In your responses, find a classmate who chose a different argume.docx

In your responses, find a classmate who chose a different
argument than yours. Do you agree with your classmate’s
discussion? See if you can find a different example of where
support is used within that chosen essay (or point out a possible
fallacy to your classmate). Continue this conversation over a
few days. Also, if you find that your chosen classmate has
misunderstood the critical evaluation essay instructions
(incorrectly summarizing the essay or giving historical/
biographical information rather than offering a critical
examination of the work), please help that student get back on
track.
Estefania Genovese New! Critical Evaluation Essay Discussion
Estefania Genovese (Sep 20, 2016 9:40 AM) - Read by: 9Mark
as ReadReply to This MessageReply
Last Edited By Estefania Genovese on Sep 20, 2016 9:46 AM
Choosing the read "The Damned Human Race" by Mark Twain
really challenged my ability to make a concrete idea of how
believable the information presented by the author is.
Nonetheless, I consider this an extremely great read, that
triggers a lot of thinking, and rationalization. In my thesis
statement I want to focus on the degree in which human beings
make the lowest of creatures, and not the highest. The human
race isn't all that inferior to the animal race, and I will analyze
one paragraph at the time, to show what fallacies the author
utilizes to get his point across. Furthermore, I will conclude my
essay re-stating my thesis statement, and how the human race
cannot be compared to the animal race in every single aspect.
Mark Twain, in my opinion, uses ethos, pathos, and logos in his
narration. I say pathos because while reading this story, the
author made feel a certain way, and these emotions made me
almost believe everything he was saying at first glance. This is
why it is very important to dig deeper while reading! He also
uses ethos because in the first two paragraphs he tells how he

came up with a new experiment to better categorized the human
race. As he states: "In proceeding toward this unpleasant
conclusion I have not guessed or speculated or conjectured, but
have used what is commonly called the scientific method. That
is to say, I have subjected every postulate that presented itself
to the crucial test of actual experiment, and have adopted it or
rejected it according to the result. Thus I verified and
established each step of my course in its turn before advancing
to the next. These experiments were made in the London
Zoological Gardens, and covered many months of painstaking
and fatiguing work." (Mark Twain, The Damned Human Race).
The author gives the reader the ability to believe he has actually
done these experiments, thus making his point across.
Doing this kind of critical thinking while reading an author's
work is very important in college in order to be successful.
Every subject will have readings incorporated in the class, and
being able to evaluate those readings to get the most out of it, is
essential. Especially when using journal articles, where the
language used is more sophisticated, understanding its core, and
extracting the most valuable information is key to be able to
summarize such article. I am glad this class is teaching us these
skills, so we can be aware of how to be critical in evaluating
essays.
Works cited
Twain, Mark. “The Damned Human Race.”
Moodyap.pbworks.com. n.d. Web. 11 May 2012.
INFO NEEDED FOR RESPONSE 1 TO STUDENT ABOVE IS
BELOW
Mark Twain is a central figure in American literature. The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, his finest work, is the story of
a journey down the Mississippi by two memorable figures, a
white boy and a black slave. Twain was born Samuel
Langhorne Clemens in 1835 and was raised in Hannibal,
Missouri. During his early years, he worked as a riverboat
pilot, newspaper reporter, printer, and gold prospector.

Although his popular image is as the author of such comic
works as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the
Mississippi, and The Prince and the Pauper, Twain had a darker
side that may have resulted from the bitter experiences of his
life: financial failure and the deaths of his wife and daughter.
His last writings are savage, satiric, and pessimistic. The
following selection is taken from Letters from the Earth, one of
his last works. It has been under the title The Damned Human
Race and has been printed in numerous essay anthologies.
Did today’s newspaper feature headlines about people fighting
somewhere in the world (Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa)? Most
likely, it did. In the following selection, Mark Twain concludes
that the combative and cruel nature of human beings makes
them the lowest of creatures, not the highest. With scathing
irony, he supplies a startling reason for humans’ warlike nature.
The Damned Human Race Mark Twain
I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the lower
animals (so-called), and contrasting them with the traits and
dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. For it
obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory
of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals; since it now
seems plain to me that the theory ought to be vacated in favor of
a new and truer one, this new and truer one to be named the
Descent of Man from the Higher Animals. In proceeding
toward this unpleasant conclusion I have not guessed or
speculated or conjectured, but have used what is commonly
called the scientific method. That is to say, I have subjected
every postulate that presented itself to the crucial test of actual
experiment, and have adopted it or rejected it according to the
result. Thus I verified and established each step of my course
in its turn before advancing to the next. These experiments
were made in the London Zoological Gardens, and covered

many months of painstaking and fatiguing work. Before
particularizing any of the experiments, I wish to state one or
two things which seem to more properly belong in this place
than further along. This, in the interest of clearness. The
massed experiments established to my satisfaction certain
generalizations, to wit: 1. That the human race is of one
distinct species. It exhibits slight variations (in color, stature,
mental caliber, and so on) due to climate, environment, and so
forth; but it is a species by itself, and not to be confounded with
any other. 2. That the quadrupeds are a distinct family, also.
This family exhibits variations (in color, size, food preferences,
and so on; but it is a family by itself). 3. That the other
families (the birds, the fishes, the insects, the reptiles, etc.) are
more or less distinct, also. They are in the procession. They
are links in the chain which stretches down from the higher
animals to man at the bottom.
Some of my experiments were quite curious. In the course of
my reading I had come across a case where, many years ago,
some hunters on our Great Plains organized a buffalo hunt for
the entertainment of an English earl. They had charming sport.
They killed seventy-two of those great animals; and ate part of
one of them and left the seventy-one to rot. In order to
determine the difference between an anaconda and an earl (if
any) I caused seven young calves to be turned into the
anaconda’s cage. The grateful reptile immediately crushed one
of them and swallowed it, then lay back satisfied. It showed no
further interest in the calves, and no disposition to harm them.
I tried this experiment with other anacondas; always with the
same result. The fact stood proven that the difference between
an earl and an anaconda is that the earl is cruel and the
anaconda isn’t; and that the earl wantonly destroys what he has
no use for, but the anaconda doesn’t. This seemed to suggest
that the anaconda was not descended from the earl. It also
seemed to suggest that the earl was descended from the
anaconda, and had lost a good deal in the transition. I was
aware that many men who have accumulated more millions of

money than they can ever use have shown a rabid hunger for
more, and have not scrupled to cheat the ignorant and the
helpless out of their poor servings in order to partially appease
that appetite. I furnished a hundred different kinds of wild and
tame animals the opportunity to accumulate vast stores of food,
but none of them would do it. The squirrels and bees and
certain birds made accumulations, but stopped when they had
gathered a winter s supply, and could not be persuaded to add to
it either honestly or by chicane. In order to bolster up a
tottering reputation the ant pretended to store up supplies, but I
was not deceived. I know the ant. These experiments
convinced me that there is this difference between man and the
higher animals: he is avaricious and miserly; they are not. In
the course of my experiments I convinced myself that among the
animals man is the only one that harbors insults and injuries,
broods over them, waits till a chance offers, then takes revenge.
The passion of revenge is unknown to the higher animals.
Roosters keep harems, but it is by consent of their concubines;
therefore no wrong is done. Men keep harems but it is by brute
force, privileged by atrocious laws which the other sex were
allowed no hand in making. In this matter man occupies a far
lower place than the rooster. Cats are loose in their morals, but
not consciously so. Man, in his descent from the cat, has
brought the cats looseness with him but has left the
unconsciousness behind (the saving grace which excuses the
cat). The cat is innocent, man is not. Indecency, vulgarity,
obscenity (these are strictly confined to man); he invented them.
Among the higher animals there is no trace of them. They hide
nothing; they are not ashamed. Man, with his soiled mind,
covers himself. He will not even enter a drawing room with his
breast and back naked, so alive are he and his mates to indecent
suggestion. Man is The Animal that Laughs. But so does the
monkey, as Mr. Darwin pointed out; and so does the Australian
bird that is called the laughing jackass. No! Man is the Animal
that Blushes. He is the only one that does it or has occasion to.
At the head of this article we see how three monks were burnt to

death a few days ago, and a prior put to death with atrocious
cruelty. Do we inquire into the details? No; or we should find
out that the prior was subjected to unprintable mutilations. Man
(when he is a North American Indian) gouges out his prisoners’
eyes; when he is King John, with a nephew to render
untroublesome, he uses a red-hot iron; when he is a religious
zealot dealing with heretics in the Middle Ages, he skins his
captive alive and scatters salt on his back; in the first Richards
time he shuts up a multitude of Jew families in a tower and sets
fire to it; in Columbus’s time he captures a family of Spanish
Jews and (but that is not printable; in our day in England a man
is fined ten shillings for beating his mother nearly to death with
a chair, and another man is fined forty shillings for having four
pheasant eggs in his possession without
being able to satisfactorily explain how he got them). Of all the
animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one
that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. It is a trait that is
not known to the higher animals. The cat plays with the
frightened mouse; but she has this excuse, that she does not
know that the mouse is suffering. The cat is moderate
(unhumanly moderate: she only scares the mouse, she does not
hurt it; she doesnt dig out its eyes, or tear off its skin, or drive
splinters under its nails) man-fashion; when she is done playing
with it she makes a sudden meal of it and puts it out of its
trouble. Man is the Cruel Animal. He is alone in that
distinction. The higher animals engage in individual fights, but
never in organized masses. Man is the only animal that deals in
that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers
his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and with
calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that
for sordid wages will march out, as the Hessians did in our
Revolution, and as the boyish Prince Napoleon did in the Zulu
war, and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who
have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel. Man
is the only animal that robs his helpless fellow of his country
takes possession of it and drives him out of it or destroys him.

Man has done this in all the ages. There is not an acre of
ground on the globe that is in possession of its rightful owner,
or that has not been taken away from owner after owner, cycle
after cycle, by force and bloodshed. Man is the only Slave.
And he is the only animal who enslaves. He has always been a
slave in one form or another, and has always held other slaves
in bondage under him in one way or another. In our day he is
always some mans slave for wages, and does that mans work;
and this slave has other slaves under him for minor wages, and
they do his work. The higher animals are the only ones who
exclusively do their own work and provide their own living.
andrew scott New! Dropping Bombs
andrew scott (Sep 20, 2016 7:58 PM) - Read by: 11Mark as
ReadReply to This MessageReply
Hello Class,
Thesis Statement:
The power given to the president to make critical decision
equals the power of the atomic bomb, both can change the
landscape of the world.
Outline:
Introduction/ Thesis Statement
Brief summery of the Articles important information.
Body 1 my stance of article
Body 2 Ethos
Body 3 Pathos
Body 4 logos
Body 5 Extra if need
Conclusion
Author Uses
Ethos: Szilard uses his influence as a top atomic scientist to
convince the president to refrain from nuclear warfare. He uses
his knowledge to make a point someone may not have
considered.
Pathos: Szilard points to the suffering of the Japanese people if
the atomic bomb is drooped. He also adds they would not be

given the chance to surrender. He leaves the door open for
readers to let their thoughts build negativity.
Logos: Logos are Szilard’s strong suit. His main reason, once
the bomb is dropped the door remains open for repeat bombings.
Which is very true in life. Lie one time it is very easy to lie
again and again.
The logos example is also my example of support. I feel this
example is strong within the body of my essay. Providing
insight into our decision making process. When things are done
multiple times they become common practice. Our use of
atomic bombs in this war would carry the world a long way
further on this path of ruthlessness (Szilard).
Critical evaluation is key when attending college, once the skill
is mastered it can take the student a long way. I have read
Szilard’s article many times now. I made my certain judgments
when I read the article the first time. After learning more about
the ways to evaluate an article. I see Szilard’s work in a
different light. Moving forward in college a student may be
asked to look at a subject in a certain prospective. Without the
foundation to better understand the position a student may
struggle with the subject. Really diving into an article with the
ability to pick it apart to see if the author achieved their goal is
pretty cool.
Good luck to everyone with their essay. I ask for your advice on
the essay. If you feel I am weak in an area let me know please.
Work Cited:
Szilard, Leo. “A Petition to the President of the United States.”
Atomicarchive.com.2011.Web.20 September 20 2016.
INFO NEEDED FOR RESPONSE 2 TO STUDENT ABOVE IS
BELOW
A PETITION TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Discoveries of which the people of the United States are not
aware may affect the welfare of this nation in the near future.
The liberation of atomic power which has been achieved places
atomic bombs in the hands of the Army. It places in your hands,

as Commander-in-Chief, the fateful decision whether or not to
sanction the use of such bombs in the present phase of the war
against Japan.
We, the undersigned scientists, have been working in the field
of atomic power for a number of years. Until recently we have
had to reckon with the possibility that the United States might
be attacked by atomic bombs during this war and that her only
defense might lie in a counterattack by the same means. Today
with this danger averted we feel impelled to say what follows
The war has to be brought speedily to a successful conclusion
and the destruction of Japanese cities by means of atomic bombs
may very well be an effective method of warfare. We feel,
however, that such an attack on Japan could not be justified in
the present circumstances. We believe that the United States
ought not to resort to the use of atomic bombs in the present
phase of the war, at least not unless the terms which will be
imposed upon Japan after the war are publicly announced and
subsequently Japan is given an opportunity to surrender.
If such public announcement gave assurance to the Japanese
that they could look forward to a life devoted to peaceful
pursuits in their homeland and if Japan still refused to
surrender, our nation would then be faced with a situation which
might require a re-examination of her position with respect to
the use of atomic bombs in the war.
Atomic bombs are primarily a means for the ruthless
annihilation of cities. Once they were introduced as an
instrument of war it would be difficult to resist for long the
temptation of putting them to such use.
The last few years show a marked tendency toward increasing
ruthlessness. At present our Air Forces, striking at the Japanese
cities, are using the same methods of warfare which were
condemned by American public opinion only a few years ago
when applied by the Germans to the cities of England. Our use
of atomic bombs in this war would carry the world a long way
further on this path of ruthlessness.
Atomic power will provide the nations with new means of

destruction. The atomic bombs at our disposal represent only
the first step in this direction and there is almost no limit to the
destructive power which will become available in the course of
this development. Thus a nation which sets the precedent of
using these newly liberated forces of nature for purposes of
destruction may have to bear the responsibility of opening the
door to an era of devastation on an unimaginable scale.
In view of the foregoing, we, the undersigned, respectfully
petition that you exercise your power as Commander-in-Chief to
rule that the United States shall not, in the present phase of the
war, resort to the use of atomic bombs.
STUDENT 3
New! Week 3 - Critical Evaluation Essay Discussion
Ryan Hanson (Sep 21, 2016 3:02 PM) - Read by: 7Reply
I will be writing my essay on The Unanimous Declaration of the
Thirteen United States of America.
Thesis statement: “American independence is most frequently
discussed in the terms of winning the war. While true, America
actually won its independence by using ethics, logic and
appealing to the emotional reasoning of the British monarchy.”
In this essay the author, Thomas Jefferson, used all three
methods of persuasion while making his argument. Thomas
starts the essay by saying “When in the Course of human events,
it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political
bands which have connected them with another, and to assume
among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a
decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they
should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
(Jefferson) This is an incredibly powerful and effective opening
to the essay that pulls on peoples ethical strings. It establishes

that he feels they are operating under the ultimate authority in
the world, the laws of nature and of God. The reason why this is
so powerful is that it clearly states that they are empowered by
God, not the King, to declare their independence.
The critical evaluation of another author’s work can and will
provide great value not only in future courses at APUS, but also
in life. Being able to dissect another’s essay like this will allow
you to use your critical thinking skills which will be crucial in
all classes. You will also be able to review other essays for
research for your own paper and more thoroughly understand
the intent beyond just the words. Lastly, it will be helpful as
you will be able to apply this level of scrutiny to your own
writings.
Reference:
Jefferson, Thomas. “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen
United States of America.” National Archives. n.d. Web. 11
May 2012.
INFO NEEDED FOR RESPONSE TO STUDENT 3 ABOVE IS
BELOW (150 WORDS)
The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of
America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for
one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected
them with another, and to assume among the powers of the
earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of
Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain

unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments
are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right
of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
Government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed,
will dictate that Governments long established should not be
changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all
experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a
long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute
Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such
Government, and to provide new Guards for their future
security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these
Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them
to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the
present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries
and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of
an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts
be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and
necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his
Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has
utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of
large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish
the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right
inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,

uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public
Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance
with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for
opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the
people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause
others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable
of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their
exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all
the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States;
for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of
Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their
migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new
Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his
Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure
of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither
swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their
substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies
without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and
superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction
foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws;
giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any
Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these
States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended
offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a
neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary
government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at
once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same
absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable
Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our
Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves
invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his
Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns,
and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign
Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and
tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy
scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally
unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the
high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the
executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves
by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has
endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the
merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for
Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have
been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose
character is thus marked by every act which may define a
Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren.

We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their
legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We
have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and
settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and
magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our
common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would
inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They
too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which
denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of
mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of
America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions,
do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these
Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United
Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent
States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British
Crown, and that all political connection between them and the
State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and
that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to
levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish
Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which
Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this
Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine
Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our
Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
STUDENT 4
New! Week 3: Critical Evaluation Discussion
Carlos Hernandez (Sep 22, 2016 6:43 PM) - Read by: 8Reply
Beginning paragraph: Intro to Mark Twain’s theory as true &
Thesis stated
First Paragraph: How logos is used in essay

Second Paragraph: How pathos is used in essay
Third Paragraph: How the tone was used to make his point
Conclusion: How everything he did in structure of the essay
completely correlates to proving the mankind is the lower
species.
Thesis: Mark Twain's satirically written insight shows that
humans have all the necessary tools and functions to be the
better species and throughout time they have habitually shown
the opposite proving that the human race is the lower species.
Types of Support: Pathos and Logos
Tone- satirical and cynical, hypocritical
In The Damned Human Race Twain used Logos as one type of
support throughout his essay. A logical appeal is successfully
made if the argument is valid and does the best possible job of
proving that each reason is true (Driver, et al. 68) In one
experiment, Twain talks about how he taught a cat and a dog to
be friends in one hour, adding a rabbit, a fox, a goose, a squirrel
and some doves, living peacefully and affectionately (3). These
facts, although false, were used to present a bigger picture. He
was using logos to present logic to the reader.
Knowing how to make an analysis of an essay or anything in
general can not only help me in future classes ,but in life. If you
can break down what it is you are reading you can further
understand and process the message the author is intending to
convey. You can do this with newspapers, opinion articles, or
class assignments.
INFO FOR RESPONSE TO STUDENT 4 ABOVE IS BELOW
Mark Twain is a central figure in American literature. The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, his finest work, is the story of
a journey down the Mississippi by two memorable figures, a
white boy and a black slave. Twain was born Samuel
Langhorne Clemens in 1835 and was raised in Hannibal,
Missouri. During his early years, he worked as a riverboat

pilot, newspaper reporter, printer, and gold prospector.
Although his popular image is as the author of such comic
works as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the
Mississippi, and The Prince and the Pauper, Twain had a darker
side that may have resulted from the bitter experiences of his
life: financial failure and the deaths of his wife and daughter.
His last writings are savage, satiric, and pessimistic. The
following selection is taken from Letters from the Earth, one of
his last works. It has been under the title The Damned Human
Race and has been printed in numerous essay anthologies.
Did today’s newspaper feature headlines about people fighting
somewhere in the world (Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa)? Most
likely, it did. In the following selection, Mark Twain concludes
that the combative and cruel nature of human beings makes
them the lowest of creatures, not the highest. With scathing
irony, he supplies a startling reason for humans’ warlike
nature.

higher animals: he is avaricious and miserly; they are not.
STUDENT 5
New! Week 3 Forum: Devereaux Lee
Devereaux Lee (Sep 20, 2016 10:25 PM) - Read by: 8Reply
Hi class!
Here is my thesis for this upcoming essay that is due;
"Humans are far more mentally developed than any other
creature we have encountered and with that, it is not true that
we are at the end of the linkage."
If you can't tell already, I chose to write about "The Damned
Human Race" by Mark Twain. I found myself easily relating
to this in my own way. I thought I would be good at responding
to this since I was able to state facts about how we are not at
the bottom and that us humans are so much more!

I will start off by saying that Twain really uses Pathos. it was
mentioned that he was in a dark place in his life due to the fact
that his daughter and wife had recently passed. With that, his
emotions are sad, frustrated and grieving. A writer definitely
will portray how he feels throughout his words.
With Ethos, he did some research in support of his opinion.
The story about the buffalo hunt, the men who could afford the
hunt went and killed so many and had no use for any of it after
they killed these animals. Twain was attempting to show that
we can be excessive and take more than what is needed. He
compared us to animals who only kill in order to survive and
not take more than what is needed.
I enjoy reading others opinions on my work, I like seeing where
people are at in their opinions and life choices. I may not
always agree but that is great for sparking up good conversation
as long as the respect is always in place. How else are we
suppose t discover new aspects an views in life? Whether or not
this is just an English class, I tend to always pull more out than
what is expected in any course I've taken.
Feel free to add in anything or point out anything that I may
have missed during this post.
Thank you for reading,
Dev Lee
INFO FOR RESPONSE TO STUDENT 5 ABOVE IS BELOW
(150 WORDS)

higher animals: he is avaricious and miserly; they are not. In
the course of my experiments I convinced myself that among the
animals man is the only one that harbors insults and injuries,
broods over them, waits till a chance offers, then takes
revenge. The passion of revenge is unknown to the higher
animals. Roosters keep harems, but it is by consent of their
concubines; therefore no wrong is done. Men keep harems but
it is by brute force, privileged by atrocious laws which the other
sex were allowed no hand in making. In this matter man
occupies a far lower place than the rooster. Cats are loose in
their morals, but not consciously so. Man, in his descent from
the cat, has brought the cats looseness with him but has left the
unconsciousness behind (the saving grace which excuses the
cat). The cat is innocent, man is not. Indecency, vulgarity,
obscenity (these are strictly confined to man); he invented
them. Among the higher animals there is no trace of them.

They hide nothing; they are not ashamed. Man, with his soiled
mind, covers himself. He will not even enter a drawing room
with his breast and back naked, so alive are he and his mates to
indecent suggestion. Man is The Animal that Laughs. But so
does the monkey, as Mr. Darwin pointed out; and so does the
Australian bird that is called the laughing jackass. No! Man is
the Animal that Blushes. He is the only one that does it or has
occasion to.

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