Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce
For the past few weeks in my American Literature II class we have been studying the literary movement in America known as Realism. Among the first Realist writers were such literary giants as Mark Twain, Henry James, William Dean Howells, Ambrose Bierce, Stephen Crane, etc. Realism took a sharp turn away from the Romantic movement where people focused on the ideal of nature, people, and ideas, to portrayals of how life really is for the everyday person.
I must admit that for the majority of my life, I have identified and seen my life through a Romantic’s lenses. I would write about and see my world through the same eyes as Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, and Whitman. I could have sat and wrote a ridiculously long poem about the manifold virtues of nature and “Tintern Abbey”. I could have planted myself under a tree for an hour or so and written an “Ode to a Nightingale” as I silently listened to its song. I could have written about a “Bright Star” where men were captivated with a woman’s love and planned on remaining forever faithful. I could have written an “Ode to the West Wind,” because I believed all men had the potential to be inspired and inspire. I could have written a “Song of Myself” where I celebrate the commonality of man and the American spirit. Now, don’t get me wrong. I do not even pretend to give myself the false illusion that I could have penned any of those great works mentioned above. I am merely stating that I had the same idealistic mindset that could have made me produce an amateur version extolling life’s perfections.
However, everything that I have been reading for classes encourage me to think that life is one big disappointment. I guess after studying British literature for two years, I was easily caught up in Romantic thinking. What I see on the news and events happening all around me also preclude that there are few positive points. Lately the ugliness of life, the part that many Romantics did not discuss, and if they did, they found some way to miraculously overlook it with a positive note, has been highlighted for me in my studies.
I was not aware of this fact until about two weeks ago, but writers such as Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce became misanthropes in their later years. If you were like me, you probably do not know what a misanthrope is (I personally think that it was to my credit that this word was not in my vocabulary and before now I have never had a need for it). A misanthrope is someone who becomes so disgusted with the world around them that they grow to hate all of humanity. These authors could not find any redeemable quality in man, the world, or themselves. They hated life and had no faith in people, and their later works reflect this contempt.
I can see how such writers became this way when they focused on the reality of the human condition. Lately, I found that many of life’s maxims that I thought were not necessarily true, really are. What I have read for classes, others have experienced, and my own experiences have confirmed that life is not perfect and will never be. I have learned that even when you think you know someone, you really don't. I have found out that people are completely selfish and will do anything to please themselves. I have discovered that such statements as “There is nothing like a break up or marriage to reveal someone’s true colors” and the fact that you cannot recover the “word after its said, the moment after its missed, and the time after its gone” are completely sad and true. I now know that it is naive to think that at the center of people’s motives is other people’s good. I recognize people who really do live “unlived lives” like a Henry James’ character. I realize that people do not want to listen to wisdom and are willing to sacrifice “what they want most for what they want now”. I understand now that people do not always have the courage to get what they want, and for that reason will never have it. I have seen how people become versions of themselves that a younger (perhaps wiser) version or a version even six months ago would have been ashamed of. I have witnessed people lose faith and become miserable for it.
There have been some dark moments where I have entertained misanthropic thoughts because I have become disgusted by what I read and see around me. However, I do not for one second exclude myself from the above list of common and extremely hurtful human tendencies. I know I have deeply hurt others because I committed some of the above infractions.
Again, I understand how Mr. Twain and Mr. Bierce hated humanity because that is all they put their hope in. I too would probably become a misanthrope if all I had to look to was my fellow fallen man and myself. However, I have a greater hope. God has been teaching me lately that when we build our hope around others and ourselves, we are sure to be disappointed. Throughout all of this dose of realism, I cannot describe the immense joy that God has given me, because He has showed me that no matter what, He will never leave me and His love and mercy are unfathomable. I have to look at God in man, and love them despite of what I see, because I need God just as much as they do. I think that these quotes by Mother Teresa are appropriate for what I am failing to express here. Even though she did not really believe God had much grace for her, she did understand that she was to show grace to others.
“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us…Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword…For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus or Lord.” Romans 8: 31,35, 38-39.
“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3
