A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
When I finished The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn I was wondering what my third book by Mark Twain should be. I picked a clever, satirical sci-fi novel. This book was A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is what’s called a “framed story”. It’s about how a tourist in England, assumed to be Mark Twain, meets a stranger who tells him part of his story and then gives him a manuscript that tells the rest of his strange tale. In the last chapter, the tourist has finished reading the manuscript and searches out the stranger, only to find him dying and calling out for the wife and daughter whom he had lived with in sixth-century England. This strangers name is Hank Morgan (Hank is commonly called ‘the boss’) Hank is a practical minded man. He also has a knack for mechanical engineering. He was the head superintendant at a munitions factory in Hartford, Connecticut. This ended when fight with a worker gave him a severe head injury. After this head injury Hank finds himself awaken by a man in old fashioned suit of armor. This man takes Hank prisoner. Hank assumes he is in some sort of insane asylum. This is when he gives his manuscript to the tourist. Completely sedated Hank try’s to find out what asylum this is Hank Morgan talks with a young man who tells him that the year is 528 and that the day is June 19; Morgan has been captured by Sir Kay the Seneschal and he will be shown before the court. Then he will be sent to the dungeons to either rot or be ransomed. Without going into great detail the rest of the book tells the story of Hank’s journeys in sixth century England. Though this book was relatively hard to follow I enjoyed it. I think that I could’ve enjoyed this book a lot more if I had read it for pleasure rather than for an assignment. I had to get a lot of reading done in a short amount of time so I was not extremely thorough when reading. Yet, the writing was more phenomenal than I could’ve even hoped for. Every time I will ever read anything by Mark Twain I will be blown away. Whether it’s his use of social satires or his clever dialects, Mark Twain will always remain high on my list of favorite authors. As I said in my last paragraph the only reason I did not like this book is that it was hard to follow. And I don’t even think that that statement can be fairly judged. This is due to my cram reading of this book. I think I did too much reading in such a little amount of time to fairly judge. But the only negative thing I can base off of my reading is the “framed story” outline. I think I would’ve liked this book better it was in a more simplistic writing format. Concluding this review there is not much else I can say besides it was a good, tough read. If you are into the kind of book that requires a lot of attention to be contributed to, this will be your kind of book! I don’t recommend it for anyone is into quick and easy reads.