FREE ESSAY ON CONNECTICUT YANK

CONNECTICUT YANK

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a complicated novel that fundamentally
deals with the concept of the human experience. Hank Morgan is a nineteenth century
mechanic who is transported back thirteen centuries to medieval Britain, during the time
of King Arthur. After his initial shock, he becomes determined to civilize Camelot by
introducing modern industrial technology. At an initial look Twain seems to be favoring
the industrialized capitalist society that he lives in over the feudal society of
medieval Britain. But in a closer examination of the work it becomes clear that this
observation is much too simple, as the industrial world that Hank Morgan creates is
destroyed. Therefore the book can be viewed as a working out of the idea that a quick
change in a civilization brings disaster. Civilization and change need to be developed,
or at least explained within the culture itself, in order for them to become lasting
institutions. Hank's failing is that he believes that he is superior to everyone, and
that he can change the society of Camelot simply by introducing technology. 
Hank becomes the boss of Camelot, and begins his plans to free the serfs and establish a
republic. However his plans are destined to fail because he is incapable of understanding
values that are different from his own; he is the ultimate know-it all, and sets out to
remake the world in his own image. He is given the choicest suite of apartments in the
castle, after the king's(Twain 31), but he criticizes them because they lack the
conveniences of the nineteenth century, such as a three-color God-Bless-Our-Home over the
door(Twain 32). His lack of acceptance of the local culture is also seen through his
Victorian modesty, he sleeps in his armor because it would have seemed so like undressing
before folk(Twain 60), even though he had clothes on underneath, and he is repelled by
the language used in mixed company. 
Although Hank says he only wants to help the poor people of Britain who in his words ...
were merely modified savages(Twain 61), create a society like his own where ...all
political power is inherent in the people...(Twain 65) instead he promotes himself to the
level of despot. He continually criticizes the structure of feudal society because it was
a place where, a right to say how the country should be governed was restricted to six
persons in each thousand of its population(Twain 65), but he sees himself above reproof.
Here I was, a giant among pigmies, a man among children, a master intelligence among
moles...(Twain 40). Hank forgets his own humanity and begins to believe that his
knowledge makes him more of a man, just as the nobility that he shunned believed they
were better than the serfs because of the titles they held. 
Hank Morgan uses his superior knowledge of technology to gain personal power. It soon
becomes clear that even though thirteen hundred years have given Hank a technological
advantage, they haven't made him any smarter. 
Hank possesses all of this technological knowledge, but fails to understand the
implications that this knowledge will have on the people of the Camelot. Instead of
educating the general public and teaching them how and why something works instead he
sends a select few to his man factories. 
He uses his knowledge instead to produce fantastic miracles, which although they give him
personal power, continue to perpetuate the superstitions of the populace that he is
trying to overcome. For example, Hank is asked to fix the well at the Valley of Holiness.
He installs a pump that will return the water, but instead of explaining the principle
behind the pump, Hank keeps the people in the dark and passes off the project as a great
miracle. Afterward he says, ...the populace uncovered and fell reverently to make a wide
way for me, as if I had been some kind of superior being-and I was.(Twain 131) It is
evident from this that Hank is obsessed with his power. It seems ironic that the very
ignorance that he deplores in the people is the same thing allows him to obtain power. It
is this lack of willingness to share his knowledge that will destroy him in the end.
Medieval society is a place where things just happen, and are not explained. Cause and
effect...don't exist in Camelot. Things happen to people in Camelot without purpose,
plan, or coherence; God twists and turns the road whenever and however he pleases.(George
60) Hank's world is finally destroyed because he forgot this basic principle of medieval
life. He tried to establish the physical aspects of modern industrial life, but he
ignored the intellectual ones. He showed all his subjects how to do things, but not why.
He failed to develop the reasoning skills of his subjects; therefore in the absence of
his magic they reverted back to the safety of the Established Church. When Hank returns
from France he finds the nation in turmoil. He happily finds Clarence, but only to
discover that the Church has issued an Interdict, and he has only fifty-two followers
left who are all young boys. When Hank questions Clarence as to why only boys he says,
Because all the others were born in an atmosphere of superstition and reared in it. It is
in their blood and bones. The people of Camelot were willing to follow Hank because he
was a great magician, not because he had changed their lives in any fundamental way. As
soon as a greater power revealed itself to them, they changed their loyalty once again.
If Hank had thought to make the citizens of Camelot free thinkers with analytical
abilities, instead of susceptible masses who would be awed at his great miracles, his
plans for a republic may have worked.
The novel ends with the horrible Battle of the Sand Belt where Hank kills thousand
knights with an electrified fence. It seems strange that the Yankee was able to kill so
many of the knights in this way. Why didn't they stop coming at the fence after the first
man was killed? Once again it is because of the paradigm that existed within the knightly
order that Hank could not kill no matter how many knights lay dead at his feet. The
knights believed in magic. Just because the fence killed another knight did not mean it
would kill them too, magic is unpredicable, like god. It was their duty to siege the
fence or to die trying no matter what the odds might be.
It is evident by the end of the text that Hank failed in his dream of civilizing Camelot
because he failed to change the accepted paradigm. He wished to bring technology to the
people, but he only succeeded in bringing them a new magic that was as unpredictable as
the rest of their lives.