History
477
Devine
Fall
2008
P.T.
Barnum Study Questions
For
next Tuesday, we will read selections from P. T. Barnum’s autobiography – one
of the best sellers of the 19th Century (due in no small part to
Barnum’s skill as a salesman!) You may also want to check out the links on the
web syllabus that will give you access to various sources on Barnum and his American Museum, including a link to a recording
of Barnum’s voice and a “3-d” tour of the Museum.
Questions to
Consider as you read Barnum’s Autobiography
- Was Barnum a “respectable”
entrepreneur? A rogue? Or, more likely, to what extent was he both? What evidence can you cite to make your
case?
- How did Barnum
balance “respectability” with the public’s desire for entertainment, and –
at times – “naughty” entertainment?
- Was Barnum a
“genius?” If so, what was the source of his genius? What did he know or
come to realize before everyone else?
- Were Barnum’s
“attractions” just humbug or did they serve the cause of enlightenment?
Why were some attractions more popular than others?
- Was Barnum simply
out to enrich Barnum or was there more to the man than this?
- What did Barnum
value? What steps, if any, did he
take to spread or popularize his own value system?
- How do we account
for the popularity of the American
Museum, its attractions,
and of Barnum himself? What do you think the “draw” was to contemporary
audiences?
- What does
Barnum’s popularity tell us about the nineteenth-century United States? Does it seem that if there were no
Barnum that his society would have had to invent one?
- What role did
advertising play in Barnum’s success? What was especially original and
effective about Barnum’s techniques?
- How could Barnum
get away with presenting “hoaxes” and yet still keep the people coming to
his Museum?
- Though we only
have Barnum’s own point of view to go on, how would you describe the
audiences that patronized his attractions?
What were they looking for? What need did they have that Barnum
fulfilled?
- Many contemporary
observers considered Barnum “quintessentially American.” Even today, this characterization holds
some weight. Does the label
fit? Why or why not?
- Do you consider
Barnum an admirable person? Why or why not?
- Putting on your
literary critic hat, can you speculate as to why Barnum the autobiographer
chose to write about certain episodes in his life – even those that did
not always paint a flattering portrait of him? For example, in the “Ivy Island”
episode with his grandfather, Barnum ends up the fool, but he recounts the
story all the same.
Neil Harris, Humbug: The Art of P.T. Barnum
Chapter 3, “The
Operational Aesthetic”
- Why did
antebellum Americans – who European visitors considered hard-headed and
skeptical – seem so susceptible to hoaxes such as Joice
Heth and the Fiji Mermaid? According to the author, why did
Americans’ skepticism and pride in their technological acumen make them
all the more susceptible to such hoaxes?
- How did the
democratic, egalitarian political culture of Jacksonian
America facilitate Americans’ willingness to believe in hoaxes?
- How did
Americans’ reading preferences reflect their infatuation with technology
and science?
- How did Barnum
capitalize on Americans’ interest in hoaxes? Why were his advertising techniques
especially effective at luring customers to his attractions?
- Why does the
author argue that American audiences preferred to focus on unmasking
hoaxes rather than contemplating works of art?
- How did Barnum
redefine what constituted “good” art?
How was his definition somewhat related to
the Transcendentalists’ notions of “good” art?
- What does the
author mean by the term “operational aesthetic”?
- How were
deception, exposure, and even conspiracy related? Why were all equally fascinating to
American audiences?
- Why was the South
less enamored with both Barnum and the operational aesthetic?
- Why was the
fiction of Harriet Beecher Stowe and especially Edgar Allen Poe popular
with antebellum Americans? How does
this popularity relate to the operational aesthetic?
- Why did Barnum
believe that in appealing to American audiences, “perfection and absolute
conviction in exhibits made them less valuable” (89)?
Chapter 8 “The Man of
Confidence”
- What kinds of
messages does Barnum convey to readers in the early chapters of his
autobiography?
- How do the early
chapters reflect Barnum’s fascination with the gap between the real and
the apparent?
- What were some of
the characteristics of the “Yankee” of Barnum’s day? What did the Yankee’s critics say about
him?
- According to the
author, how did Barnum want his readers to see him? What evidence does the author give to
support his argument?
- Why was Barnum
ambivalent or even dubious about the very “Yankee” qualities that had made
him rich? Why did he believe that “the greatest humbug of all was the man
who believed everything and everyone to be humbug”? (217)
- How did Barnum
define “humbug”? Why did Barnum
defend illusion and exaggeration?
What good purpose did such things serve?
- Why might the
existence of successful “confidence men” be an indication of a healthy
society?
- What explains the
virulent negative reaction to Barnum and his autobiography among British
commentators?
- Why does the
author believe Barnum’s attitude about entertainment and toward his
audience was more democratic than that of his British critics?
- Why did Barnum
become a hero to an antebellum American society that, according to the
author, “worshipped both equality and achievement”? Why did Americans
accept Barnum as both a trickster and a moralist?