Randy:  Thanks, for the facts. Though I have spent
twenty years, the past ten, doing little else but
research into the words of the King.  I am in the
unenviable position of having no credibility to lay
claim to anything but my own babble.  Yet, what I have
uncovered is beyond coincidental.  I would suggest
that reading Fishkins "Is Huck Black" lends credence
to the possibility that Twain was doing far more in
his writing than commenting.  His love of the word led
to everything he wrote and said.  He was "signaling"
language.  I would love to say more, but now is not
the time.   I can't wait for scholars to get beyond
their excellent, but unfinished, work to see behind
the mask of his "fictional" stories. In kind, Randy   

--- randy abel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> randall maple <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>     Twain spent his career with tongue in cheek and
> delivered his stretchers between the lines. With
> this in mind, if might behoove all to look behind
> his emphatic acknowledgment, "I am a Boxer."
> Considering the word "box huckleberry" may need yet
> another EXPLANATION and prove to be the tale wagging
> the dog.
>   Randall Maple,
>    
>   Below are Twain's words (as quoted in the NYT)
> followed by an analysis on the matter provided to me
> by Jim Zwick last November. I sought Jim's
> clarification based on my contention that the
> tongue-in-cheek-type phrase was not "I am a Boxer"
> but "...I believe in driving the Chinaman out of
> this country," a statement not at all consistent
> with the bold and controversial pro-Chinese stand
> Twain took in essays like "To the Person Sitting in
> Darkness", "To My Missionary Critics" and other
> works and speeches of his later years. 
>    
>   From The New York Times,  24 November 1900:
>    
>   As far as America is concerned we don't allow the
> Chinese to come here, and we would be doing the
> graceful thing to allow China to decide whether she
> will allow us to go there. China never wanted any
> foreigners, and when it comes to a settlement of
> this immigrant question I am with the Boxer every
> time.
>    
>   The Boxer is a patriot; he is the only patriot
> China has, and I wish him success. The Boxer
> believes in driving us out of his country. I am a
> Boxer, for I believe in driving the Chinaman out of
> this country. The Boxers on this side have won out.
> Why not give the Boxer on the other side a chance?
>    
>   From Jim Zwick's email to Randy Abel, 13 November
> 2007: 
>    
>   The "I am a Boxer" speech was intended to
> influence perceptions of what was going on in China
> at a time when Chinese exclusion was not a
> controversial topic in the U.S. He was using it to
> point out the hypocrisy of most Americans who
> insisted on Chinese exclusion at home but condemned
> the Chinese for wanting to exclude foreigners from
> China. At that time, his statement would have no
> influence on Chinese exclusion but might have had an
> influence on perceptions of what the U.S. and others
> were doing in China. By claiming that he wanted to
> exclude Chinese from the U.S., he made the statement
> in a way that might make people favoring Chinese
> exclusion more prone to agree with his support of
> the Boxer Rebellion. It's a common debating tactic.
> "Let's agree that... But that proves my point
> that...." Twain was essentially saying that everyone
> agreed on excluding Chinese from the U.S. If they
> were right on that position, then Chinese should be
> allowed to exclude
> foreigners from China.
> 
> If he had made that statement at a time when Chinese
> exclusion was being debated, it might have a
> different meaning. The Chinese Exclusion Act would
> not come up for debate again until 1902 (and not
> much of a debate at that) so U.S. attitudes about
> the Boxer Rebellion was the only relevant issue when
> he gave that speech in November 1900.
>    
>    
>   I'm grateful to have been edified by Professor
> Zwick's insights, and I appreciate your engaging
> this discussion, Mr. Maple. I hope that you'll be so
> kind as to provide your reading of what "stretchers"
> might lie between the lines of the speech. 
>    
>   Cordially,
>   Randy Abel
> 
>        
> ---------------------------------
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> 



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