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The Mysterious Stranger: Dependence On Others - Online Term Paper

The Mysterious Stranger: Dependence On Others

In "The Mysterious Stranger" Mark Twain portrays a society so dependent on outside sources for guidance that the majority of Eseldorf's citizens do not have independent thought. This reliance is what eventually ruins many of the resident's lives and Satan merely serves to elucidate their foolish behavior. Though it is a much more modern time and setting, "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg," is the same idea in a more modern time and setting. The inhabitants of Hadleyburg are not without corruption, simply temptation and the stranger's scheme only function to induce the true nature of the town.
Awareness breeds independent thought, and without knowledge it is very difficult to have ...

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only know what is religiously virtuous so this is how they define Moral Sense. The people think that their freewill is what separates them from the "beasts" but they do not have enough understanding of reality outside their village to utilize their freewill. All the decisions they make are based on their belief of God's will for them and are not really their own.
Satan's visit demonstrates to the people the effects of Moral Sense on their community. By interacting with different citizens like Marget, Ursula and the boys he unearths numerous facets of human weakness like, "foolish little feelings and foolish little vanities and impertinences and ambitions."(326) These are innate qualities in all human behavior that corrupt Moral Sense but until Satan presents them, the people do not realize how meaningless their concept of morality is.
The town of Hadleyburg is a modern version of Eseldorf in many aspects. It was considered by outsiders the "most honest and upright town in all ...

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The Mysterious Stranger: Dependence On Others. (2004, July 25). Retrieved April 26, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Mysterious-Stranger-Dependence-On-Others/11544

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 7/25/2004 01:28:51 AM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 733
Pages: 3

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