On Mark Twain's A Helpless Situation

Yuen M. Ho
English 48B
February 2, 2007
Journal #21 Mark Twain

I. Quote

“I don’t know. That is, I don’t know the process, but I DO know lots of things that I don’t remember, and remember lots of things that I don’t know. It’s so with every educated person.”

II. Summary

The story which the quote comes from is “A Helpless Situation.” It is about a letter Mark Twain has received from a woman writer, who asked him to recommend her work to the publisher because her uncle and Twain used to know each other. She hoped that by Twain’s influence in the literary world, her work could get the attention from the publisher.

Instead of replying her letter by a straight-to-the-point refusal, Twain imagined the conversation he would have with the publisher and put it in the letter. The conversation was lively and interesting, but its aim was not to amuse, but to inspire. He wanted the woman to believe that ability, but not influence played a more crucial world in writers’ world.

This quote is Twain’s reply to the publisher’s question about why he said he knew the woman’s uncle, but could not remember him.

III. Response

While this quote is not largely related to the original story of “A Helpless Situation,” I was amused by it and could not help but nod to its truth. All through the past years of learning, I always wonder why students are forced to memorize so many facts when most of them will not remain to the next year. Even if they do, sometimes we are memorizing without comprehending—we can tell the facts and theories, but we may not be able to explain them. This is always a problem with education in my hometown of Hong Kong. The system is famously known as “spoon-feeding;” it means that students are forced to swallow without knowing what they are ingesting.

I am bewildered by Mark Twain’s creativity and his critical mind—he is always able to make a point in his story or narrative, but without explicitly exposing his motive. What an artist!