To string incongruities and absurdities together in a wandering and sometimes purposeless way, and seem innocently unaware that they are absurdities, is the basis of the American art, if my position is correct.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Twain critiques American cultural tendency to accept absurdity and inconsistency as normal or even artistic.
- In plain terms
- Americans often accept contradictory and absurd ideas without questioning them.
- What can you take from it?
- Challenge inconsistencies and absurdities in cultural norms.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Do you accept contradictions in your culture?
Another view
Not all Americans embrace absurdity equally.
More from Mark Twain
The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it.
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