The Innocents Abroad: Or, The New Pilgrim’s Progress

The Innocents Abroad: Or, The New Pilgrim’s Progress by Mark Twain

Mark Twain went on a trip with a group of Americans to visit the Holy Land and many places in between. Twain's wit and humour make for one of the better travel stories. The trip and the actions of everyone involved are more important than the actual site. The profiteering of the locals is critisized outright, while the naive behavior of Americans gets criticized in passing. As an example, in Paris, the tour guide goes through great efforts to take them to so many different stores that it becomes too late to visit the museum they had asked to visit. The Americans naively believe they just needed to better instruct what they wanted to do. The Americans end up calling all guides by the same name.

When they finally get to the Holy Land, Twain is let down by the small scale of things. It is a small area and extremely impoverished. It was much less grand than he expected. It was difficult to comprehend a deity walking among the people.

Innocentes is an appropriate title. These people seem very innocent and naive. This adds to the humor as they explore historical parts of the world in a relatively clueless way.