The Connecticut Yankee theme is a fairly recurrent one in American science
fiction. Sometimes the CY is a time traveller (L. Sprague DeCamp's Lest
Darkness Fall springs to mind); sometimes the CY is an astronaut on a less
civilized world. Usually, however, the CY is more successful at instituting
change than Twain's hero was. So you might examine the theme of
technological and social progress...perhaps with a look as well at genuine
CY's. For example, John Jewitt, a British sailor and blacksmith, was
enslaved by the Nootka Indians of Vancouver Island early in the 19th
century. Despite his technological wizardry, he stayed a slave until other
Europeans rescued him.
Crawford Kilian
Capilano College
North Vancouver, BC
Canada