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From:
Crawford Steve <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 31 Jul 2006 22:52:51 +0300
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Hi Camy,

I'm not sure I understand your questions. Do you mean to refer in
whole to the institution of slavery as a form of mistreatment, or do
you refer specifically to Twain's subjective assessment in L on the
Miss that he never saw a slave in Hannibal treated badly? We tend to
look back in time through the social and contextual lenses of our own
individual present day values and beliefs. In Twain's role as a
social cynosure I think over his lifetime he became quite outspoken
against the institution of slavery as well as, for example, the
imperialism of the emerging world power that was the USA in the late
19th century. He seemed to truly regret what happened to slaves in
America, the Filipinos after the Spanish-American War, as well as the
Congolese under Belgian colonial rule. Obviously a lot of people
during these years could not have cared less about these issues and
their affected peoples. It must have taken some courage to be Twain.

Steve Crawford
Jyväskylä, Finland

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