“The Mysterious Stranger” by Mark Twain is a novel revolving around humanity and its greatest sins. Introducing Satan as one of the main characters, the author reveals the lack of morals as one of the main shortcomings affecting everyone. Through his words, Twain describes the sins and problems the majority prefer to disregard. For instance, describing the human race, Satan says that he knows it, “It suppresses its feelings and its beliefs” and ignores kindness, morals, and good things (Twain). It leads to the rule of the minority, while the majority has to adapt and act violently. The supernatural nature of Satan helps to understand the author’s idea better. He easily kills two people with no feelings, which is compared to people killing flies (Twain). The act does not lead to rejections or other serious events, making the comparison even stronger. The lack of morals leads to deprecating human lives and the emergence of new problems.
At the same time, the novel offers ways to resolve the problem. Twain asks readers to reject the idea of their supernatural nature permissiveness. These beliefs lead to the worsening of morals and the emergence of ethical issues (Kravitz 65). Instead, it is vital to demonstrate understanding and attention to all aspects or problems of minorities. Only under these conditions, it is possible to avoid being similar to Satan and start living a complete and ethical life. In such a way, trying to attract people’s attention to a serious problem, Twain also offers methods to resolve it.
Works Cited
Kravitz, Bennett. “Mark Twain’s satanic existentialist: The Mysterious Stranger.” European Journal of American Culture, vol. 33, no. 1, 2014, pp. 61-74.
Twain, Mark. “The Mysterious Stranger.” Project Gutenberg, 2001.