The Innocents Abroad

In the Conclusion of the book, Twain recommends regular travel as a means of expanding one’s viewpoint and destroying prejudice:

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime (512).

In some respects, Twain’s experiences on the trip reflect this idea. He and his friends see natural wonders and artistic achievements that provoke awe and wonder. They meet people, like the French, whose approach to life is refreshingly different from their own and from which they can learn.

Yet in other respects, the principle clashes with what we have read in the book. The idea of broad-mindedness seems at variance with Twain’s harsh comments on foreign cultures, as many of his harsher comments may be tongue-in-cheek. Perhaps the principle represents a conclusion Twain has reached with the passage of time, after having reflected more deeply on the trip.

The idea of “broadening the mind” also seems ironic in light of Twain’s reaction to the Holy Land, particularly Jerusalem, as being smaller and dirtier than he had imagined it. In a sense, Twain’s contact with the actual Holy Land (as distinct from the Holy Land of the imagination) causes it to shrink in his mind.