Cannibalism in the Cars was written by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The story illustrates how overt formality seldom fails to hide one’s inner cannibalistic nature, and in this particular story, Twain is concerned with Congressmen and politicians in general. The Congressmen use highly professional language to perform acts of cannibalism in the wake of a crisis. The story is seen as a political satire criticizing politicians’ slavery to power.
Cannibalism in the Cars Summary
The story starts with the narrator traveling westward when, on the train, a “benevolent”-“-looking man comes and sat beside him. He starts telling the narrator about a “secret chapter” of his life from 1853 when he was on a train bound for Chicago. He says that very soon, it begins snowing on his journey, so much so that all the passengers, himself included, become caught in the middle of a snowdrift. They have no provisions with them, and they pass seven days in hunger until they finally have the courage to say what everyone has been thinking but not saying.
Richard H. Gaston is the one who proclaims that someone has to die for everyone to eat and survive. The scene becomes that of a courtroom where everyone nominates one another to be cooked and eaten for the others to survive. They proceed to an election by ballot, but Mr. Sawyer suggests that a chairman of the meeting must be chosen for the proceedings to continue. After much deliberation, Mr. Gaston was chosen as the chairman; along with him, a “committee on nominations” and a purveyor were also chosen.
Mr. Rogers suggests that Mr. Lucius Harris be substituted for Mr. Herman because he has lost a lot of flesh during the week and would not be as nourishing. In a similar fashion, the men in the car hold ineffective elections following formal parliamentary procedures to select victims to eat. Mr. Harris is elected, and the man describes him as the “finest supper” after seven torturous days. After breakfast, they elected a man named Walker who was “very good,” and they wrote so to his wife. The man gets off at his stop after telling the narrator that John Murphy married the widow of Harris, their first choice. Before getting off, he tells the narrator he likes him almost as much as he likes Harris.
The narrator is very distressed listening to the man’s story and is glad he has gone. He asks the conductor who that man was. The conductor replies that he was a Congressman once and was caught up in a snow drift. The frostbite made him sick in the head for a couple of months, but he is fine now. When he talks about that incident, he raves about it and is a “monomaniac”. The narrator is then glad that he has only heard the ravings of a madman rather than an actual cannibal.
Cannibalism in the Cars: Analysis
Cannibalism in the Cars is a frame narrative, or a story within a story, where the narrator meets a man on the train who narrates the actual plot of the story. While it is uncertain as to what Twain’s political opinion might have been, it is quite evident that he does not hold Congressmen in the highest regard. Congressmen in this story perform violent acts of cannibalism while employing highly polished political rhetoric. Twain is the finest humorist of his time, and the story elucidates the cannibalistic nature of Congress and satirizes the political background of Twain’s time. Cannibalism in Cars is thus a political satire. Some scholars have argued that the men’s debates in the cars elucidate social disparity, where the high class “eats” the ones lacking power.
The story employs the grotesque mode of storytelling, elucidating how parliamentary language is polished and civil, but is used to decide on a barbaric topic: cannibalism. The lack of emotions with which the ‘senators’ decide on who to ‘feast’ on or who is the better supper illustrates that Twain’s story is more profound than a political satire; much like Lu Xun’s A Diary of a Madman, cannibalism is used here as a metaphor for the self-serving decisions of politicians, revealing their true nature.
The senators lack a humane response to cannibalism; their language is formal and follows procedure throughout. Twain elucidates, through his signature humoristic style of narration, that politicians are often corrupt and care little for emotions, and their decisions are seldom morally correct, even though they follow formal procedure and language. Towards the end, it is up to the reader to decide if the man narrating the story was merely fabricating the story of cannibalism or if it was the truth. The ending transfers to the reader an interpretive role.
Cannibalism in the Cars: Character Sketch
The First Narrator
The first narrator of the story is returning from St. Louis and traveling West when he meets the man on the train and is terrified by his story. He concludes the story by saying that he is glad he was only listening to the ravings of a madman; however, this leaves the reader with the role of interpreting whether the frame narrator’s story was the truth or mere fabrication.
The Frame Narrator
The Frame narrator is a Congressman who narrates the main plot of the story. His “secret” tale of cannibalism leaves the narrator horrified. The conductor deems him a monomaniac who was once stranded due to a snow drift that left him weak in the head for two to three months. He tells the narrator that he likes the latter almost as much as he liked Harris, whom they ate up. This horrifies the narrator to no end.
Cannibalism in the Cars | Literary Devices
- Euphemism: The word “cannibalism” is never overtly used; rather, cannibalistic innuendo is employed to suggest the eating of other human beings in the story.
- Irony: Twain employs an exceptional ironic narrative where the senators employ formal, polished parliamentary procedure to decide on something as barbaric as cannibalism. They describe the eating of other senators as “joyful” and “cheesiest,”, whereas a critical reader understands the horrors of it.
- Metaphor: Cannibalism serves as a metaphor for the kind of immoral and corrupt practices that politicians indulge in to have their way. In the story, they eat other politicians to survive. Similarly, in a hunger for power, Twain illustrates how Congressmen often resort to any means to stay relevant and hold on to their positions.
- Understatement: Twain uses understatement to achieve the effect of his signature humor on the reader, rendering the story a political satire. Eating other men in the wake of a crisis is treated as the most human reaction to an emergency, minimizing the effect or severity of it and making the senators appear better than they actually are.
In conclusion, Cannibalism in the Cars is not only a political satire but also a deep reflection on the nature of politics during Twain’s time through a largely humorous narrative. Twenty-four men are shown to choose who they will have for supper or breakfast through elaborate elections. Through irony, understatements, and the metaphor of cannibalism itself to portray the predatory nature of politicians, Twain emerges with a classic story in his style to critique American politics.
