Mark Twain used the term Gilded Age for 1870 to 1890 - Essay Example

Mark twain used the term Gilded Age for 1870 to 1890. What did he mean by that? Introduction: In the early days of American Revolution and the post Colonial freedom, United States of America was faced with number of challenges and obstacles. Out of these obstacles, the lack of intellectuals and people of credible source and recognition in the field of literary society and art were few in between. Mark Twain was one of those very few available ones and for this reason he is the most celebrated one. Mark twain one of the original thinkers of the 19th century American history who were existent in that age. He has pinned the word Gilded State. The work Gilded state is a satirical work and has been addressed to the existing state of affairs in the American society between the period from 1870 up till the initial days of the 20th century. He has undertaken investigative process pertaining to the assessment of the different facets. He has assessed the social aspect of the American society, the political pillar and the institutions, their overall outlook, their affectivity, the presence and the parallel absence of institutions in United States of America. This also includes the comparison with the other parts of the world, notably France and Great Britain. All these have been put up in a satirical manner. Administratively the entire nation’s budget netted to a meager amount of 500 million dollars(twain). The expression Gilded state has been used in irony. The tracing of lexical meaning of the word Gilded is being pretentious and outwardly shinning and attractive. The same principle and phenomena has been presented by Mark Twain in his study and assessment of the American nation. Mark Twain was born in 1835 near Florida (Twain). He has referred to the American nation in a broader way as a Gild state. That is outwardly and pretentiously attractive yet from inside it is marred with all kinds of miseries, troubles and issues within. On social front, the country and its people were fresh from a civil war that had plagued the roots of the nation and its society. It was fresh from the bleeding of over around 600,000 citizens. The people were segmented within with regard to the acceptance for one another. The Southern part was gulfed from the other parts of the country and had little feeling of benevolence for one another. The problem of the black and white, the social segregation and based on the racial discrimination within was another problem that hawked naked into the eyes of the people and the society as a whole in a collective manner. The loss of 200 U.S army personnel in at Little Bighorn was another setback (Twain). The entire army consisted of a total of twenty thousand troops(Twain). The cultural depravity was exhibited by the remarks made by the then Great Britain’s prime minister who ridiculed the lack of education system and as a result subsequent availability of the intellectuals in United States of America. The impact of social disturbances fell upon the people’s alienation from outside world. Strangulated in the problems of their own, they had little concern and regard regarding the Western world, its activities, the developments and subsequent progress that was on show in various parts of the world. Social acceptance was considerably bleak. The western ways of life were not yet fully accepted and an overall cynical and regressive life style was on display. The other institutions of society such as the enacted ones were little active and had little outward display. There was little space and place for music and other enacted means of social and cultural representation, transmission and assimilation between the members and to other societies of the world. The political structure was a complete flawed and disintegrated one. According to the author the elections held at that time were one of the most unaccepted ones with large percentage of engineering being alleged and suspected. The representative element was also an incomplete one. The political pillar was more of less representative of the single party in power and being the sole representative entity. This can be elucidated from the fact that from the period ranging from mid 1870s till the early days of 1910s; only Republicans could be seen in the Congress and other legislative entities. The alienation of the other parties and predominantly so complete that there was only and only one member of the Democrats who made it to the power corridors during that period. The gulf between the masses and the representatives was absolute as well and there was little way of reaching to their representatives in an effective and transparent manner (Twain). On administrative front, the lack of the infrastructure and effective political parties system, the lack of funds and support added to the problems with regard to administrative functioning of the country. The system of taxes, the means of contact, the overall process of communication, all were in state of shambles and little could be done with regard to the people’s welfare. It was impeded not only by the funds available but also the lack of infrastructure that was badly wanted for by the common man. Conclusion: The era was full of problems. It exhibited a shambolic state of affairs in the country. It was not limited to any single facet, rather all facets. The expression has been used to mock the overall state, it cannot be termed as the golden period by any means, and rather it was an era of darkness. It was an era that was followed right after the end of civil war. People had little possessions and the government had little resources. Commercially United States of America lagged far behind. Its contemporary entities and powers such as London and Paris were rising and shinning in prosperity and were making inroads with regard to the overall social, cultural progress. America in contrast had its own social problems that did not allow it any space and vacuum to prosper as a society and as a nation collectively. The nation was going through real tough times and it needed reforms in different fields which Mark twain aimed at bringing about through his writings and expression. References: Twain, Mark. The Gilded Age and Later Novels. Library of America, 2002.Press. Read More