 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 04 June 2012. <http://www.helium.com/items/1951193-short-story-reviews-journalism-in-tennessee-by-mark-twain>.

"How I Edited an Agricultural Paper By: Mark Twain." How I Edited an Agricultural Paper By: Mark Twain - Home. Web. 04 June 2012. <http://twainshameek.weebly.com/index.html>.