Major Themes

 

Adaptation- Twain and his fellow travelers experience new things and are in new situations that force them to adapt. They have to learn how to live in these new environments. Twain and the travelers first experience adaptation while on board. The passengers must adapt to the feeling on being on a ship as they experience seasickness. Next, they all must adapt to being on the water and having no land around. They struggle with this adaptation because of the boredom of being stuck in one place with nothing surrounding them. They adapt to remaining on the boat by finding ways to amuse themselves such as dancing, singing, and mock trials. The final thing the passengers adapt to while on board is the language of the sea and telling time. It takes the passengers about a week to pick up on the slang terms and how to tell time by the bells. While disembarking the ship and visiting their first few locations, the passengers deal with adapting to the countries cultures, languages, and currencies. These adaptations can be seen while visiting the Azores, Gibraltar, and Tangier.

 

Foreignness- Throughout his travels, Twain experiences foreignness and is very observant of the non-American cultures of the places he visits. Just like adaptation, Twain experiences foreignness on the ship, in the Azores, Gibraltar, and Tangier. While on board, Twain experiences foreignness with the language of the sea and telling time. These are foreign and different to Twain and the other passengers, forcing them to learn about them and embrace them. Foreignness comes into play again when arriving in the islands of the Azores. Twain and the passengers had very little information about the Azores and therefore the people and the way they dressed proved to be foreign to them. Their culture differed greatly from America and Twain proves to be very aware of this. While approaching Gibraltar, instead of appreciating this foreign land, the passengers find excitement in seeing a ship with an American flag. Seeing familiarity proves to capture their attention rather than the excitement of a foreign and new place. Lastly, Twain experiences foreignness while in Tangier and is in awe of all of the foreignness this place has to offer. The simplicity of Tangier culture differs so greatly from American culture and intrigues Twain greatly.  

 

Humor/Mockery- An important theme in the novel is Twain’s use of humor and mockery. He uses humor and mockery when making observations of the foreign lands, the foreign people, and his fellow travelers. Twain first finds humor in how the trip is advertised and how selective it is made out to be when in reality anyone that can afford the trip would be allowed to go. Twain also finds humor in the Azores and mocks the people of Azores for their attempt at staged authenticity. Twain is taken to cathedral and told that the cross there was the one that Jesus was crucified on. Twain mocks the people for believing this due to the well-kept and new condition the cross is in. Twain is able to find humor in his own actions and able to poke fun at himself as well. In Gibraltar, Twain is convinced to buy a pair of gloves and ends up being mesmerized by the sales girl who convinces him to buy a pair. He finds humor in the fact that he made a purchase he did not need without even realizing it because of a woman. Humor and mockery are constantly present in the rest of Twain’s travel writing.