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 19th 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>.
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