TOW #9: Corn Pone Opinions

Mark Twain describes in detail his childhood experiences with a “gay and impudent young black man - a slave”(1) named Jerry. He outlines for the reader how this boy was quite fond of “preaching sermon top of his master’s wood pile” (1) with a young Twain as his only audience. He speaks of the boy’s views on where man forms his beliefs, saying that it is easy to determine where a man forms his opinions from, because this is always the source of the man’s corn pone, as well.  

Using the same technique as Lynne Truss in her examination of English punctuation in Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, Twain then expands this specific example to represent his own overarching views on where man forms his opinions from. This lengthy examination of his own views rounds out the remainder of Corn-Pone Opinions. He writes that “Jerry was right, in the main, but...he did not got far enough” (2.) Twain then informs the audience of his expanded views on Jerry’s corn-pone reasoning. He writes on page 2 that a coldly-thought-out and independently reasoned thought was a “most rare thing, if it has indeed ever existed.” 

He uses the examples of a hoop-skirt, and English table-setting habits to establish his belief that man in general operates with a sort of hive mentality, following all the trends of society, doing what the majority does in order to gain acceptance and approval from his fellow man, no matter how daft and unreasoning that fellow man may be. He concludes the essay by writing that man’s tendency to mistake feeling, emotion, and instinctual behavior for thought has led to the creation of a supposedly positive aggregation, called a boon, which represents Public Opinion. This boon is highly regarded, and considered by some to be the “Voice of God” (5.) In this way, Twain expands the views of a black slave living in Missouri in the 19th century to be indicative of a trend that permeates all of human society through all ages.

In so far as credibility is concerned, it is pertinent to know that Mark Twain had a rural childhood, spent on the southern ranges of the North American frontier. He was surrounded in his early years by a culture that propagated slavery and embraced new technology such as the steam engine. He was privy to a unique view of man’s tendency to embrace Public Opinion, Corn-Pone Opinion, if you will, without fail. The culture that he was reared in believed in slavery with little dissent, and was homogenous in it’s cultural, religious and social beliefs. This makes him a credible source to provide commentary on this era, this setting, and its social climate. The context of this essay is simply Mark Twain’s recollection of his childhood friend’s observations on man’s tendency to think collectively, and how he has chosen to embrace and expand these beliefs to vindicate his own. Twain’s purpose in writing Corn-Pone Opinions was primarily to relate his views on society’s collective mindset to the general public. His writing is said to have appealed to men, women, children, and the elderly alike (Zhang). This belief is applicable especially in the case of Corn-Pone Opinions due to the nature and topic of the essay. Given that Mark Twain’s works were mainly published in American newsletters and journals, it would appear that his audience was the American general public. Anything more specific than this betrays the broad appeal of Twain’s writing. 

Interestingly enough, the primary rhetorical strategy employed by Twain in Corn-Pone Opinions is essentially the same technique that appears frequently through the course of Truss’ Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. In the same manner that Truss frequently introduces examples, and then proceeds to analyze and expand them to represent her overarching views on English grammar, Twain introduces the example of Jerry the black slave, a childhood friend of his, and his views on the nature of man’s opinions, and how they originate from the same source as man’s corn pone. From this lone example, Twain expatiates his broader beliefs on the nature of society, before tying them back to the original example at the conclusion of the essay.Twain is extremely successful in accomplishing his purpose. He imparts his message that man typically subscribes to a hive mindset in his famously comedic, light fashion. Maintaining this level of relaxation in his writing makes the high-mindedness of his ideas much more palatable.