"I like to push the pram-a-lot"

I would just like to say that I finished A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court this afternoon.

Why did I pick it up again after three years? Well, the first time around, I read it in under a week, and somehow found it to be hilarious. And parts of it are: Hank and Merlin dueling, and Merlin inevitably being trumped by 'modern' technology is fabulous. Yet somehow I managed to ignore the fact that the book is incredibly SAD.

The poverty, both financial and intellectual, of these people, is appalling. Hank was doomed from the beginning from "civilizing" them. Time would have to do that, not misplaced knowledge of history and engineering. And not only that, but Hank is a bit of a snob. At first, he's a fun snob, because he's running around the kingdom putting Merlin in his place. Other points are funny too: the knights riding to the rescue on bicycles, the knights and lesser kings playing baseball, the train running from Camelot to London, Sandy being absolutely clueless.

But after a while, these funny bits fall by the wayside, and Hank just starts to wear on my nerves, because he can't quite decide which century he belongs in - he needs to pick one and adapt, because I feel like he starts crossing lines to prove points, sacrifices his humanity in some instances for show, and treats the population (which he is desperately trying to raise from oblivion), like nothing more than cattle.

This time around, I feel like Connecticut Yankee is embittered, confused, stubborn, and depressing.

That said, it is well written, and very complex. It would be an excellent novel for a lit class, but it's a pity no one spends much time on Twain after highschool.