The Diaries of Adam and Eve

An amalgamation of several pieces Twain wrote on this subject over more
than a decade.
This version also contains many references to Adam going over the Niagra
Falls as it was written to be part of a souvenir book for the 1893 World Fair.
Extracts from Adam’s Diary were written first followed by Eve’s Diary. Twain
wanted these two stories published together – each tale counterpoints the
other – it was many years (1996) before this was actually done in the Oxford
edition.
They were written at a time of great personal sadness – Twain had lost two
daughters and his wife. The remark Adam makes about it is better to be with
Eve out of the garden of Eden rather than in Eden without her is often
regarded as a homage to his dead wife.
Twain is not know for his in-depth portrayal of female characters far less
speaking in the voice of a female. With Eve that voice is often smug, overly emotive.
Adam’s voice by comparison is cynical, terse. Eve is immersed in
Eden, Adam is indifferent.
The Diaries clearly define the polarity between the male and female roles in
the early 1900s. This polarity is satirised via the personification of these
stereotypes.
The characters are very clearly satirised stereotypes. Eve epitomises the
stereotypical biblical female (who will follow her man anywhere) and also
embodies many of the 1900s “womanly” stereotypes.
Eve’s entries are longer, more descriptive and emotive. There is a strong
sense of self-consciousness in her entries. She is confident (smug) and seeks
self-improvement. She is aware that humanity is the “principal experiment”.
She is always questioning and “experimenting”. Her experiments often lead to
conclusions that smack of reductio ad absurdum: feathers, flowers etc. float
therefore so do rocks! By the same token Eve seems completely oblivious to
Adam’s dislike and annoyance with her.
Adam’s entries are far terser, he regards Eve as intrusive, blundering and
annoying. He seeks to avoid her. Gradually he loses his aversion to her, sex
no doubt having a lot to do with this. It is interesting that Adam fails to
understand that the babies are small humans and not another species. His
jealousy of the babies is evident – his experiments nearly have fatal
consequences.
Eve learns fear after her fire experiment but it is the death of Abel that brings
home to her their fallen state – their own mortality and the resultant sense of
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loss defines her understanding of what it is to be fallen. She points out the
unfairness of a god that would condemn them to their fallen state:
“We could not know it was wrong to disobey the command, for the words were
strange to us and we did not understand them. We did not know right from
wrong – how should we know?... If we had been given a Moral Sense first –
ah, that would have been fairer, would have been kinder. Then we should be
to blame if we disobeyed…”
Eve is acting as the mouthpiece for Twain’s scepticism of religion (he had
remarked in the past that if Christ was to return the last thing he would ever
be was a Christian).
This is not just a satire on the biblical story it is also an examination of the
roles of men and women and love.