A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court Essay

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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (ACYIKAC) by Mark Twain explores the components of American style nation building. Hank is transported back in time from the Industrial Revolution to Camelot and resolves to make it a better place, basing it off of his time in America.
“However, I made a note of the remark, and calculated to educate the commonwealth up to it if I pulled through” (Chapter 4, page 20). Hank is marked for death, but during that time he already plans to help Camelot become better. He knows that without the citizens educated, or literate at the very least, Camelot is doomed. No country can survive very long without its residents knowing how to read.
Hank notices that Camelot is,
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The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to;…” (Chapter 13, page 65). This quote doesn’t differentiate between Camelot and America. Hank knows that some people in charge could be corrupt, which is why he doesn’t pledge his loyalty to the king or president. He believes that one should be loyal to the country in general, because while it may be run by bad people, the citizens are what make it great. And he knows that this idea needs to translate to England. “He is not priest and yet can read—yes, and write too, for that matter. I taught him myself’” (Chapter 13, page 67). Hank knows that having an uneducated populace wouldn’t be smart, and tried to spread the schooling. In America, Hank was used to laws compelling parents to send their children to school; but in Camelot only men who worked for the Church were able to read. Hank taught Clarence, and after starting schools and making sure people went to them, no matter what age, Hank ensured that the country would soon be literate, which is something you need for a country to