The Damned Human Race
"The Damned Human Race"
by Mark Twain
Mark Twain, also known as Samuel Clemens, wastes no time getting to the point and expressing his opinions. In his story, "The Damned Human Race," it is obvious that his target is the whole human race. By disagreeing with Darwin's theory of the ascent of man from the lower animals, Twain develops his own ideas and pursues to prove them right in contrast to Darwin. He is able to do this by using the scientific method. Characterized as a humorist, Mark Twain demonstrates in "The Damned Human Race" his opinion that man is descended from the higher animals using different experiments to prove his judgments, and finally concludes, with reason, that "we are not as important, perhaps, as we had all along supposed we were" (McDonald, Neilson, and Trotter 456).
Twain's experiments were made in the London Zoological Gardens which became long and tiring work. Before displaying his experiments he stated that he was satisfied with the results and said "that the human race is of one distinct species" and "that the quadrupeds are a distinct family also" (451). In the first experiment Twain involved some hunters of an English earl and an anaconda. By observing the hunt of the earl, which resulted in the killing of 72 buffalo and only one had been eaten, and the anaconda, which had seven calves in its cage, but only ate one and left the others alone, Twain proved simply that the earl hunters are cruel and the anaconda is not. Obviously, the hunters destroyed what they had no use for and the snake left alone what he didn't need. Twain also goes on to tell that men who have money are never satisfied and always want more. Neal Boortz, an author and nationally syndicated libertarian talk-show host, explains in his opinion how these people get there money:
These people are rich because they exploited people. They got their money by climbing on the backs of working people like you! They were lucky! They inherited it! They...
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