Read this passage from Mark Twain’s Autobiography. What is Twain’s main point about his mother? She had a slender, small body, but a large heart--a heart so large that everybody's grief and everybody's joys found welcome in it, and hospitable accommodation. The greatest difference which I find between her and the rest of the people whom I have known, is this, and it is a remarkable one: those others felt a strong interest in a few things, whereas to the very day of her death she felt a strong interest in the whole world and everything and everybody in it. In all her life she never knew such a thing as a half-hearted interest in affairs and people, or an interest which drew a line and left out certain affairs and was indifferent to certain people. The invalid who takes a strenuous and indestructible interest in everything and everybody but himself, and to whom a dull moment is an unknown thing and an impossibility, is a formidable adversary for disease and a hard invalid to vanquish. I am certain that it was this feature of my mother's makeup that carried her so far toward ninety. She was interested in everything and everybody. She had a slender, small body. She lived to a very old age. She was an invalid.

Question

Read this passage from Mark Twain’s Autobiography. What is Twain’s main point about his mother? She had a slender, small body, but a large heart--a heart so large that everybody's grief and everybody's joys found welcome in it, and hospitable accommodation. The greatest difference which I find between her and the rest of the people whom I have known, is this, and it is a remarkable one: those others felt a strong interest in a few things, whereas to the very day of her death she felt a strong interest in the whole world and everything and everybody in it. In all her life she never knew such a thing as a half-hearted interest in affairs and people, or an interest which drew a line and left out certain affairs and was indifferent to certain people. The invalid who takes a strenuous and indestructible interest in everything and everybody but himself, and to whom a dull moment is an unknown thing and an impossibility, is a formidable adversary for disease and a hard invalid to vanquish. I am certain that it was this feature of my mother's makeup that carried her so far toward ninety. She was interested in everything and everybody. She had a slender, small body. She lived to a very old age. She was an invalid.

Advanced Placement (AP) · Middle School · Tue Nov 03 2020

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Answered on Mon Nov 27 2023

In this passage from Mark Twain's Autobiography, the main point about his mother is that she had a remarkable and enduring quality of being intensely interested in the world and everyone in it. Twain describes her as having a slender, small body but a large heart, symbolizing her capacity for deep and all-encompassing compassion. The key distinction he draws between his mother and others is that she felt a strong interest in the whole world and every person and event in it, rather than having a limited or selective focus.

Twain emphasizes that his mother's interest in life was not half-hearted or conditional; she never knew indifference to certain people or affairs. Her pervasive and unwavering curiosity made her resilient, even in old age and despite being an invalid. Twain suggests that this intense interest in the world, coupled with an absence of self-centeredness, contributed to her longevity and resilience in the face of illness. Overall, the passage portrays Twain's mother as an extraordinary individual with a boundless and enduring love for humanity.

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