Corn-Pone Opinions

The essay Corn-Pone Opinions deals with the nature of opinions and the idea of originality. Written by Mark Twain, known as the father of American literature, it utilizes the iconic wit, for which Twain is well known. Although the essay was never published in his lifetime, this work is believed to have been written in 1901, the turn of the twentieth century, a time where ideas were spreading around America faster than ever before.

Twain opens his essay with a story of the slave next door, who would give speeches while pretending to work. He recalls his particular speech where he claimed, “you tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I'll tell you what his ‘pinion is.” Twain goes on to further this idea, claiming that a true original opinion is incredibly rare, and although he does concede one may have at one point existed, he believes the occurrence was lost in time. He purposefully explains that one's opinion, although they may think it their own, is not original. We make our decisions based on the overwhelming opinion of others around us. We conform, if not knowingly then subconsciously to the group opinion. He argues his point well by? citing many different examples. He alludes to the famous saying, and at the time of the essay comic strip, “keeping up with the joneses” and uses a range of instances to support his claims, from politics, to religion, he even mentions the hoop skirt. He explains how one's political beliefs, or religious beliefs, are not wholly unique but rather are reflections of the overwhelming belief of the party. As a more basic example he shows how unknowingly the overall opinion of the hoop skirt changed and it went out of style. Although the final example is fairly outdated now, the hoop skirt was a simple everyday item well known to his audience at the time, which consisted primarily of the average American. Finally, Twain’s wit is seen best once the reader finishes the essay and realizes the irony, and near hypocrisy, in Twain’s argument. His claim was not his own, but rather something he had taken from the slave next door.

This Photo shows the kind of conformity in opinions and lack of originality that Twain highlights in his essay