created by Kellan R. Harne
Introduction
This website was created as part of a class project in ENAM 481D: Mark Twain in His Times, under the direction of Professor Stephen Railton at the University of Virginia during the Fall 2000 semester. It is designed to be a resource for English teachers choosing to teach Connecticut Yankee in their classrooms. To facilitate teachers' use of the material on this site, it is divided into eight resource pages and six lesson plans. The resource pages, as noted below, contain information about the society, culture, and current events of the late nineteenth century, while the lesson plans synthesize that material with the novel by examining both the prevailing attitudes of the times and Mark Twain's own statements within Connecticut Yankee.Purpose and Rationale
This project is intended to provide teachers and students with resources for approaching Connecticut Yankee in a historical context. The resource pages can be used alone or within the prepared lesson plans.
Because all texts are written within a historical context and because Mark Twain's novel is known for its commentary on late-nineteenth-century American life, it is important for students to be well-versed in the events, trends, patterns, and assumptions that shaped America's view of itself, of the booming technological revolution, and its role in the world during the Industrial Revolution. Thus the students will leave Mark Twain's novel with a fuller picture of Twain's own purpose and intentions in writing Connecticut Yankee, and they can determine for themselves more clearly how the novel portrays some major issues of the times, including the burgeoning science and technology, the pros and cons of quickly amassed wealth, the transition from an agricultural to an industrial (and consumer-driven) nation, and the problem of poverty. The resource pages provide an overview of these issues, and the lesson plans, by tying them to the novel, prompt students to examine them in terms of Mark Twain's, the novel's, and general American society's points of view.
As a final note, the lesson plans are designed to provide teachers with flexibility in their implementation, so I have not specified the projected length of any single lesson. Furthermore, if classrooms do not have computers with Internet access for students' use, the pages can be printed out for students during the lesson or to be read as homework before coming to class. If you have any comments or questions about this website, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at the address provided at the top of this page.
Mark Twain's novel viewed in terms of the many late nineteenth-century American expositions.
Promoting the Fruits of Industrialism
Celebrating America's products through advertising, and how advertising functions in the novel.
The Progress of Technology
What Connecticut Yankee and late-nineteenth-century America say about how much growth is beneficial to a society.
The Dark Side of Industrialism
Dealing with the problem of poverty and technological innovations used to destructive ends.
Technology's Impact on Life and Culture
Did modern conveniences really improve the quality of life for the Britons of the novel and for Americans of Twain's time?
Science and Magic
How Twain defines science and magic in the novel, and how, in late nineteenth-century America, the definitions can overlap.
Some of the inventions that changed everyday life for Americans of Mark Twain's time.
- The Telephone and Other Communication Devices
- Electricity
- Electric Lights
- Railroads and Other Modes of Transportation
Voices of the Times
What did the people of the times have to say about the present and future of newly industrial America?
"How the Other Half Lived"
The various strata of society during the late nineteenth century, and the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor.
Celebrating American Ingenuity
Showcasing new technology for the nation and the world: American expositions and advertising.