Question

Why do you think Mark Twain used satire to make his point that imperialism was not really helpful to the people in colonies and territories?

Answer 1

Twain's ideas became more radical with age. In some comments, he himself acknowledged that his thinking changed and developed throughout his life. Before 1899 Twain was an ardent imperialist. In the late 1860s and early 1870s he spoke strongly in favor of American interests in the Hawaiian Islands. In the mid-1890s, as he explained later, it was an imperialist ignition. I wanted to see the American eagle on the Pacific Ocean. He said that the war with Spain in 1898 was "the most honorable war ever fought." In 1899 he changed his mind, and in the early 1900s, until his death in 1910, Twain was the vice president of the "American Anti-Imperialist League", which opposed the annexation of the Philippines by the United States and had "tens of thousands of members". He wrote many political pamphlets for this organization. His Incident in the Philippines, published posthumously in 1924, was in response to the "Moro Crater Massacre," where six hundred Filipino Moors died. Many of his forgotten and uncollected writings against imperialism first appeared in book form in 1992.

Twain used the satire to describe his opinion on Imperialism, because he knew that it was the most effective way to transmit his powerful message to people, especially those who were affected by this problem.