- The purpose of “Corn-Pone Opinion” was to show that society follows a recipe for everything. We all conform to do what everyone else is doing and never use our own minds.
- In the first eight paragraphs, Mark Twain used the personal pronoun I a lot because he talked about his anecdote of what happened to him. For the bulk of the essay, Twain used we, because he was referring to everyone when he was talking about conformists. Then he went back to using the personal pronoun I at the end of it because he brings up his childhood again. The change allow you to be able to relate it to an individual life, then see the whole picture where he gives examples and finally bring it home again.
- By getting his argument from a young slave, Twain shows that his source is probably not well educated. If someone uneducated can tell that we are all conforming to everyone else, we should all see it too. This source could also cause problems though, because people usually listen to the more educated instead of someone that is on a lower social class and has had less education then you.
- Twain expanded on Jerry’s opinion with the two numbered items. They agree with Jerry, but the first one said that there are exceptions to the rule and the second said that the raw opinion was always plagued by what everyone else said. Numbering the items makes it more legible. He gave his additional thought and then explained it afterwards.
- He appeals to logos by using examples that we know well and are relatable to us. It made it much more efficient to talk about fashion and dishware because we could see his point in everyday life and were constantly reminded that we are conformers. Especially with fashion because everyone tries to wear clothes that are in style and never asks and questions as to why we are doing it, which makes the argument stronger.
- The irony in Twain’s qualification in paragraph six was that it said that people conform with “calculation and intention” and Twain seemed unsure about his own opinion on it by saying “I think” the way he did. He also isn’t conforming to what Jerry said; in fact he is arguing it.
- The reason why paragraph thirteen is so long is that he used several examples to prove several points. When he brought religion into the essay he used at least four examples of “we know why Catholics are Catholics, why Presbyterians are Presbyterians,…”. There is one main idea of the paragraph (conformity) and several little parts that aren’t important to have their own paragraph but Twain still wanted them in it. If this paragraph was broken up it would have to be into many little ones and they would sound choppy. The subordinating clauses in the middle of it were for the effect of connecting his different ideas together.
- In paragraph fourteen, Twain uses parallelism to emphasize the point that the men automatically disregard the the other party because they learn up on theirs but forget to do the same to the other side.
- Twain capitalized “Public Opinion” and “Voice of God” because he was trying to show the power in the words. He portrayed both of them as beings. God is normally capitalized, but by also capitalizing voice it shows strength. He turns Public Opinion into something that contains all people because through conformity everyone becomes one as we all unite in opinion and point of view.
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- An example of a hyperbole that I found was “We all have to bow down to that.” (par. 9). For understatement, I found “…can’t afford the views that might interfere with his bread and butter.” (para 4). He didn’t just go right out and say that if you deny the main opinion it could cause you to not be able to get food for you and your family. Another one is when he talks about Eve coming back ”in her ripe renoun, to reintroduce her quaint style…” (para 9). He put that very lightly. Everyone would be appualed to say the least!
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