26 pages 52 minutes read

Mark Twain

The Invalid's Story

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1874

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Character Analysis

Narrator

The frame story and the first-person narrative style establish the narrator of “The Invalid’s Story” as the protagonist, although Thompson provides most of the action and dialogue. Readers know little about the narrator beyond the information provided in the frame story—that he is a bachelor of 41 who has lost his health and is dying as a result of the strange story he has to tell. Much can be gleaned, however, from his first-person thoughts, his scant dialogue, and his reactions to Thompson’s actions.

Above all, he is gullible. He never imagines that the smell in the train car could come from anything but the pine box he believes to hold the body of his friend Hackett. He (and Thompson) allow their imaginations to run away with them to such a point that their health is severely compromised. The story provides several points at which the narrator could have discovered the true origin of the smell: when he first sees a white box identical to his own; when a stranger “skips” into the express car and sets a package down on the supposed coffin-box; and when the two attempt to budge the box, bending directly over the package.

Related Titles

By Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Mark Twain

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

A True Story

Mark Twain

A True Story

Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

Letters from the Earth

Mark Twain

Letters from the Earth

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

The Autobiography of Mark Twain

Mark Twain

The Autobiography of Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Mark Twain

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Gilded Age

Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today

Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner

Study Guide

logo

The Innocents Abroad

Mark Twain

The Innocents Abroad

Mark Twain

Plot Summary

logo

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

Mark Twain

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Mysterious Stranger

Mark Twain

The Mysterious Stranger

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The Prince and the Pauper

Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper

Mark Twain

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

Pudd'nhead Wilson

Mark Twain

The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson

Mark Twain

Study Guide

logo

The War Prayer

Mark Twain

The War Prayer

Mark Twain