Mark Twain as his Own Physcian

Mark Twain once said he had little use for “those dull people who think that nothing but medicines and doctors can cure the sick”.  Twain had what modern readers may consider interesting views on which medicines and cures would help people overcome their diseases.  Twain advocated for a total abstention from food for one or two days in order to cure any disease. The changes that a mere hundred years have had on the way our society views health, wellness, and nutrition are astounding and appear fascinating to modern readers who possess a broader base of health related knowledge.

An experience that Mark Twain once had in Hawai’i was the catalyst that ignited his later fervor for a self cure method of preventing disease.  Twain was in Honolulu when a small boat carrying the survivors of a shipwreck reached port (Ober 207).  The sailors had endured forty-three days in an open boat that contained only a ten-day supply of food.  While these men arrived in port weakened, they were otherwise in excellent health.  Drawing upon what he saw, Twain reached the conclusion that would be his guide for health related issues for the next fifteen years.

While the narration in “At the Appetite Cure” is in first person from the point of view of the patient, the doctor, Professor Haimburger, essentially plays the role of Mark Twain.  Haimburger, like Twain, witnessed an episode of a group of people who where shipwrecked and forced to survive for weeks with inadequate food.  While Twain only saw the survivors of a wrecked ship arrive in port, Haimburger was a member of the shipwrecked party.  From their experiences, Twain and Haimburger both concluded that food was not always necessary for a person to survive, and that, in fact, starvation could be a healthy way to cleanse the body of disease.

Twain claimed that starvation would weaken men physically, but would, in fact cure all diseases of an “ordinary sort” completely (Ober 207).  This led Twain to the conclusion that most diseases could be kept in check by starving them.  To Twain this method was an ideal way to manage sickness since it was one that could be applied easily and by anyone without a medical professional or their guidance.  He believed that starvation could “do more the average sick man than can the best medicines and the best doctors”.  Without the hassle of consulting a doctor, Twain could embark on a self-prescribed cure which he believed would cure all that ailed him. 

The event that initiated Twain’s views on starvation are easily traced to the survivors of the shipwreck, but according to K. Patrick Ober, the mentality of of the decision could also be easily traced.  Twain’s starvation theory was developed during the time period when Andrew Jackson was president.  During that time period, the prevailing mindset was one of independence and the freedom of people to make their own decisions.  This emphasis on little interference with a person’s decision making was part of what guided Twain’s decision to seek a method of medical treatment that he could self administer without outside interference.

To Twain, this was not a mere belief or untested theory that he held.  He once wrote: “starvation has been my cold and fever doctor for fifteen years, and has accomplished a cure in all instances” (Ober 208).  He even recommended the cure to friends and family.  In a letter written to Orion, his brother, Twain explained “if [Orion] will stop eating - utterly, completely, uncompromisingly- for two or three days, his cold will disappear, no matter how strong or old a cold it is”.  Reaching out to the people about whom he cared most and encouraging them to try the starvation cure to improve their health is evidence of just how much Twain believed in the starvation cure; he was a strong enough believer in the cure that he was willing to have his family try it without worry of any negative consequences.

In addition to starvation as a method of curing sickness, Twain had a view that differs vastly from current, conventional wisdom with regards to unhealthy habits.  While bedridden with lumbago, Twain gave up, at his doctor’s urging, caffeine, alcohol, and all food and drink except for water (Ober 210).  After doing this, Twain was cured of the lumbago.  However, Twain’s interpretation of this result was something that would not likely be consistent with current medical theory.  Twain advocated for the continuation of bad habits so that they could be discarded at a later time when one needed to give up something unhealthy so that one could once again become healthy. This theory regarded bad habits as being akin to ballast; something that could be disposed of later.

After being long entranced with the starvation cure, Twain would discover the “mind cure”; a method of curing disease that involved simply believing that what one did to try and cure a disease would actually help (Ober 210).    Twain’s belief that the physical starvation was what resulted in the cure began to wane at this point, however, Twain never lost faith in the treatment.  Twain attributed some of the success of the starvation cure to the same principle of the mind cure; that if he believed that starving a cold would cure the disease, the starvation actually would cure his cold.  Since Twain believed that the starvation cure would return him to health he felt that the treatment was effective at curing colds simply because he believed it could.

Today, we view proper nutrition as something that is very important to maintaining health.  We are taught that without eating a diet that is diverse and supplies all necessary nutrients, such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals, one cannot achieve proper health.  Twain’s views that starvation was an effective means of curing disease seems contradictory to present day health advice. 

To a present day reader with knowledge of nutrition and how the body works to fight disease, Mark Twain’s views on health and nutrition differ vastly from what is currently thought to be the best cure for diseases.  

Ober, K. Patrick.  Mark Twain and Medicine: “Any Mummery Will Cure”.  Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003.  Print.  

Characteristics of a Great Writer

What makes a writer stand out? Is it eloquence of words or simply a style in which carefully considered elements are juxtaposed successfully? Many critics consider O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” to be a literary masterpiece because of it genius elements. In her critical essay, Rena Korb makes the assertion that this literary work contains all of the necessary ingredients of a masterfully written short story. His style of writing can teach college students a lot about the art of writing stories. She argues that O. Henry’s trickery is cemented through this story because of its narrative drive and its original irony. His narrative drive is one that is ideal for a short story because it compels the reader while at the same time giving background information, all in a few short lines. This is important because the reader’s interest in the beginning sets up the impact of the understated irony in the ending.

The beginning of the story is very critical because the author has to intrigue his readers. However, it being a short story, he has to do it in a very short amount of lines and still be able to provide a full background of the situation. O. Henry is very successful in doing this through his beginning dialogues. He also manages to foreshadow the magnitude of the sacrifices that the characters will have to make in the process of introducing the situation.

O. Henry’s description of the characters and their economic status and circumstances supports the viewpoint that the ending “can only be delivered in an understated fashion” in order for the irony to have its full impact. The surprise ending is fitting for the story because it is not trying to make the reader have a deep revelation, but rather learn a small lesson about life that has great impact.

The reason that the ending is perfect for the story is that the reader can be satisfied, even though he has been tricked. Korb emphasizes that the “brevity” of the story allows for its message to be delivered successfully. The story is exceptionally short, so that the reader does not get too attached. This serves the purpose of attributing to the successful ending. If the story, mainly the introduction, had been longer, then the reader would feel as if it deserves a “bigger and more complex meaning.”

Overall, Rena Korb argues for O. Henry’s literary elements as being both ingenious and effective in the art of short story writing. His style meshes well with the requirements for writing a fruitful short story. As young readers and writers we can learn a lot from a writing style such as O. Henry’s. Not only does it help one with writing an essay, but it is also helpful in better understanding and analyzing important readings.

Works Cited:

"The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry - from the Short Story Library at American Literature."Short Stories & Classic Literature from around the World. Web. 26 Sept. 2011. .

Korb, Rena. "An Overview of 'The Gift of the Magi'" Literature Resource Center. Gale Cengage Learning, 2002. Web. 24 Sept. 2011.

Into the Humor of Absurdity of Reality

Should Mark Twain’s work’s style, “humor all humorous (Howells 159),” be viewed like that of Shakespeare or Dane Cook? This loaded question unleashes different methods of examination of what makes comicality. For Twain, we mostly see humor deriving from the absurdity of reality. I would like to make the case that even though Mark Twain’s writing of ‘At the Appetite Cure,’ though dated, is still relevant to the today’s time and age of the young scholar.

Mark Twain is more than just your run of the mill comedian; he is a specialist on pushing barriers and putting a play on morals and issues. William Dean Howells, a renowned literary critic applauds his writing in the stating that along with Twain’s humor, comes an “impassioned study of human conscience (161)”. He doesn’t merely analyze and conclude in an entertaining way. Twain often brings up human struggles and leaves the conclusions up to the interpreter. His humorous analysis is realized in the skeleton guideline to dive into the depth of society and that of the individual. This skeleton model not only provides flexibility for accessibility between time periods, but also in specific subject matter. ‘At the Appetite Cure’, lends itself well to this claim in the questioning what our desires are, and what may be the elements of regularity in our lives that leaves us unsatisfied. You can take the example of the students desire for success in courses and ultimately in profession. The steps taken to achieve success such as regularity of class, course work, study habits and exams all ride out the desire. This negative feedback loop presents an ironic conundrum familiar to students and presents a similar model for many other desires.

Also in leaving an open conclusion to the reader, Twain alludes to his standpoints without threatening upon an authoritative tone. Thus, he assumes his position, in relation to the reader, to be more than just a scholarly artist, but also a wise old friend. This works well for the college student said to be the vanguard against “the man.” This notion that with knowledge there is power and tendency to undermine authority is something will most likely never change in the adolescent mind; therefore ensuring this relationship to be a valued throughout time. William Dean Howells says himself, “All fashions change and nothing more wholly and quickly than the fashion of fun” but he states that Twain’s artistic talent will endure (162). He is confident in his conclusion because Twain doesn’t preach nor philosophize but unassumingly and purely tells a story; his story (Howells 161). This realistic nature and experiential tone leaves the college student comfortably reflecting on their own life. His writings easily receive a chuckle from readers because they have all “been there” and can identify with him (Howells 159).

Analyses of these profound questions in his works also, present a refreshing humor in its intellectual capacity. His short story ‘At the Appetite Cure,’ his intellectual humor is seated within simplicity and only a success in his ability to touch on life. This may sound extremely cliché, but see, that is just it. I am not Mark Twain. He had ability to state the obvious as more than just the obvious and able to do so in such a way, that the reader was contemplative without having to bang their head against the wall in boredom (Howells163). College students particularly yearn for this type of intellectual quality. In fact, Rod A. Martin explains how a person’s academic caliber is directly related to what they find funny in ‘The Sense of Humor: Explorations of a Personality Characteristic’ (26). The University creates a highly academic living environment in which information sharing and stir debate and problem solving among its student body. The constant academic discussion apart from classes motivates us to keep up with the times; however, in a more lighthearted manner. In picking up ‘At the Appetite Cure,’ a student receives exactly this; freedom from a professor’s expectations as well as the slapstick state of vegetation.

The reality and applicability of this classic American anecdotal comedy is that it will end until the end of time, especially in the minds of young adults. It embodies all aspects that are highly attestable to our caricatures and stereotypes.  I shall end on the same note as that of Howells, “If the prevailing spirit of Mark Twain’s humor is not a good natured self-satire, in which the reader may see his own absurdities reflected, scarcely would be able to define it (164).”

Works Cited

Howells, William Dean. "Mark Twain." Mark Twain's Humor Critical Essays. By David E. Sloane. [S.l.]: Taylor & Francis, 1995. Print.

Martin, Rod A. "Approaches to the Sense of Humor: A Historical Review." The Sense of Humor: Explorations of a Personality Characteristic. By Willibald Ruch. [S.1.]: Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, 2007. Print.

Sherwood Anderson's Egg

Sarah Costine 

Analysis of “The Egg”

 Sherwood Anderson is not considered a great American writer, but during his lifetime he was thought highly of and his work was generally admired by critics. It was only after his death that people became much more critical of his work, saying that he never actually grew as a writer, and that everything he wrote was the same. In the article “Sherwood Anderson’s triumph: ‘The Egg’” the author goes so far as to say that most of Anderson’s writings were really bad, and that “The Egg” was one of his extremely few good ones. In his autobiography even Anderson admits that “The Egg” was one of his favorite things he ever wrote. The author of the article, Michael D. West, believes that “The Egg” a very complicated story with many biblical and Freudian references that make the story a ‘tragicomedy’, the confusing mixture of emotions make the story easily relatable for anyone.

 The biblical references in “The Egg” are very subtle, and seem to focus on negative imageries. Anderson’s description of the chicken farm talks about the lives and deaths of the chickens as a never ending cycle that compares to the lives and deaths of humans as considered in the bible. He also writes “the flight from the chicken farm was a great and life changing event that one might right stories about”, much like the flight from Egypt. The boy and his family were escaping their old lives as slaves to the chicken farm, and running towards their bright and promising future. In the article analysis of “The Egg” West compares the story to that of Caine and Abel in the bible, saying that Kane’s rejection of the father’s hopes and dreams is “a re-enactment of Caine’s murder”.

West also believes that “The Egg” has a lot of Freudian theories in it. Anderson writes in his autobiography about the popularity of Freudian belief, and although he never read Freud’s work himself, he was constantly being exposed to it. Anderson writes about “The American Dream” like it is a grotesque and contagious disease. The story is told from the view of the child, and the child seems to have a disapproving, condescending view of his parents, much like in Freud’s work. Reading from the boy’s point of view makes the reader see the father as weak and stupid. Throughout the story the father works to provide for his family and to live up to his wife’s ambitious expectations. He could be respected for his determination to succeed, but instead we see him as a failure and at best, someone to be pitied. The boy continuously ridicules his father for being old and weak, and attempts to gain his mother’s affection over his father; he is the perfect Freudian son.

Whether or not Anderson himself can necessarily be considered a great American novelist, “The Egg” is still without a doubt, a remarkable piece of American literature. Using powerful imagery and metaphors Anderson succeeds in making the reader feel a confusing mixture of happiness and sadness. He makes the reader feel disgusted by the father, but at the same time, to pity him. In his article Michael D. West makes it very clear that “The Egg” is a story that everyone everywhere should be able to relate to. With the complications of emotions and mistakes that make us all human couldn’t everyone’s life story be considered a ‘tragicomedy’?

Works Cited

West, D. Michael. “Sherwood’s Triumph: ‘The Egg’”. American Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 4. John Hopkins University Press. Print.

To Be a Great Writer . . .

Which qualities make a great writer? Some would say it’s grabbing and maintaining the readers attention. Others might add that a great writer provides provocative insight. Or those, like George James Spears assert that it means to simply stay true to one’s “personal constancy” as a writer, that is individuality. In his critical essay, “The Short Stories” Spears’ asserts that like all great writers, short story author Saki, stays true to his “personal constancy”. Through analysis of various stories by Saki, Spears concludes that certain staple characteristics form Saki’s constancy; such as hoaxes in his plots, a satisfaction for characters that can “lie fluently”, irony, peculiarity, exotic subject choice, bitterness, and sneaky characters. The young reader can learn from Saki’s style by incorporating some of the elements that he uses into their own writing or by creating their own personal constancy through studying his unique techniques.

Saki’s short story, “The Open Window” extolled by Spears as “pure unadulterated humor”, fits Spears’ mold of a classic Saki story almost to a T. The reader should analyze Saki’s use of these core traits in “The Open Window” to better develop a sense of their own constancy as a writer.

The fifteen year old, “self-possessed” niece fits the description of a devious Saki character precisely. In the story, the niece easily deceives Mr. Nuttel into believing that her aunt had a great tragedy befall her when her husband and brothers died on a hunting trip. In this way, she successfully scares Frampton Nuttel into leaving the household. Her character fits the mold of how Spears characterizes most children in Saki’s stories, “Saki's children closely resemble Shakespeare's Puck; they are mischievous and hell-bent imps who delight in vexing those fools called mortals” (Spears). In addition, the niece is able to fabricate two stories on the spot deceiving those around her, thus she can “lie fluently”, another key trait of a character in a Saki story.  First she creates the story about her aunt’s tragedy, and then she lies to her aunt about why Mr. Nuttel left in such a hurry. The narrator’s last line almost shows reverence for her clever lie; asserting that, “Romance at a short notice was her specialty” (Spears), following suit with Spears’ notion that Saki portrays characters that are sneaky or cunning, in a positive light.

Another key characteristic in Saki’s writing according to Spears is humor. Perhaps the best attribute of “The Open Window” according to Spears, is its light-hearted humor, void of any bitterness. Saki uses humor in the story principally through the character of Frampton. From the very beginning of the story, Frampton’s behavior comes across as awkward. His nervous tendencies and stream of consciousness make the reader want to make fun of him and dislike him. He is the gullible character in the story as he is easily deceived by the niece’s trick. Being gullible therefore as portrayed by Saki is a vice, because Saki makes the gullible character unlikable, whereas the clever niece who manipulates the other characters is celebrated.

Lastly, the subject matter of the story is peculiar and ironic, other chief devices of Saki’s writing according to Spears. Beginning with the subject matter, before it is revealed with the last line that the niece had been pulling a hoax all along, the reader for a short period of time is unaware of whether or not the ghosts are real. Such subject matter is rather peculiar and surreal. Additionally, throughout the story Saki presents two instances of irony. The first and principle example is the irony of how Frampton goes to the aunt’s household in hopes of finding solace, but instead gets played for a fool and does not receive any special attention. Second, even though Frampton says he cannot do any physical activity, when he thinks he has seen a ghost he dashes out of the house in a flash, as if he had no physical impairments whatsoever. These ironic elements contribute to the story’s intricacy and humor for the reader to enjoy.

In Spears’ essay he shows the reader how Saki stays true to his constancy utilizing core elements such as hoaxes, lying characters, and irony in his stories. This constancy makes him a strong writer that young readers can develop new skills from. From my own reading of “The Open Window”, I was able to correlate Spears’ characteristics to the characters and elements actually used in Saki’s story, and gain a sense of how Saki maintains his individuality as a writer in his work. In retrospect of the different elements that Saki utilizes in his stories, a young reader can attribute some of these elements into their own writing or draw inspiration from them. Spears calls Saki a “great writer”, giving young writers hope that they can too become great writers if they find their individuality in writing and stay true to it.

Works Cited:

Spears, George James. "The Short Stories." The Satire of Saki:
A Study of the Satiric Art of Hector H. Munro. New York: Exposition Press, 1963. 27-77. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Vol. 115. Detroit: Gale 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Sep. 2011.

Citing Procedures are as follows: We will be citing sources because we are not distinguished scholars yet, and we need some backup sometimes. Even if we were distinguished, we would want our readers to go check out other pros with their original research and source findings to get a better understanding. We are going to use MLA. The standard yes; Author, Article Title, Publish date, Page Numbers, etc. You know it. We know it. We chose MLA because it is a very commonly used and easy to use for effectively formatting the citation of our sources. Also, we want our readers to be able to look up our sources and see where we found our material.

Curing the College Appetite

           In “At The Appetite Cure”, written by Mark Twain, a man goes to Hochberghaus, an institution located in Bohemia.  The unnamed narrator goes to this establishment to seek a cure for his appetite; he has been having extreme trouble with consuming adequate food and often goes for hours without dining.  The man is an approximate representation of many modern day college students.  While these young adults may be confronted with food choices that are styled after an all-you-can-eat buffet, after a while, the choices can seem fairly constricting; so the lessons that the man learns for Professor Haimburger are lessons that a college student could adapt for their own use and benefit.

            To begin the cure, the doctor offers the narrator a menu full of revolting items such as “ tough, underdone, overdue trip” and “young cat; old cat; scrambled cat”.  Preferring to go hungry than to risk any of the choices presented to him, the man is shown to his room where he finds that the only way to get out of the room is to eat a dish that is offered from the menu.  While college students do not find themselves locked into a room and told to eat something disgusting in order to be released, the revolting sensation that the narrator felt may be one that is easily recognized by many students.  If, upon entering the dining hall, one is confronted with a humdrum dinner menu full of items that are merely repeats of the humdrum lunch menu, the sensation that one is hemmed in in terms of food choice is a natural reaction.  If no suitable food can be found, the student may end up with a half filled plate, or a filled plate that is returned to the dishwashers with copious amounts of food still layering the top.

Luckily for college students, as we learn from the story, the feeling is not always permanent.  After many hours of hunger, the man relents and orders “soft-boiled chicken—in the egg; six dozen, hot and fragrant”.  Upon receiving the food, the doctor enters the room delighted that his system of curing broken appetites has worked yet again. 

            The doctor goes on to reveal that the magic of his miracle cure lies in the fact that when one is denied food, even rote and boring food, for a certain period of time, they will be reduced to a point where they will consume anything edible.  The examples given in the story of people eating anything include tales of people relishing leather from boots, but college students may relish other items.  When a student becomes hungry enough, the consumption of Raman noodles can be a potentially satisfying meal.  Bland noodles in a watery broth would not normally be something that most people would find appetizing, but if a person is hungry enough, it can be a meal that is thoroughly enjoyed.  The doctor says that whenever one has tired of mundane foods, one should skip meals until one feels that one is hungry enough to eat once again saying: “Don't eat until you are hungry. If the food fails to taste good, fails to satisfy you, rejoice you, comfort you, don't eat again until you are very hungry. Then it will rejoice you--and do you good, too.”  While the doctor was speaking only to his needy client, the lesson that he tells can be applied to anyone.   The old saying “familiarity breeds contempt” certainly applies to the man’s, and many students’, relationships with food.  

            We have a significantly larger array of food from which we can choose than did the narrator thanks to better shipping and a more international base of recipes, but we can still feel the same dissatisfaction that he did.  The overabundance of food options that Americans have can shrink dramatically when one reaches college.  Faced with eating meal after meal in the same dining hall, which serves food that often bears a strong resemblance to the flavors of meals past, the repertoire of the hall can become repetitive.  The dining halls at UNC-CH know that the students to whom they cater will feel this way; they have posters promoting ways to “Change it Up”, but these different food choices include things such as fruit smoothies, or different flavors dipping sauce for chicken wings.  These options, while they are a departure from the day-to-day fare, are not sufficient for completely eliminating the boredom of cafeteria food.  The offerings of the salad bar differ from the previous day only in the substitution of one type of lettuce for another, or yellow peppers as opposed to green.  So, with these limited options, the story of the man seeking to cure his broken appetite, becomes more and more similar to a college student.

            So, what are the options for a college student who has tired of the traditional offerings?  Here at UNC-CH we are lucky enough to have a slew of restaurants underneath our main dining hall.  We are also fortunate that just a few blocks away are the many options prepared by vendors on Franklin Street.  Whenever one has tired of the mass-produced food offerings, one can go to these restaurants and order food that is different from what is conventionally offered. 

            The only drawback to this option is that it takes money, something college students are notorious for not having, but, like the doctor proposes, if we use this cure only when we are so tired of the normal food that we absolutely cannot eat it anymore, we will achieve a way to ensure adequate nutrition and a satisfied palate, while leaving an acceptable amount of money in the already overstretched pocket of the average college student. 

            The advice of the good appetite-curing doctor is still relevant to us all these years later and a continent away.  While it may not be nutritionally wise to completely cut out a meal or two when one has no desire to eat, his advice of not continuing to force oneself into eating the same food of which one has tired of eating, is still applicable. 

           

           

it's Quite Simple 

Upon reading ‘At The Appetite-Cure’, I giggled along with Mark Twain in his satirical differentiation between appetite and starvation. This classic short story withstands the test of time by poking fun at a universal action of eating. It not only is a commonality of humanity but also links generations up to and beyond today’s time. In the telling of hunger on two separate occasions, Twain suggests that we have become removed from our natural beings so much, that we are devoid of common sense. His work is easily receptive to the young adult audience, relevant to current issues, and is able to provokes thought into our perceptions versus their actualities.

The first portion of the story, told by the patient, indicates to the reader that this piece is not a truthfully a review of an institution, but actually serves as a satire.  Twain is not aiming to put his reader to sleep with big words or analysis, but rather, his humor is sensed straight off the bat in the first paragraph when he introduces Hochberghaus. He merely states its location in Bohemia and then proceeds onward in a long ramble about Vienna’s beer after the second sentence. This quick switch indicates the distracted manner in which the patient is writing and therefore, leads the reader to question his interest and value in writing about the health spa. Also, within this switch is where Twain first uses, as he does many times throughout the story, sharp sarcasm when he explains the local’s ‘self-sacrifice’ of beer drinking in comparison to the area’s health spa healing waters. In the next paragraph he calls his discovery of such a “heaven of self-sanctifiers” as “a mere passing note of gratitude for blessings received.”  This establishes the lackadaisical and colloquial manner in which Twain wishes to speak to the reader with. If the patient’s intent was a formal review, he would have removed the first paragraph of nonchalant thought.  This also directs readers to pay close attention to his words because they sometimes have more than just a literal meaning.  He persists onward through his thoughts with an even sharper sarcasm, when describing the close proximity of health spas and transportation systems with his phrases “you can stand in Vienna and toss a biscuit into Kaltenleutgeben with a twelve inch gun” and, “you can go by phenomenally slow trains.” If these statements don’t catch the reader’s attention then surely the name Haimberger will. Thus, his tone of voice is especially familiar to the young adults today being that sarcasm is a fluent feature of the teenage tongue.  Twain formats both sections of the story in this dialectic manner to provide a more interesting read on what could be considered a philosophical discussion.

           

The focus on loss of appetite as a disease/crisis in life can be analyzed on many levels making this piece additionally applicable to present matters. We can take appetite as in its literal definition of longing food or we can take it as a way to express simply a yearning for something in our lives. Not only can we play with the definition of appetite, we can also expand it to fit a wide range of eating problems. We can narrow the scope of interest to correlate the story with meal plan entrapments of University students or broadly expand it into areas such as obesity and dieting debates. All in all, it is in our incessant regularity of life that we take for granted what we have and lose sight of common sense. It seems an obvious and natural statement, “Don't eat until you are hungry,” but is it? Mark Twain addresses this question as follows:

“As regards his health--and the rest of the things--the average man is what his environment and his superstitions have made him; and their function is to make him an ass. He can't add up three or four new circumstances together and perceive what they mean; it is beyond him. He is not capable of observing for himself; he has to get everything at second-hand. If what are miscalled the lower animals were as silly as man is, they would all perish from the earth in a year.”

This excerpt is not only the main nudge to Twain’s purpose for writing this story, but it also leaves the reader pondering the so called ‘complexity’ of our world’s issues. We take into account that it was not necessary for the patient to travel all the way to Bohemia to be ‘cured’ of an appetite.  This is confirmed in the second portion of the story within the conversation with the professor that the cure process is ‘quite simple’ only consisting of ‘covert starvation.’ This implies that the cure was merely common sense and didn’t need to be made so complicated.  Just as we can say the oil crisis could easily be solved by simply banning the use of oil. This solution scrutiny can be dually applied to say that problems leave plenty of room to exploit. The entire Appetite Anstallt operation seems to be simply a way to make profit and is very real in our world today. Just look at the story of the plastic water bottle. Soft drink companies realized that there would be a cap of how much soda they sold and therefore, they fashioned the ‘problem’ of dirty tap water as a scare tactic. People thought of bottled water just as we might think of someone trying to sell a container of air.  It now had a problem defined value created purely on the basis of market.

           

There is no doubt that Twain’s short Story is highly applicable and valuable to the world of today. It is not only decidedly entertaining and relatable to the college student; it also embodies that college mentality that we can solve our world’s problems. By recognizing regularity, tearing apart solution convolutions and removing ourselves from economic exploitations, it’s ‘quite simple’.