The Mesmerizer Essay Example
The Mesmerizer Essay Example

The Mesmerizer Essay Example

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  • Pages: 3 (635 words)
  • Published: December 15, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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The essay “The Mesmerizer” by Mark Twain is a story about a young yet mature boy who encounters an opportunity to get noticed. This all happens when Simmons, the hypnotist, comes to his town named Hannibal. At first the mesmerizer seems just like your “average” hypnotist, enchanting and intriguing. But the real question is ,” Is this really an act? ”. When Twain takes the stage he instantly begins playing along and then realizes that Simmons is a fraud just like himself.

The townspeople have no clue though and still remain fascinated with every stunt, skit, and performance on the stage.The truth is that they are all just actors in the story and in reality. The mesmerizer is just doing his job moving from town to town earning his living. At the same time Twain is a con receiving

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attention from the crowd.

And last but certainly not the least; the audience is the townspeople, who all know that it is quite a performance indeed! The hypnotist shows that the whole act was actually just for entertainment purposes. First off he is getting paid by the people of Hannibal and makes it seem like this is shown in the excerpt, “He advertised his show and promised marvels.Admission as usual: 25 cents, children and negroes half price”. If it wasn’t an act then he wouldn’t be putting a price on admission and providing advertisements. “There was a storm of applause, and the magician, addressing the house, said, most impressively, “That you may know how really remarkable this is, and how wonderfully developed a subject we have in this boy, I assure you that without a single

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spoken word to guide him he has carried out what I mentally commanded him to do; to the minutest detail.

” In this quotation there is evidence that he was just initiating his next line off of Twain’s reaction.Twain on the other hand was involved as well. His pompous attitude toward the whole situation proves that he was in it for the attention. When Twain says, “Hicks had no imagination; I had double supply” it proves that he was only performing for the applause and the crowd’s recognition. “The age at which a boy is willing to endure all things, suffer all things short of death by fire if thereby he may be conspicuous and show off before the public”.

This excerpt provides evidence that Twain was in it for the thrill of getting a rise out of people. He honestly admits that he cts out because of his age, meaning that he must be but an actor of course young or old. The audience also plays a big role when proving that it was all just an act. As it says in the story, they bought their way into the show and were amazed by everything that was performed on the stage. “Come forward and test him, ladies and gentlemen, “ the men and women both complied eagerly, and stuck pins into both Hicks and Twain. The audience went along with this all and thought of it as entertainment, because they came up and actually participated in the acts.

This of course shows that the crowd really didn’t know what the heck was going on. The mesmerizer was actually a hypnotist, bottom line. The tone

is very significant within a novel because it depicts how the author is feeling about the certain events that arise throughout the story. For example, Twain’s attitude in the novel makes us see that he is a real showoff. It also proves that he is in it for the attention and to receive a sense of self worth. The pompous attitude only redirects us to the idea that it was all just for self gratitude and to provide an act.

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