Mark Twain and Industrial America: Explorations in A Connecticut Yankee

Science and Magic
Lesson Plan 6

From the University of California edition, 1983.

Objectives

After this lesson, students will understand:

the relationship between science and magic in Connecticut Yankee.
the relationship between science and magic in late-nineteenth-century America.

Students will know:

the various definitions of "magic" as defined by Hank Morgan, Merlin, the Britons, and Mark Twain.
why sudden new technology can seem like magic to a culture.

Students will be able to:

analyze passages where magic and science are showcased in the novel.
list ways in which late-nineteenth-century Americans equated science with magic.

Materials

Resource Pages 1, 2, 3, and 4, if necessary.
Pencil/pen and paper
Connecticut Yankee

Procedure

Step 1: Introduction
Review the information from earlier lessons or from the Resource Pages. Describe briefly how American life was changed by popular inventions, how rapid progress had both positive and negative effects, and how Americans were fascinated by the new inventions, showcasing them in expositions and advertisements. Continue by describing how, when one does not know or understand the workings behind technology, it seems magical. Because many Americans of the late nineteenth century did not understand the mechanisms that ran the great machines, the devices held a sense of mysticism about them. Twain makes that sense of mysticism the foundation of his novel.

Step 2
Regarding the following two questions, brainstorm ideas with the class and list them on the board:

What comes to mind when you think of the word "magic"?
What comes to mind when you think of the word "science"?

Note the differences in the two lists. It is likely that the "science" list will include many practical terms, while the "magic" list includes many terms of superstition.

Step 3
Break the class into three groups to analyze passages from the novel:

Group 1: Chapter 6, "The Eclipse"
Group 2: Chapter 7, "Merlin's Tower"
Group 3: Chapters 22-23, "The Holy Fountain" and "Restoration of the Fountain"

Students should analyze each situation according to the following questions:

Who is performing magic (by any definition) in this scene? There may be more than one person doing so.
Who in the scene defines the act or performance as "magic"? What makes it magic, to them?
Does anyone define the situation in other terms? Who, and what are the terms used?
Use this scene to determine definitions for the word "magic" from the following points of view: Hank's, Merlin's, and the Britons'.

Step 4
Groups should present their answers to the class. Compile their various definitions of "magic" and list them on the board. Ask the students how their definitions differ from the list they originally brainstormed. Do any of the definitions include science? How? If not, should a definition taking science into account be added?

Step 5
Direct the students to Chapter 44, "A Postscript by Clarence." Briefly discuss what is happening in that chapter and pose the final summative questions: What kind of magic is most lasting by the end of the novel? Why would Twain choose to write the ending this way? That is, if his novel comments on late-nineteenth-century America, what does it say about American technology that Merlin gets the last word magically? How does the last scene comment on the lasting power of industrialism, from Twain's perspective?

Step 6
Conclude with remarks that, perhaps, Mark Twain realizes how fast and fleeting industrial growth is -- that it could be as transient and insubstantial as magic itself, but that a culture's natural and more familiar way of life -- no matter how "magical" or superstitious it may be -- might just win out in the end.

Follow-Up and Evaluation

Students can be evaluated on their participation in class discussion and their answers to the group passage analyses.