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Mark TwainA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
In the characters’ escalating attempts to overpower the smell of the cheese, Thompson purchases an odd assortment of items—chicken feathers, dried apples, leaf tobacco, rags, old shoes, sulphur, asefetida (an herb), and “one thing or another” (Paragraph 39)—and then sets them on fire. All would, presumably, have a strong odor when burned.
Twain frequently lampooned institutional Christianity in his work. In words intended for his autobiography, but suppressed by his family for many years, he described the religion as “bad, bloody, merciless, money-grabbing and predatory” and called it “a terrible religion.” The idea that Christianity has been corrupted by its gatekeepers is visible in “The Invalid’s Story,” particularly in this symbol. When viewing When viewing the story through this lens, the fire can be seen as a symbol of a ritual burnt sacrifice in the tradition of those in the Hebrew Bible. For example, Leviticus 6:8-13 gives specific instructions for how to conduct a burnt offering.
This offering, however, does not appease the vengeful spirit of what the two characters perceive as the decaying corpse. Instead, the original smell “stood up out of it just as sublime as ever” (Paragraph 40). The fire is the last straw that drives them to the freezing platform to stay, until they are dragged off “frozen and insensible” (Paragraph 44).
By Mark Twain
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
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A True Story
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Letters from the Earth
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Life on the Mississippi
Life on the Mississippi
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Roughing It
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
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The Autobiography of Mark Twain
The Autobiography of Mark Twain
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The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
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The Gilded Age
The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today
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The Innocents Abroad
The Innocents Abroad
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The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
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The Mysterious Stranger
The Mysterious Stranger
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The Prince and the Pauper
The Prince and the Pauper
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Pudd'nhead Wilson
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
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The War Prayer
The War Prayer
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