Nik BabicYelton/6thEnglish III DCApril 28, 2014 “Opinion of Corn Pone” Questions on Rhetoric and Style1. Mark Twain wrote this essay to highlight his belief that people's thoughts and actions are influenced by those around them. His belief that people conform to the rest of society fuels his essay. This can be seen when Twain includes his idea that “It is our nature to conform; it is a force that few can successfully resist” (718). Twain shows that people begin to conform without using their own minds to make their decision. In the first two paragraphs of “Corn Pone Opinion,” Twain uses the pronoun “I.” He then uses the pronoun “we” in order to drive home his main point that people conform to what is popular. Essentially, it addresses everyone as part of a unified group, all brought together by a simple idea that everyone has chosen to conform to. His use of the pronoun "we" in regards to his argument can be best seen when he states "we'll just comply and leave it at that" (719). By using “we”, we emphasize unity in his essay.3. The anecdote that Mark Twain inserts at the beginning of his essay adds a personal example that helps develop his argument. The anecdote detracts absolutely nothing from the essay. In fact, this adds to his essay because it strengthens his argument. In the South, slavery was strongly supported. For this reason, Jerry was unable to preach. But why did everyone support slavery? The answer is simple and is found throughout Twain's essay. One person supports slavery, then “the neighbor notices and follows,” and soon the whole neighborhood supports slavery. The addition of the anecdote adds an example of conformity to Twain's essay which...... middle of paper ...... if divided, the paragraphs would be very choppy. Twain included subordinate clauses in the middle of the paragraph to help connect the idea of ​​conformity with the "material interest discussed at the beginning of the essay." The parallelism introduced in the two long sentences that make up paragraph 14 emphasizes Twain's belief in people. It shows that people believe they are spending time and effort thinking about politics and deciding which party they belong to when in reality they are influenced by those around them. This can be seen when two states “read his literature, but not that of the other side” (720). This shows that many people actually have no idea about the bigger picture. They only receive information on one coin and make their decision based on that, without taking the time to see both sides..