MULTI-CULTURAL SOCIETIES

Mark Twain once informed a preacher visiting Hartford that every word of a sermon the latter had just delivered was in a book at Twain’s home. Concerned about the apparent plagiarism, the preacher was only too grateful to receive the book in a parcel at his hotel. It was a dictionary (Wister ziii). As one of Twain’s characters, Huckleberry Finn, said of his creator, he told the truth, mainly (Twain 441).

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BIG (IN AMERICA)

A mass twiddling of thumbs and looking at the ceiling prompted me: “It’s Big,” I said. They laughed. Little did they know. All were there, as I was, to find out more about exchange programmes to America. The speaker, Rick, was an American from student services. Rick wanted to know what were our preconceptions of his country? I told him. Impressions gained from film, television and literature ensured I was right about the houses, the cars and the roads.

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