"Mrs. McWilliams and the Lightning"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Mark Twain's "Mrs. McWilliams and the Lightning" apparently takes place in a carriage of a train and is told by a certain Mr. McWilliams, who is telling stories to the listener, but in fact is re-telling and transmitting Mr. McWilliams' words. The author points out that the humor in the story is (1) a very extensive and well-developed dialogue, which is almost never interrupted, (2) is the voice of the narrator who seems to be very impartial in spite of the fact that he is one of the main participants of the story and (2) the style and language of the whole piece are very important for the creation and development of the comic effect because they add heightened color to the absurdity of the situation. The paper relates that the story has a pace, which resembles very much a train: At the beginning, it starts slowly, with Mr McWilliams presenting his tale, then it accelerates and continues in a quick pace for a while with accelerating dialogues along the way and, finally, when the train comes to a stop, the story comes to a stop on its turn.

From the Paper:

"The story begins with Mr. Williams giving his listener (or listeners) some personal thoughts on the subject. After comparing the fear of lightning to a dangerous disease or a handicap and saying that it is so for human beings he goes on to put on the same scale both dogs and human beings: "It is mostly confined to women; but now and then you find it in a little dog, and sometimes in a man." This effectively sets the humorous tone for the whole tale which truly starts with Mr. McWilliams waking up because Mrs. McWilliams calls him out of the boot-closet where she has hidden herself. Then, we have a series of dialogues between the two, Mrs. McWilliams giving orders to her husband about how to save himself from lightning while he tries to reason her. The second part of the story contains two passages in German which are used by Mrs. McWilliams to persuade her husband that he has to protect himself from lightning even inside the house."

More papers on "Mrs. McWilliams and the Lightning":

• Book Review # 74949 : "Mrs Dalloway" and "The Hours"
• Analytical Essay # 58326 : "Mrs Dalloway" and "The Hours"
• Analytical Essay # 2746 : "The Language of "The Lightning-Rod Man"

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