A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court Sparknotes

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Summary: “ A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” is a bittersweet tale of Henry Morgan, a gun maker, whom after a blow to the head is transported to the 16th century. He is captured and sentenced to death. However, he has quick thinking, and uses magic( future knowledge and technology) to become second -in -command of the land. Morgan ( now called The Boss) attempts to improve the lives of the people, demonstrating a valuable lesson: do not mess with time.

Character Descriptions:

Henry Morgan: clever, egotistical, opinionated, manipulative
King Arthur: naive, boisterous, loud
Merlin: malicious, bitter, clever, proud


Discussion Questions:
As is common in all works of literature involving time travel, it tackles one very important …show more content…

Is it even in the realm of moral correctness to manipulate people even if they do not have a capacity to take care of themselves any better( or, in some cases, worse)?

Henry Morgan, has some confusing views about good and evil( Black and White). He absolutely abhors slavery and serfdom, but is quite fine with Morgan Le Fe ( using her royal right) murdering those who displease her. Are his views a result of the time period his was born into, his personal convictions, or something else? ARE his views …show more content…

I was expecting to scare them, but I wasn't expecting to scare them to death. They were mighty near it, though. You see they had been a whole lifetime learning to appreciate the pillory; and to have that thing staring them in the face, and every one of them distinctly at the mercy of me, a stranger, if I chose to go and report -- well, it was awful, and they couldn't seem to recover from the shock, they couldn't seem to pull themselves together. Pale, shaky, dumb, pitiful? Why, they weren't any better than so many dead men. It was very uncomfortable. Of course, I thought they would appeal to me to keep mum, and then we would shake hands, and take a drink all round, and laugh it off, and there an end. But no; you see I was an unknown person, among a cruelly oppressed and suspicious people, a people always accustomed to having advantage taken of their helplessness, and never expecting just or kind treatment from any but their own families and very closest intimates. Appeal to ME to be gentle, to be fair, to be generous? Of course, they wanted to, but they couldn't

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