Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourse, By Mark Twain

Throughout Mark Twain’s novel he often seems to suggest that an uncivilized way of life is more desirable and morally superior than a civilized way of life. These ideas often relate to the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, civilization often corrupts rather than improving the lives of human beings.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in 1712 and died in 1778; he was a Swiss philosopher, writer, and political theorist. His novels helped to inspire the leaders of the French Revolution and the Romantic Generation. Rousseau believed that man was good by nature, but was corrupted by society. In one of his works called The Social Contract, which is one of the most influential works of political philosophy in the western tradition, he says, “Man is born
is the moral degradation of humanity. He believed civilizations made us cruel, selfish, and bloodthirsty. Rousseau had often said as well that the arts and sciences had not been beneficial to human kind because they were not what he considered human needs, but resulted in pride and vanity. The opportunities they created contributed to the corruption of man. Rousseau also said that they undermined the possibilities of true friendship and replaced then with jealousy and fear, and this helped to make governments more
Miss Watson and Widow Douglas, two civilized people, tried to bring Huck back onto track of their mindset and self image without caring if he wanted it or if he felt at home with it or not. In a skit from the show Saturday Night Live called “Girls trying on clothes” connects with the satire of Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas trying to bring back Huck into their mindset. In the skit a mom and her two daughters from Georgia are in New York trying on clothes. The entire time the Mom tells both girls that everything they put on no matter how “funky” looks good, Except for one of the daughters named Elena. Throughout the skit the mom is trying to be extra persuasive about the outfits and how good they look. The mom says at one point, “ I hope Elena moves to New York and falls in love with it because you know what? New York is the place for funky people.” Just like Miss Watson and Widow Douglas The mom of the two girls doesn’t care if Elena will be happy in New York or even wants to move there, but she thinks it would be best so she’s trying to bring Elena into her