Adam and Eve

lost my property. Another thing: she says it is ordered that we work for our living, hereafter.

She will be useful. I will superintend” (qtd. in Fisher Fishkin 145). In this passage the ironic effect is achieved by Adam's superficial interpretation of his inner feelings towards Eve. A more evident comic effect and ironic tone of Twain can be detected in Adam's attempt to describe his new-born child:

In my judgment it is either an enigma; or some kind of a bug[...] I have called it Kangaroorum Adamiensis [...] the kangaroo still continues to grow[...] it has fur on its head, now; not like kangaroo fur, but exactly like our hair[...] I am like to lose my mind over the capricious and harassing developments of this unclassifiable zoological freak [...] I pity the poor noisy little animal[…]. (Fishkin 146-147)

The comic effect is achieved in this example by Adam's sincere yet clumsy way of identification of a new-born human being. The names given by Adam vary from “a bug“,

“freak” to a neologism “Kangaroorum Adamiensis”. In his turn, Adam does not even try to think logically and understand that this child is his, that he is the same human being. This arrogance, irrationality and simple stupidity of the character can be interpreted as the ironic attitude of Twain towards human race in general. Even when the child starts to speak the same language as his parents, Adam comes to the conclusion that “Taken together with general absence of fur and entire absence of tail, sufficiently indicates that this is a new kind of bear” (Fishkin 148). Twain introduces the character of Adam as the one who is ignorant, not curious, not open-minded, and not positive. He is not capable to understand or to listen to others.

Nevertheless, in the later writings featuring the couple from Eden the comic effect is achieved not only by means of revealing Adam's stupidity and ignorance. The ironic voice of Twain can be indicated even more by putting the character of Eve in contrast to Adam's. More than that, the character of Adam cannot understand or interpret it in the right way why Eve is searching for living in balance and peace with nature. He ignores nature and its creatures. On the contrary, Eve is looking for harmony and friendship within nature and among its

creatures. Adam notices about Eve “If there is anything on the planet that she is not interested in it is not in my list. There are animals that I am indifferent to, but it is not so with her. She has no discrimination, she takes to all of them, she thinks they all treasures, every new one is welcome” (Fishkin 179-180). In fact, the character of Eve is presented with Twain's most sincere sentiment, sympathy, care and love. And this attitude towards Eve shows Twain's pessimistic and disillusioned perception of the damned human race; the perception considered to be a prevailing one in his later career and life.

The positivity in Twain's regard towards the character of Eve can be interpreted as his personal tribute and reference to his own love and care towards his female family members, his wife and daughters. In “Eve's Diary” the character of Eve is absolutely opposed to the one of Adam. Instead of Adam who denies everything because of his narrow-minded and sketchy thinking, Eve first gives several hypotheses and then concludes in a more logic and rational way. She is very curious and constantly searching for new discoveries and knowledge. Her character enjoys talking, getting acquainted with the world and taking care of other creatures.

She is fully devoted to her love, Adam. Though, her devotion and love can be only explained by a wide range of her feelings towards Adam. Written the year after Olivia's death, “Eve's Diary” “constitutes the author's moving eulogy to his wife” (Baetzhold and McCullough 19).

At the same time, this piece of work displays Twain's sentimental references to his own experiences, rather than his moments of grief and pessimism. Moreover, the moments of sentiment are enriched by Twain's frequent humorous and ironic mood. For instance, the story of Eve starts with the words “I am almost a whole day old now” (Baetzhold and McCullough 20). A case of hyperbole in the first-person narration creates an evident ironic tone. The character of Eve is Twain's embodiment of an absolute femininity; a female with perfect traits and ambitions. She does her best to create her universe of balance, peace, love and care. That is why, in the first-person narration in “Eve's Diary” mostly such epithets as noble, beautiful, perfect, adorable and pretty, and others appear. She admires nature and she adores each creature surrounding her. The descriptions in the way of the first-person narration also show that Twain treats Eve with tenderness, adoration and a bit humorously. In contrast to the frequent ironic tone of Twain in Adam's storytelling, with Eve Twain implies his humorous tone at times in a more cautious manner. For instance, when Eve tries to describe a reptile with much diligence and logic. The comic effect appears only at the end of her detailed explanation. Moreover, it can be considered funny not because of the stupidity, but more because of the lack of experience. Her reasoning of her point of view resembles the

monologue of a small child. So Eve explains that “If it is a reptile, and I suppose it is; it tapers like a carrot; when it stands, it spreads itself apart like a derrick; so I think it is a reptile, though it may be architecture” (22). The nonsensical conclusion at the end of this statement creates a definite comic effect.

The narration of Eve is totally controlled by her temperament and impulse. She relies only on her inner feelings; these very feelings make her give precise names to the new things she discovers around her. Some humorous tone of Twain can be detected when Eve sincerely and emotionally confesses that she likes to talk a lot - “for I love to talk; I talk all day, and in my

sleep, too, and I am very interesting, but if I had another to talk to I could be twice as

interesting, and would never stop, if desired” (Baetzhold and McCullough 23). This paragraph can also be considered as a reference to a commonly known prejudice about woman’s habit to talk a lot. However, in this narration this reference is made more with love and care, rather than with criticism or mockery. In “Eve's Diary” (1905), the character of Eve is naive and feminine. She is sincerely happy when Adam is near her. The moments of sorrow or “heavy days” (24) happen when Adam avoids Eve and hurts her deeply. And Eve wisely concludes that “it gives me dark moments, it spoils my happiness, it makes me shiver and tremble and shudder. But I could not persuade him, for he has not discovered fear yet, and so he could not understand me” (28). More than that, it can be considered that the character of Eve and a touching description of their relationships from the side of Eve could be inspired by Twain's idealization of his wife's image and nostalgic memories concerning his personal relationships with Olivia. The idealized character of Eve in “Autobiography of Eve”⁹ studies nature, gives logical explanations and reasons, and, what is even more important, admires Adam. For Eve,

“Love, peace, comfort, measureless contentment – that was life in the Garden” (53). The positivity in Eve's treatment of her relationships with Adam inspired sentimentality in the narration. More than that, this nostalgia lets a subtly humorous tone appear through the lines.

In its relation to the character of Eve, this ironic tone is completely supported by Twain's positive emotions of adoration, sympathy and care. It is mostly explained by the fact that Eve has the passion to explore the world and live in peace within it by “studying, learning,

inquiring into the cause and nature and purpose of everything we came across” (54). A more perceptible ironic tone can be found when Eve explains her love, devotion and affection for Adam - “but I do not love Adam on account of his singing – no, it is not that; the more he signs the more I do not get reconciled to it” (31). For Eve, “It is not on account of his brightness that I love him – no, it is not that” (31). Finally, she finds out that her love can be simply explained by the fact that Adam is a man, as he is - “Then why is it that I love him?

Merely because he is masculine, I think” or “Yes, I think I love him merely because he is mine and is masculine. There is no other reason, I suppose” (32). So from the side of Eve's narration, Twain treats her relationships with Adam both tenderly and humorously.

For Twain, the relationships of Adam and Eve symbolized not only his own with Olivia – for the writer these relationships were the symbol of youth and careless, light-hearted times.

In support of this, Eve noticed in “Autobiography of Eve” that “So he told me who he was,

9 According to Tom Quirk (2007), Twain wrote the manuscript in 1901-1902. See Quirk

276.

and who Satan was, and we laughed and cackled over it like the giddy children we were. Oh, careless Youth! oh, golden Youth!” (Baetzhold and McCullough 52) Moreover, Adam's and Eve's affection to each other is displayed in an ironic, yet careful and tender way. Twain's treatment of the story is sentimental when he observes their life story with love, care and subtly ironic critique. He also notices how they, being young and passionate, enjoy the company of each other - they spend time together with moments of teasing and play, like naughty children, who never expect to face “such a thing as grief and heartbreak in the world”

(53). Due to this, the narration is accompanied by a tenderly ironic tone:

“Actually touched me?”

“One might call it so. Kissed you while you slept.”

“Oh, if I could have known it! But it was better so. It was very indelicate.”

“Criminal, too; it was robbery. Put up your mouth – I will give them back.”

It was done.

“Adam, if you loved me so, why did you give me such a poor thing as that dandelion?”

“That was only to test you, dear. I said, if she keeps that, I'll know she loves me.”

(Baetzhold and McCullough 53)

Being a keen observer, Twain records all the positive shades in the relationships of Adam and Eve by means of the first-person narration on behalf of Eve. The humorous tone is tuned to a more ironic one when Eve's narration changes its focus from their relationships to the character of Adam. Moreover, Twain's treatment changes its focus from idealization and nostalgia to a more critical tone, but still tender and humorous. A subtle ridicule of the weak points in the nature of the human race can be determined in the ironic observations about Adam. In support of this idea, it can be mentioned when Eve observes about her beloved man that: “It is he that is building the Dictionary – as he thinks – but I have noticed that it is I who do the work.” or that “His spelling is unscientific. He spells cat with a k, and catastrophe with a c, although both are from the same root” (Baetzhold and McCullough 59).

In conclusion, it is important to remark that love story of Adam and Eve was of particular importance and very personal for Mark Twain in his later years. First of all, his attitude towards their story was supported with love, tender and subtle irony – that is contrary to his frequently critical and to some extent desperate attitude towards human race. For the writer, Eve symbolized the best traits of a human race. In his turn, Adam symbolized human

imperfections. In his perspective, the character of Eve was a collective image of a person who was wise, prudent, provident and sincere and who was searching for peace, love and harmony in the world of nature. Twain treated the character with affection, adoration and tender. The same feelings can be found in the humorous tone of the narration in the name of Eve.

In his turn, Adam's character was treated by Twain in a more ironic manner. Mostly, it can be explained because of the writer's deliberate presentation of Adam with definite

imperfections, common to a human race in general – pride, arrogance, egoism, a blind exaltation of oneself. However, Twain gives this character a chance by means of his evolution and improvement through his relationships with Eve. In fact, these relationships symbolize personally for Mark Twain the best time of his life with his wife, Olivia. For him, the description of the relationships between Adam and Eve embodies his personal memories when he and Olivia were younger, carefree and in love. More than that, the description of Adam and Eve in Eden symbolizes Twain's nostalgia. Due to this, the humorous tone in the writings featuring this couple of Eden is conducted in a special manner with care, devotion and tenderness.