45 pages • 1 hour read
The Innocents Abroad
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Themes
Travel Broadens the Mind
In the Conclusion of the book, Twain recommends regular travel as a means of expanding one’s viewpoint and destroying prejudice:
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime (512).
In some respects, Twain’s experiences on the trip reflect this idea. He and his friends see natural wonders and artistic achievements that provoke awe and wonder. They meet people, like the French, whose approach to life is refreshingly different from their own and from which they can learn.
Yet in other respects, the principle clashes with what we have read in the book. The idea of broad-mindedness seems at variance with Twain’s harsh comments on foreign cultures, as many of his harsher comments may be tongue-in-cheek. Perhaps the principle represents a conclusion Twain has reached with the passage of time, after having reflected more deeply on the trip.
The idea of “broadening the mind” also seems ironic in light of Twain’s reaction to the Holy Land, particularly Jerusalem, as being smaller and dirtier than he had imagined it. In a sense, Twain’s contact with the actual Holy Land (as distinct from the Holy Land of the imagination) causes it to shrink in his mind. Similarly, his disastrous session in the Turkish bath in Constantinople destroys all his childhood fantasies about the Middle Eastern lifestyle. Experiences like these make Twain disenchanted about foreign cultures that he had previously idealized. Thus, we might question how true Twain’s principle is to his experiences on the voyage, and to travel in general.
History versus Modernity
Twain frames the trip as a confrontation between the Old World (Europe and the Middle East) and the New World (America). The Old World represents history and tradition—as well as corruption and stagnation—while America represents modernity, progress, and technological advancement. An illustration Twain uses repeatedly is that of farming methods: Older societies tend to plow with simple sharpened sticks, whereas Americans have developed sophisticated plowing machines using fire and vapor.
Twain’s viewpoint can be traced to the founding fathers of America, who saw themselves as escaping the political despotism and stratified society of Europe and making an “experiment” in liberty and democracy in the New World. Twain views the Old World as filled with despotic and oppressive governments, social and cultural pretension, and physical privations (dirt, illness, deformity, and poverty). He plays these privations against the prosperity and freedom enjoyed in America.
This is dramatized in a memorable passage in Chapter 26, during Twain’s stay in Rome. He satirically presents the reactions of an imaginary inhabitant of the Roman campagna visiting America for the first time. The Roman (a bit of a strawman in Twain’s treatment) is amazed at the religious freedom, widespread literacy and education, cleanliness and hygiene, democratic participation, and economic prosperity he sees in America. Twain implies that the Roman has more to discover in America than the American does in Rome, because the conditions of life in America are so much more novel.
At the same time, the dichotomy is not simply between the Old World and the New. Twain sees Europe as being more progressive, and closer in spirit to the United States, than the Middle East. This is shown in Chapter 13 when the French Emperor and Turkish Sultan appear together in a military review in Paris, where Louis Napoleon is presented as enlightened and progressive and Abdul-Aziz as benighted and despotic.
Art Appreciation
Twain professes to have little appreciation of art, finding more meaning in technological achievement. However, his extensive discussions of the paintings and other works of art he sees belies this appreciation. What Twain mainly objects to is the worshipful attitude displayed by tourists toward the “old masters.” He believes that Americans in Europe tend to look at art uncritically and even snobbishly, using high-flown terminology (“expression,” “tone”) and claiming to see things that are no longer visible. For example, Twain points out that Leonardo’s Last Supper has deteriorated to the point where its beauty is no longer evident; he finds the modern copies nicer to look at than the original. Twain is also frustrated by the fact that the experts consider the art he seems most to enjoy as “inferior.” This contributes further to Twain’s feeling out of the loop when it comes to art.
An avid democrat, Twain sees the old masters as flawed people who exalted their princely patrons too highly. Twain also wishes that the old masters had varied their subject matter a bit more from the usual depictions of saints and martyrs—by depicting a contemporary event such as Columbus’s discovery of America, for example.
Some of Twain’s attitude toward art could be attributed to fatigue at the sheer quantity of it in Italy. He finds wall-to-wall picture displays overwhelming and believes that viewers could better absorb art in smaller doses. For this reason, he prefers the sparser way art is displayed at the Art Academy of New York. Twain is generally more receptive to architecture and greatly admires the Cathedral of Milan, calling it the greatest building ever conceived.
In sum, Twain’s attitude toward art is complex and ambivalent: While mocking the European air of superiority about its culture, he shows at times a genuine appreciation and awe for that culture.
In Chapter 23 and elsewhere, Twain refers to art of the “Renaissance,” but he uses this term in a different sense than we mean it today. When Twain refers to the “old masters,” he means the artists we refer today as “Renaissance” artists (e.g., Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, etc.). When Twain uses the term “Renaissance,” he is describing artists who lived in periods after the old masters and who produced art of supposedly lesser quality—but art that Twain prefers.
Chauvinism/the “Ugly American”
The phrase “ugly American” is defined in Merriam Webster’s Dictionary as “an American in a foreign country whose behavior is offensive to the people of that country.” Although the phrase originated long after Twain’s time, the concept forms much of the basis of The Innocents Abroad. Twain’s traveling companions—and at times Twain himself—exhibit boorish or chauvinist behavior such as breaking off pieces of tourist sites to bring home as souvenirs, trampling on a Muslim prayer mat, shouting bad French, stealing grapes from a field, and calling all their tour guides “Ferguson” instead of bothering to learn their names.
With regard to the foreign people they met, Twain says (perhaps tongue-in-cheek) that he and his friends “made them feel rather small” and “bore down on them with America’s greatness until we crushed them” (506). Yet he hastens to add that they “took kindly to the manners and customs” (506) and enthusiastically wore the local dress, such as donning fezzes and sashes in Constantinople. For the most part, Twain depicts the boorish behavior in a humorous light. The exceptions are the vandalism of tourist sites and the desecration of the prayer mat, both of which he condemns.
The “ugly American” image of some of Twain’s fellow travelers is tempered by their strong interest in the history and religious significance of the places they visit. They are devout Christians (Twain describes the prayer meetings and hymn singing on board the ship) who are interested in discovering the roots of their religion. Moreover, they show a cultivated refinement, engaging in such pursuits as ballroom dancing and diary writing.
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