A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. • Eusebio • Carlos • Gustavo

Author • Mark Twain (Pen name): • Born as Samuel Langhorne on November 30, 1835 and died in 1910. • He was an american author, humorist. "greatest American humorist of his age, and William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature. • He is most noted for his novels. • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and its sequel. • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "the Great American Novel.” • However, he lacked financial acumen. • He made money writing letters. • But sometimes got of track in other adventures in particular the Paige Compositor then he became broke. • He was able to overcome bankrupcy with the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers and he worked ot pay them back • Ironically he was born during a visit by Halley's Comet, he died on its return.

Character’s List • The Yankee (or Hank Morgan)- • The narrator of the book, • Later on he is known as “The Boss” by the England commoners. • Since he is from the future he strongly believes in change and development. • He is a devout Protestant who values religious freedom and blames the Established Catholic Church for many of the ills of medieval society. • Clarence • Yankee’s trusted friend. • Is a page • Is converted to an official 19th century man with all of the Yankee's ideals of the future. • Sandy (Alisande) • A flighty pretty woman, that goes to the court to seek assistance and becomes “Attached” to the Yankee • She helps the Yankee and it is a mutual relationship in where they teach each other valuable life lessons • King Arthur • King of England at that time • A not son wise not so dumb person that if he fails he can correct himself and usually does.

Character’s List (2) • Merlin • The Machiavellian magician, deceptive and vindictive • He failed at most if not all his tricks and schemes • Sir Lancelot (“The invincible) • The ideal “knight in shining armor” • Has all the basic traits of a knight

Question Sir Lancelot • __________ was the most honorable man in the book • ______ always failed in his schemes • Officially ________ became a 19th man. • ___________ was a not smart but not dumb ruler. • The only female Character I spoke of is? What was she Like? • Hank Morgan had what 3 important traits that I mentioned? Merlin Clarence King Arthur Sandy • Strongly believes in change and development. • Later on he is known as “The Boss” • He is a devout Protestant who values religious freedom and blames the Established Catholic Church for many of the ills of medieval society.

Events to remember: Introduction to the Stranger • After passing out from the blow, Hank describes waking up underneath an oak tree in a rural area of Camelot where a knight questions him for trespassing upon his land, and after establishing rapport, leads him towards Camelot castle. • Hank is ridiculed at King Arthur's court for his strange appearance and dress, and sentenced by King Arthur's court (and particularly by the magician Merlin) to burn at the stake on June 22nd. • When the King decides to burn him at the stake, the eclipse comes by surprise to Hank. Hank quickly uses this to his advantage and convinces the people that he caused the eclipse. He makes a bargain with the King and ends up being released and becomes the second most powerful person in the kingdom. • Hank is given the position of principal minister to the King, and treated by all with utmost fear and awe. His celebrity brings him to be known by a new title, elected by the people — "The Boss".

Quiz • How does Hank smarts help him in this event? He uses his knowledge of the eclipse to save his life and gain leader ship in that country

Events to remember: The Takeover • Hank secretly manufactures gunpowder and a lightning rod, plants explosive charges in Merlin's tower, then places the lightning rod at the top and runs a wire to the explosive charges. (Merlin’s tower explodes…) • Hank Morgan, in his position as King's Minister, uses his authority and his modern knowledge to industrialize the country behind the back of the rest of the ruling class. • His assistant is Clarence, a young boy he meets at court, whom he educates and gradually lets in on most of his secrets, and eventually comes to rely on heavily. Hank sets up secret schools, which teach modern ideas and modern English, thereby removing the new generation from medieval concepts, and secretly constructs hidden factories, which produce modern tools and weapons.

Quiz • Why does he feel that he needs to industrialize the country? He is from the 19th century, being that he is acustum to many technologies that arent available. By industralizing them he believes that this may help the future and help them. It really just depends

Events to remember: The Takeover (1) • A misunderstanding causes Sir Sagramore to challenge Hank to a duel to the death; the combat will take place when Sagramore returns from his quest for the Holy Grail. Hank accepts, and spends the next few years building up 19th-century infrastructure behind the nobility's back. • At this point, he undertakes an adventure with a wandering girl named Sandy to save her royal mistresses being held captive by ogres. On the way, Hank struggles with the inconveniences of medieval plate armor, and also encounters Morgan le Fay. The "princesses", "ogres" and "castles" are all revealed to be actually pigs owned by peasant swineherds, although to Sandy they still appear as royalty. Hank buys the pigs from the peasants and the two leave.

Quiz • Why does Sir Sigramore go and finish his quest before the duel? What trait leads him to do this? • Why does Hank stuggle with medieval armor? He Shows that he has again the basic characteristics of a knight. So he starts what he finishes especially the quest for the Holy Grail. He shows honor to the Church by dedicating himself to the quest. Being a 19th century man he finds so much layer of metal armor unconfortable, sometime unnecessary.

Events to remember: The Takeover (2) • Merlin fails, he claims that the fountain has been corrupted by a demon, They repair the fountain and Hank begins the "banishment" of the demon. At the end of several long German language phrases, he says "BGWJJILLIGKKK", which is simply a load of gibberish, but Merlin agrees with Hank that this is the name of the demon. The fountain restored. • Hank goes on to debunk another magician who claims to be able to tell what any person in the world is doing, including King Arthur. However, Hank knows that the King is riding out to see the restored fountain, and not "resting from the chase" as the "false prophet" had foretold to the people. Hank correctly states that the King will arrive in the valley. • Hank has an idea to travel amongst the poor disguised as a peasant to find out how they truly live. King Arthur joins him, but has extreme difficulty in acting like a peasant convincingly.

Quiz • Why does Hank go and live amongts the people with King Arthur? To learn how the people live to see how they can help the majority (the peasants). By doing this they’re becoming better leader since they try to help the people. They have good intentions.

Events to remember: The Takeover (3) • A nobleman later arrests them and sells them into slavery. • Hank steals a piece of metal in London and uses it to create a makeshift lock pick. before he can free the king, a man enters their quarters in the dark. Mistaking him for the slave driver, Hank rushes after him alone and starts a fight with him. They are both arrested. • The man (slave master) becomes enraged and begins beating his other slaves, who fight back and kill him. All the slaves, including the king, will be hanged as soon as the missing one — Hank — is found. • Hank is captured, but he and Arthur are rescued by a party of knights led by Lancelot, riding bicycles. Following this, the king becomes extremely bitter against slavery and vows to abolish it when they get free, much to Hank's delight.

Quiz • What does the anecdote of slavery have to do with this quote: “Until we extend the circle of our compassion to all living things, we will not ourselves find peace” AlbertSchweitzer. Until one doesn’t place themselves in someones elses shoes they may think whatever they want even if its far from reality. Slavery is cruel and unhuman, in that time the High Class thought they were born to do that. Once put in a slaves shoes he now knows how inhumane it is he feels compassion and wants immediately to abolish it. Albert Schweitzer makes this clear in this quote by saying that if we don’t go and feel compasion for other on doesn’t know and what is unknown scares people.

Events to remember: The Takeover (4) • Sagramore returns from his quest, and fights Hank. Hank defeats him and seven others, including Galahad and Lancelot, using a lasso. When Merlin steals Hank's lasso, Sagramore returns to challenge him again. This time, Hank kills him with a revolver. He proceeds to challenge the knights of England to attack him in mass, which they do. After he kills nine more knights with his revolvers, the rest break and flee. The next day, Hank reveals his 19th century infrastructure to the country.

Quiz • Was Hanks way of revealing the 19th century infrastructure harsh? Or was it ok under the situation he was in? It was harsh since he showed it with violence, but under the situation he was in it was also acceptable since he was under attack. So depends how you weigh it out.

Events to remember: The Interdict (5) • Three years later, Hank has married Sandy and they have a baby. While asleep and dreaming, Hank says, "Hello-Central" , this becomes her name. • The baby falls critically ill and Hank's doctors advise him to take his family overseas while the baby recovers. In reality, it is a plot by the Catholic Church to get Hank out of the country, leaving the country without effective leadership. • During the weeks that Hank is absent, Arthur discovers Guinevere's infidelity with Lancelot. This causes a war between Lancelot and Arthur, who is eventually killed by Sir Mordred.

Quiz • Why is the roll of the leader in the society so important that the church needs to take him out so they may revolt? The people in the sixth century were very superstitious and they listened to the Church even when what they were promoting was wrong. (Crusades) but they didn’t know since they werent explained correctly. So when the leader Hank left they didn’t have the counter to the church to explain to them what they were doing so while he was away the people revolted thanks to the church.

Events to remember: The Interdict (6) • The church then publishes "The Interdict" which causes all people to break away from Hank and revolt. Hank meets with his good friend Clarence who informs him of the war thus far. As time goes on, Clarence gathers 52 young cadets, from ages 14 to 17, who are to fight against all of England. Hank's band fortifies itself in Merlin's Cave with a minefield, electric wire and Gatling guns. The Catholic Church sends an army of 30,000 knights to attack them, but the knights are slaughtered. • However, Hank's men are now trapped in the cave by a wall of dead bodies. Hank attempts to go offer aid to any wounded, but is stabbed by the first man that they encounter.

O.O A quiz. • How does the man that stabbed Hank show honor to the catholic church? He was brainwashed to such an extent that when his enemy tries to help him and he really means good he still thinks he is a bad person. So he shows honor to the church by stabbing hank.

Events to remember: The Interdict (7) • One night, Clarence finds Merlin weaving a spell over Hank, proclaiming that he shall sleep for 1,300 years. Merlin begins laughing deliriously, but ends up electrocuting himself on one of the electric wires. Clarence and the others all apparently die from disease in the cave. • More than a millennium later, the narrator finishes the manuscript and finds Hank on his deathbed having a dream about Sandy. He attempts to make one last "effect", but dies before he can finish it.

OMG NO QUIZ 

Discussion Questions:Please get a random piece of loose leaf and answer the following Questions. Arigato gosaimasu! =) • How does Hank Morgan use his technological knowledge to gain power? • Discuss Hank Morgan’s total failure to modernize Camelot in terms of his inventions, his attention to human needs, and his own prejudices. • How well does power set with Hank? That is, does he use his power for the betterment of the people or for the glory of Hank Morgan?

Answers for Discussion Questions:(prt.3) • How does Hank Morgan use his technological knowledge to gain power? • Hank Morgan uses his technological knowledge to gain power by taking advantage of people’s ignorance towards the sciences to prove he uses magical powers and rapidly becomes well-known throughout Camelot; One great example is when Hank plants gunpowder barrels inside Merlin’s tower and uses lightning to cause an explosion proving his magical powers are superior to Merlin’s.

Answers for Discussion Questions: (prt.2) • Discuss Hank Morgan’s total failure to modernize Camelot in terms of his inventions, his attention to human needs, and his own prejudices. • After proving his power in the tournament by using his weapons, he thought that nothing else was going to happen that might make him lose everything he has worked for. • First his inventions were mostly weapons and devices intended on helping his needs of proving his power. • Second his attention to human needs was a little of you cant expect with just giving them education they can prosper out of. • And some of his prejudices were misguided which led to his unfortunate demise…

Answers for Discussion Questions: (prt.3) • How well does power set with Hank? That is, does he use his power for the betterment of the people or for the glory of Hank Morgan? • Hank is a man with very high morals; he wants to use power for the betterment of the people, unlike most nobles and priests who didn’t care for the people’s needs but only for theirs. While Hanks uses his powers for the betterment of the people he glorifies himself since he usually proves his power over Merlin’s, so both come hand in hand sometimes it may wave to proving power or to helping power.

Quotations: Write about these quotations and your understanding to them. =) • What does Mark Twain mean when he says in the Connecticut Yankee: “How empty is theory in presence of fact!”? • What does Mark Twain mean when he says in the Connecticut Yankee: “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” • What does Mark Twain mean when he says in the Connecticut Yankee: “Old habit of mind is one of the toughest things to get away from in the world. It transmits itself like physical form and feature.”

Quotations and meanings: • What does Mark Twain mean when he says in the Connecticut Yankee: “How empty is theory in presence of fact!”? • What Mark Twain is trying to say is that, if what you state has no fact behind it, it will become vague and lose credibility. This is used in the book since The Boss, or Hank Morgan is a 19th century (Romantic), that one of the basic traits of being a Romantic man is finding perfection, or having everything perfect in his mind (In other words no confusion) so in theory he wants proof of everything. When he encounters such superstition in the 6th Century he approaches doubt, therefore to clear that doubt he wants proof of everything. Which creates conflict between him and the Catholic Church.

Quotations and meanings: • What does Mark Twain mean when he says in the Connecticut Yankee: “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” • What Mark Twain wants to say here is that if your imagination is somewhere else when you analyze things you will only be using the left side (the reasoning side) and therefore you will be clouded by not thinking outside the box. So in conclusion your thinking is limited and when you analyze the things you see, you will only see what is there. Literally what is there, while if your imagination is present you can draw and do a diverse conclusion of what your seeing.

Quotations and meanings: • What does Mark Twain mean when he says in the Connecticut Yankee: “Old habit of mind is one of the toughest things to get away from in the world. It transmits itself like physical form and feature.” • Mark Twain is trying to communicate to us that old habits are hard to break from, and especially habits that have been almost engraved into our minds, which becomes a part of your life. In this book this is used to describe Hank’s conflict with trying to convert people brainwashed by the Church, to follow and understand the ways of science and reasoning.

Satire - The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. • Parody - Produce a humorously exaggerated imitation of (a writer, artist, or genre).

Satires found in the novel • Satire in monarchy (The idea of satire) • Hank hated the monarchy because they abuse their power but in the use of irony again of mark twain..."the yankee" abuse his knowledge of science to manipulate the people around him • Satire in church (The idea of satire) • Hank hated the church because it controlled everything but...in the use of mark twain's irony...he ended up being a "church" himself

Parody found in the novel • Mark Twain shows himself as a master of irony when he exposes the social evils of the times and the hypocrisy of the characters humorously. The novel starts on a note of irony. Hank Morgan, the modern American finds himself in the ancient court of King Arthur. At the court, Morgan condemns the knights for telling lies. However, when he is put inside the dungeon, he also tells a lie to escape bondage. He calls himself a magician who can create a calamity and darken the world if he must. Morgan, the rationalist, projects himself as a man dabbling in black magic and the supernatural. He reveals the scientific phenomenon of the solar eclipse as a devastating calamity darkening Camelot. People hold him in awe and the King accepts him as a minister in his court. So by lying and fooling the people, he earns their favor. Later, he destroys the tower of Merlin through explosives and lighted wires, to prove his credibility. Twain creates an ironic situation not only out of the ignorance and superstition of the people, but also out of the inconsistency in the behavior of Morgan.

Parody found in the novel • Morgan condemns royalty for thinking themselves superior to their subjects, yet he himself boasts and brags about his powers and his position. Over and over again, he uses his ordinary knowledge from the nineteenth century to make the people think he has extraordinary powers and he never confesses the truth. The ultimate irony is that when it is all over, and he is sent back to the nineteenth century, he realizes the beauty in Camelot's purity and longs to return. He has been given back his place in the technologically and industrially advanced nineteenth century, but all he wants is Camelot.

The End

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.