Charles Dickens vs. Mark Twain: Comparing Their Styles of Travel Satire

As I was being infuriated by Charles Dickens’ overwhelmingly negative portrayal of the United States in Martin Chuzzlewit, I could not help but compare his “satirical” treatment of traveling abroad with Mark Twain’s work, particularly A Tramp Abroad, which I have previously reviewed.

I loathed “The American Part” of Martin Chuzzlewit, where Englishmen immigrate to the United States. Yet I loved A Tramp Abroad where an American visits France, Italy, Switzerland, etc. This made me wonder: was I being a hypocrite, oversensitive about my own country being made fun of, yet laughing at other countries’ expense?

Looking deeper, though, I think that it’s pretty obvious that Dickens’ satire is of a more bitter flavor than Twain’s. In Martin Chuzzlewit the tone is pretty nasty. There’s nothing good about America (even the climate is nearly deadly), and the British characters of Martin and Mark are presented as the Only Sane Men in a country of fools, crooks, and crazies. There is one American that is presented as good, Mr. Bevan…and I wouldn’t even consider him as a good representation of “American” because his viewpoint and opinions all mirror the British characters’.

Twain’s experiences in Europe, on the other hand, seem to me to be good-natured “culture shock” situations. Far from being the Only Sane Man, Twain characterizes himself in a humorous way, playing on his ignorance of the native languages, manipulating cultural stereotypes, and complimenting the beauty of the scenery or pointing out positive aspects of the nations he visits.

Satire is not simply making fun of something—that’s mocking. It isn’t merely pointing out all the negative aspects of something, either—that’s criticism. Satire is making an argument about how something is wrong and needs to change, packaged in humor in such a way that the audience accepts it with laughter rather than becomes insulted and defensive. Humor is a way of bridging the divide between opposing views, and a good satire uses this like a chocolate coating on a difficult pill to swallow.

In the American Part of Martin Chuzzlewit, however, Dickens forgot the chocolate and was just being a pill.