Mark Twain - Corn Pone Opinions

Owen Reilly

Great American Essay Blog Posts

Mark Twain's Corn Pone Opinions is an essay that deals with the topic of most people having an opinion that is shaped by the majoirty of people around them. The driving quote behind the essay is, “You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I’ll tell you what his ‘pinions is.”

Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, was an author and journalist who lived from 1835 to 1910. He has written over 500 literary manuscripts, 30 published books, and countless letters and other writing works.

The story is a fairly humorous writing that also contains a great deal of social commentary and opinions. It begins with an anecdote about him and his friend, a slave who remain unnamed. He speaks about how this slave was a wonderful speaker, and how one of his speeches has stayed with Twain throughout his life: “You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I’ll tell you what his ‘pinions is.” This means that most men get their opinions from the people surrounding him and his environment.

Twain wrote this essay in order to point out a comical inconsistency between the definition of opinion, meaning an individual thought, and the fact that most people’s opinions are not their own, but gathered from the people around them.

Twain’s intended audience was probably a group of people that enjoyed social commentary and comedy with a serious message behind it, so Corn Pone Opinions, although never published during his lifetime, was probably intended for readers of a magazine, or other more select literary pieces.

Twain uses anecdotes and examples as supporting evidence along with humor to help bring his point across to readers. Anecdotes and examples make it easier for readers to understand and see from his viewpoint by putting them in a place he was once standing, while humor helps to lighten the story and make readers more receptive to his opinion.

With all of the examples and logical ideas Twain puts forth in this essay, I think he gets across to potential readers very well. He uses several rhetorical devices to great effect, and he makes a sound argument for his point that most people’s opinions are, on the surface, from everyone around them.


                                        The common man, according to Mark Twain
                                   From Wikipedia user Jack Hynes, in the public domain.