Mark Twain, "The $30,000 Bequest"

            Mark Twain, in “The $30,000 Bequest,” employs binaries to mark distinctions between rich and poor, as well as the qualities that accompany those class positions. The first binary that Twain upsets is that of gender norms. As the two main characters are introduced, this deliberate gender inversion becomes evident from the names: “all four of [the family’s] members had pet names, Saladin’s was a curious and unsexing one—Sally; and so was Electra’s—Aleck” (2). As the plot progresses, the reversal of gender expectations pervades their reaction to the imaginary wealth. According to standard gender roles, the male serves as breadwinner for the family and manages the finances. However, in this short story, it is Aleck who remains frugal and cautiously instructs herself on the stock market and margins. She is constantly composed and business-minded as she seeks to expand their wealth. In contradiction to the female norm of expenditure, Sally becomes invested with lofty ideals of luxury items, constantly begging to purchase excessive material objects.

            The irony of the elusive nature of money is highlighted by a binary that effectively creates the moral center of the story: the separation between the real and the imaginary. The bequeathed wealth was promised by Tilbury Foster in an all-knowing prediction that “money had given him most of his troubles and exasperations, and he wished to place it where there was good hope that it would continue its malignant work” (2). However, the piece is given weight by the fact that, in the end, this inheritance was a fraud; the grandiose and superfluous wealth was simply imaginary. As time drives on, Aleck and Sally live two strands of life: the real, where their honest living and simple, well-earned home focus their affectionate, careful lives; and the imagined, a dangerous daydream preoccupying their time and, consequently, leaving them to neglect reality. The imaginary wealth soon catalyzes a change of perspective, a fixation with materialism and class position.

            Twain uses these binaries in service of a broader idea. Through a veneer of humor, Twain exposes a deeper, less-comical theory: obsession with money and material value has the potential to lead to a complete loss of self. Aleck and Sally begin with a reasonable, decent life and maintain an affectionate, lively family. It is not until the possibility of glamorous wealth is revealed to them that disappointment in reality occurs. Their simple and happy life is jeopardized for ungrounded fantasies. Twain provides a cautionary tale to the danger of monetary desires and the loss of identity that ensues.