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

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. How did Barnum balance “respectability” with the public’s desire for entertainment, and – at times – “naughty” entertainment?

 

  1. Was Barnum a “genius?” If so, what was the source of his genius? What did he know or come to realize before everyone else?

 

  1. Were Barnum’s “attractions” just humbug or did they serve the cause of enlightenment? Why were some attractions more popular than others?

 

  1. Was Barnum simply out to enrich Barnum or was there more to the man than this?

 

  1. What did Barnum value?  What steps, if any, did he take to spread or popularize his own value system?

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. What role did advertising play in Barnum’s success? What was especially original and effective about Barnum’s techniques?

 

  1. How could Barnum get away with presenting “hoaxes” and yet still keep the people coming to his Museum? 

 

  1. 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?
  2. Many contemporary observers considered Barnum “quintessentially American.”  Even today, this characterization holds some weight.  Does the label fit?  Why or why not?

 

  1. Do you consider Barnum an admirable person? Why or why not?

 

  1. 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”

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. How did the democratic, egalitarian political culture of Jacksonian America facilitate Americans’ willingness to believe in hoaxes?

 

  1. How did Americans’ reading preferences reflect their infatuation with technology and science?

 

  1. How did Barnum capitalize on Americans’ interest in hoaxes?  Why were his advertising techniques especially effective at luring customers to his attractions?

 

  1. Why does the author argue that American audiences preferred to focus on unmasking hoaxes rather than contemplating works of art?

 

  1. How did Barnum redefine what constituted “good” art?  How was his definition somewhat related to the Transcendentalists’ notions of “good” art?

 

  1. What does the author mean by the term “operational aesthetic”?

 

  1. How were deception, exposure, and even conspiracy related?  Why were all equally fascinating to American audiences?

 

  1. Why was the South less enamored with both Barnum and the operational aesthetic? 

 

  1. 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?

 

  1. 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”

 

  1. What kinds of messages does Barnum convey to readers in the early chapters of his autobiography?

 

  1. How do the early chapters reflect Barnum’s fascination with the gap between the real and the apparent? 

 

  1. What were some of the characteristics of the “Yankee” of Barnum’s day?  What did the Yankee’s critics say about him?

 

  1. According to the author, how did Barnum want his readers to see him?  What evidence does the author give to support his argument?

 

  1. 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)

 

  1. How did Barnum define “humbug”?  Why did Barnum defend illusion and exaggeration?  What good purpose did such things serve?

 

  1. Why might the existence of successful “confidence men” be an indication of a healthy society?

 

  1. What explains the virulent negative reaction to Barnum and his autobiography among British commentators?

 

  1. Why does the author believe Barnum’s attitude about entertainment and toward his audience was more democratic than that of his British critics?

 

  1. 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?