Mark Twain

Mark Twain is, at the time in which he writes these letters, a traveling journalist working for the SACRAMENTO DAILY UNION Newspaper. He writes with the intent of publication and therefore seeks to entertain as well as inform. Rather than simply write travel logs of where he goes and what he sees, however, Twain includes himself as a participant within, what is very likely to be, a partly fictionalized story. This suggests that the author is a man of both considerable imagination and ego.

Being a humorist, Twain is inclined to satire, hyperbole, and exaggeration. Anyone who irritates, annoys or otherwise disappoints the author runs the risk of running afoul of his pen. It is apparent in his treatment of both Minister Harris and Bishop Staley that Twain is most outraged by those who seem undeserving of their status. It seems to offend Twain's sensibilities that a...