The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (Critical Overview)

Critical Overview

“The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” received mixed reviews when it first appeared in Harper’s Monthly and later in the collection The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Sketches. Despite the range of critical estimations of the story, the magazine version of the story enjoyed a wide audience and earned Twain about $2000. Many commentators detected a movement away from Twain’s trademark humor and light-hearted satire toward a moralizing didactic tone. A reviewer for Living Age states: “Mark Twain at his best is as good in his own line as any living writer of English prose. . . The snag on which he now seems most apt to run his vessel is that of edification. He is too fond of being didactic, or pointing morals, of drawing lessons, of teaching the old world how to conduct its affairs.” This reviewer longs for the “gleams of the old humor” and “outbursts of the old daring” that marks Twain’s previous literary efforts and recommends that Twain return to his successful style of “gleaming humor,” “daring exaggeration,” and “vivid and ‘full-steam ahead’ narration.” On the other hand, William Archer of the Critic defended the moralistic tone of his story: “Perhaps you wonder to find Mark Twain among the moralists at all? If so, you have read his previous books to little purpose. They are full of ethical suggestion.” Archer praised “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” for delivering a “sermon that sticks.” Citing Twain’s story as a perfect parable, Archer explained that the appeal of a parable lies in its dramatic content, illustrating a lesson in an enjoyable fashion.

Scholars usually situate “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” within the context of Twain’s other so-called “serious fiction.” Late in his life, Twain addressed various philosophical and political issues in both his essays and fiction. His contemporaries often balked at these forays into the sober side of literature. “Mark Twain, ardent patriot as he is, has an inability to put himself in the situation of a foreigner or of one who lived in another generation than the present,” remarked the reviewer for Living Age. “He is conspicuously defective in the historic sense; and one who is defective in the historic sense had best keep his views on politics to himself.” Still, Twain himself viewed humor as more than mere entertainment. In Mark Twain: A Study of the Short Fiction (1997) Tom Quirk quotes Twain as saying, “Humor must not professedly teach, and it must not professedly preach, but it must do both if it would last forever.”

Numerous critics have admired the literary structure of “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” for its “economy” and “efficiency.” Archer claimed, “A more tight-packed piece of narrative art it would be hard to conceive.” Quirk remarked, “The prose is wonderfully cadenced, but it is stripped for action and running headlong toward some undisclosed end.” Commentators usually appreciate the town hall meeting as “pure dramatic comedy.” According to Quirk, Twain “approached the Hadleyburg story sometimes with the instincts of a dramatist and sometimes with the calculated intellectual interests of a philosopher, and throughout with the spontaneous trust that the tale would tell itself.”

In the latter half of the twentieth century, many critics approach “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” in terms of the ethical implications of the story, debating whether Twain advocated a deterministic philosophy, a moralistic code, or some combination of both. Some critics find that “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” expresses the inherent sinfulness of human nature, while others emphasize that moralistic impulses inform the story, highlighting the freedom of choice available to the characters as well as the ethical implications raised by the ironic narrator. However, commentators on both sides puzzle over the basic contradictions of these philosophies. Quirk considers Twain’s story as an “absurdist’s nihilistic parable, full of misfired messages, dramatizing the impossibility of accurate understanding and communication.” Quirk adds that the only philosophical consistency in this story is its inconsistency, a symptom of the instability of human nature that Twain so vividly captured. Some critics interpret “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” as an amalgam of literary motives and styles that define Twain as a mature writer. In The Authentic Mark Twain (1984) Everett Emerson analyzes the story as an expression of “inconsistent” determinism that presupposes limited freedom of choice. Though things are indeed “ordered,” as Edward Richards recognizes, the presence of freedom of choice allows for flexibility in the cosmic order. Other critics discuss “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” as a uniquely American story, dramatizing the essential conflict between individualism and communal cooperation that has molded the American character since Puritan times. The story has also been recognized for its critique of materialism.

What Do I Read Next?

• Genesis 1-3, The Old Testament contains the story of Adam and Eve, the Original Sin, and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. “Hadleyburg” is often interpreted as an allegory of this story.
• The Awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin, published the same year as “Hadleyburg,” provides a woman’s point of view on the oppressions of community. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, struggles with traditional expectations of a wife and mother. In her rigid society her attempts to break boundaries results in tragedy.
• The Yellow Wallpaper (1899) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman explores in eye-opening detail the alarming consequences of societal oppression of women whose desires transgress patriarchal norms.
• The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne relates the story of Hester Prynne, a Puritan woman who bears a minister’s child out of wedlock. Refusing to reveal the father’s name, she is forced to wear a red letter “A” as punishment. This novel is a deep exploration of the often-malicious motives of collective identity and community.
• A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890) by William Dean Howells explores the psychological struggles of a self-made American millionaire who finds his financial interests at odds with his social conscience. Howells was a close personal friend of Twain and one of his most ardent literary admirers.
• Paradise Lost (1667) by John Milton is an epic poem describing the fall of humankind. The poem views the original Fall as fortunate and ultimately redemptive and develops Satan’s character in detail. Critics argue that Milton created a sympathetic portrait of him, likening the archfiend to a tragic hero. The poem also introduces the idea of a Satan who unwittingly performs God’s will. Difficult read for younger readers.
• “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” (1865) by Mark Twain is considered the story that launched Twain’s literary career. The work exemplifies his humorous style and features the “frame narrative” or story-within-a-story that became one of his hallmarks. The story also uses the “anti-genteel” narrator that frequently appears in his work.
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) by Mark Twain is considered one of his masterpieces, and it exemplifies his humorously ironic style and simultaneously addresses historical issues.
• “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846) by Edgar Allen Poe, a classic “revenge story”, has been identified as a source for “Hadleyburg.” The tone and meaning of Poe’s macabre story is much more somber and fatalistic.