Twain's "Good Little Boy"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Mark Twain's story, "Good Little Boy." It describes the plot of the story and the motivation of Twain in writing it. The paper compares the idea of the good little boy encountering troubles with the concepts and religious beliefs of Twain's time. It also discusses how the reader may be disappointed with the outcome of the story and why this would be so.

From the Paper:

"The boy goes on to realize that everything turned out the opposite of the way it was depicted in his church literature. It wasn't the good little boys who were rewarded and never broke their legs or had bad things happen to them, but the other way around. He saw that when he tried to do good, bad things happened to him. When he tried to help people or animals, they weren't grateful and blessed him. They were angry and he was the one who got hurt. When he tried to instruct the boys who were disobeying the law, he was punished, but he was still determined to be good."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Library of Congrress. "America's Story from America's Library." Website at: <http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/gilded>.
• PBS, "Andrew Carnegie: The Gilded Age." Website at <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/gildedage.html>.
• Twain, Mark. "Poor Little Stephen Girard," in Carleton's Popular Readings, Anna Randall-Diehl, ed., New York, 1879, 183-84.
• Twain, Mark. The Gilded Age. New York: Classic Literature Library. 1873.
• Twain, Mark. The Prince and the Pauper. London: Clays Ltd, St. Ives plc. 1996.

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