Conformity In Mark Twain's Corn Pone Opinions

Mark Twain’s purpose in “Corn-Pone Opinions” is to inform the reader that it is human nature to conform to the rest of society. According to Twain,”self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people. The result is conformity.” (Twain 720). While humans provide opinions, many of them are based from the association with others. Twain claims that it is a basic human instinct to receive approval, mostly that of others. In his essay, Furthermore, Twain is attempting to persuade the reader to stop conforming to what society wants. It is through this process that many individuals abandon their own beliefs and principles.

Twain begins the essay with the pronoun “I”, but quickly shift to “we” in the next couple paragraphs. In the first paragraphs Twain uses “I” as he

Twain capitalizes these phrases to catch the reader’s attention and to focus the importance held by public opinion. Twain argues “its name is Public Opinion. It is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think of it as the Voice of God” (Twain 720). Twain breaks it down into four sentences to show the relation between the two. The approval of others has begun to hold a strong importance in people’s life, that it even overshadows everything else. Some even acknowledge it as if it was the voice of God, guiding them through life.

In the first paragraph “helping to inhabit” contributes to the essay’s tone by establishing Mark Twain as a boy who was once just as ordinary as the rest of the world. Much like everyone else Twain’s beliefs were silenced as he claims they were “forbidden by mother to take part of it” (Twain 715). Twain is just another human in society who has been influenced by his surroundings. This phrase contributes to Twain’s argument of voicelessness, a setting in which he too took part in. The essay had a questioning tone, one Twain can relate to because he suffered from conformity as