Governmentality, Training, and Subjectivation in Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

『아더 왕궁의 코네티컷 양키』에 나타난 근대적 통치성

This study aims to examine Mark Twain's criticism of American capitalistic ideals in the late nineteenth century. During this second industrial revolution, industry showed rapid growth and capitalism established an order, while America suffered under the monopolization of capitalistic conglomerates. This resulted in the widening gap between the rich and the poor and the dehumanization caused by rapid industrialization. In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Hank Morgan, the protagonist--who represents nineteenth-century America's industrialism, individualism, and capitalism--is sent back in time to the sixth century of Arthurian England. Hank attempts to introduce nineteenth-century technologies and machines to build a capitalistic system in the middle ages. However, Hank's efforts lead to disaster in which the country and civilization he worked to build is completely destroyed. Although Twain does not deny capitalistic ideals, he criticizes the "governmentality" that operates Hank's reform system to the extreme. Hank values efficiency and utilizes human beings as capital. Hank's economic reason not only transforms the Round-Table knights into speculators but also transforms their religious acts and abstract ideals into moneymaking businesses. The destructive ending anticipates the World Wars and the Great Depression in the first half of twentieth century and even serves to predict the dangers that follow.