Analysis of "My Uncle's Farm" by Mark Twain

Analysis of "My Uncle's Farm" by Mark Twain

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Class: Freshman english
Subject: English
Title: Analysis of "My Uncle's Farm" by Mark Twain

In this essay, Mark Twain describes life on the farm that belonged to his
uncle, John A. Quarles. Twain spent three or four months on the farm a year
during his childhood, and he has many fond memories of it.
Twain first gives technical details of the farm: it was five hundred acres
or so and in Missouri near the town of Florida. It had fifteen or twenty
slaves on it. He then tells of the kitchen, and in particular, the food,
describing all sorts of southern foods he had while there. He says that the
food there was prepared very well, and that northerners could never make
southern food the right way; nor could Europeans. Europeans were always
ridiculing so-called "American" customs and ideas, calling their food
unwholesome, even thought they knew nothing about them. According to Twain,
it is better to eat fine foods that may be unwholesome and enjoy oneself
rather than to eat healthy and deprive oneself all one's life. He often
tasted the "forbidden fruit" when he and his cousins would swim in the brook
and wading pools on the farm that were forbidden to them by his uncle.
Twain then talks about his experiences with the slaves on the farm, and how
they impacted on him and his whole attitude towards slavery and Blacks. He
talks sentimentally about an old black woman named Aunt Hannah, who,
according to young Twain and his cousins, was over 1000 years old and had
talked with Moses. She was religious and superstitious, and prayed a lot and
was afraid of witches. Twain speaks fondly of all the slaves on the farm;
saying that he used to play with the black children, and they were treated as
almost equals. One particular slave who stood out was "Uncle Dan'l," a
middle-aged slave who was the smartest in the slave quarters, and had the
finest character. Twain used him in creating the Jim...