Caricature In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain quickly rose to fame after the release of his story, “Jim Smiley and the Jumping Frog,” and he continued to make a name for himself through the release of stories such as The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Twain saw immense success and fame; he was easily recognizable and wildly popular, even to the point of being called “the greatest American humorist of his age” by the New York Times. In short, Twain was as close to being an international sensation as one could hope for in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, it wasn’t until the later days of his writing career that Twain became so well known. As photography was expensive and hard to come by, caricatures were the method of choice to portray celebrities. And, as

demonstrated in the article by Lin Liang, caricatures are created by exaggerating the most prominent and best-known aspects of a subject in order to achieve an end, while still keeping the subject of the image recognizable. Therefore, the public’s opinion of Twain, and what he was best known for at a particular time in history, can be found by examining caricatures of the author at different points throughout his career. One can see through illustrators’ portrayal of Twain that early in his career he was well known for his works, while later in his career he became known as a respected, influential man.
The first caricature of Twain that will be covered, illustrated by Frank Beard in 1872 for the American Publisher, was published a few short years after the release of Twain’s first piece of travel literature, “The Innocents Abroad.” This work follows Twain’s travels through Europe
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and the Middle East aboard the USS Quaker City, a retired civil war ship, with a group of American travellers. Beard’s caricature is based on Twain’s journey, particularly the Middle East portion of it, and depicts the author sitting on a chair in a desert. The picture shows a middle- aged man alone in a barren desert, identifiable by both a travel bag with his name on it and a water canteen with his initials engraved on it. In the caricature, Twain is dressed appropriately for his time period in a black three-piece suit with an overcoat and bowtie, and is holding an umbrella and top hat. Finally, the grave in front of him reads, “Sacred to the memory of Adam 1,” and a tear appears to be coming from the author’s left eye. Based on the subject of Twain’s published travel diary and the camel and pyramids in the background of the caricature, one can assume that the desert Twain is stopped in is somewhere in the Middle East. Furthermore, Twain’s head is drastically out of proportion, appearing much larger than any part of his body. The representation of Twain himself, in conjunction with the background and the articles scattered around him, are the illustrator’s choices that show to what extent and for what Twain was known.
Given certain aspects of the image, one can attempt to gauge Twain’s level of celebrity and fame and can attempt to determine what Twain was best known for at the time of its being published; some examples of this would be Twain’s exaggerated head, and the engraved travel bag and water canteen in the image. While unforgettable in the later days of his career, at this point in his life Twain’s hair, moustache, and face were far from trademark; thus, Beard exaggerates and enlarges the American’s head to further detail the subject and make him more easily identifiable to the general public. Another factor that significantly aids Beard’s cause of helping the average viewer identify the man in the image is the writing on both the travel bag and the water canteen; with Twain’s name and initials written out in the caricature, it is difficult for any viewer to misidentify the subject. However, Beard’s choice to put the lettering as an aid
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to the public speaks to Twain’s limited level of celebrity and the limited audience he might be known to at this time. As well, at this point in his career Twain had not yet left his mark on the world, having only published a small number of travel diaries and stories, and Beard’s choice to depict Twain in a scene described by his “The Innocents Abroad” speaks to the public knowing Twain simply as the author of certain stories, and not as the celebrity he later becomes.
The second caricature to be discussed was published in June of 1907 for the Columbus Evening Dispatch. It was published the same year that Twain received an honorary doctorate from Oxford University. The caricature has a header that reads, “Mark Twain Jokes With The Queen of England,” and depicts just that: Mark Twain sitting and reading one of his books to the Queen of England. The Queen and Twain are seated, sharing a throne, while a court jester and what could be a butler are off to the sides and back. The Queen — who in this case is Queen Alexandra as revealed by the lettering at the bottom of her dress — has a look of surprise on her face, and says, “Oh! How intensely humorous!” A tag on Twain’s white suit reads, “Pure White,” and he is in possession of two of his famous works; A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is tucked into his suit pocket, while he is holding and reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to Queen Alexandra. All of these are small hints as to the subject of the picture, but they are not quite as exaggerated as in the first caricature, and are more to show the author’s success than to reveal his identity.
Some aspects that would aid the viewer in gauging what Twain was best known for at this point in his life would be trademark details of Twain’s appearance such as his hair, moustache, and suit, as well as the fact that he is depicted sitting next to and joking with the Queen of England. While the illustrator of this caricature does draw in two of Twain’s works, collectively they are a much smaller component of the image than elements of Twain’s works in
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the first caricature; the caricature focuses more on Twain as a figure than as an author.

According to Liang, a caricature is meant to exaggerate the most recognizable parts of a subject in order to alter the appearance without making the subject unidentifiable; however at this point in his career, Twain may have been so successful and recognizable that the illustrator needed but to draw him in proper proportion for the public to be able to accurately identify Twain. The lack of exaggeration and the addition of the Queen into this caricature demonstrates Twain’s incredible level of celebrity at this point in his life, and Twain being the focal point of the image as opposed to his works being the focus speaks to what the public knew him for late in his career. In addition, the epitome of Twain’s international and widespread success and his becoming a household name is his being depicted sharing a seat and interacting with the Queen of England. This demonstrates the view that Twain’s influence and reputation may even be as widespread and powerful as those of Queen Alexandra — effectively representing Twain’s achievement of the ultimate level of celebrity at the

time.
It is undeniable that Mark Twain achieved great levels of success and fame throughout his career, but it is clear that this was not the case for Twain’s entire career. The different exaggerated aspects and focal points of each caricature speak to Twain’s esteem and for what he was known for at specific points in his life. While the the earlier caricature illustrated by Beard relies on aspects of Twain’s works to identify his subject, the later caricature has Twain as the main attraction and simply has his works as minor details — this demonstrates the public knowing Twain as just an author early in his career, but recognizing him as an influential figure more and more as his career progressed.