Unlike other realist writers of the time who enjoyed writing about Europe and thought that America wasn't as developed, Mark Twain created his American characters in Europe in such a manner to mock everything and everyone, showing Americans often as people who don't know how to behave, while at the same time showing Europeans as overrated, and not generally as advanced as they would have you think.
Making judgments about whether a person is morally responsible for her behavior, and holding others and ourselves responsible for actions and the consequences of actions, is a fundamental and familiar part of our moral practices and our interpersonal relationships.
