The Confidence Man (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Herman Melville
- First Published: 1857
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Satire
- Time of Work: Nineteenth century, before the Civil War
- Setting: Mississippi River
- Principal Characters: The Confidence Man, The Man in Cream Colors, Der Black Guinea, John Ringman, The Man in the Gray Coat and White Tie, John Truman, The Herb-Doctor, A Representative of the Philosophical Intelligence Office, Francis Goodman, Roberts, The College Sophomore, The Miser, Pitch, Charlie Noble, Mark Winsome, Egbert, William Cream
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: South or Southerners
- Locales: Mississippi River
The Story:
On an April morning in St. Louis, a deaf-mute boarded the steamer Fidèle (“faith”). Many passengers gathered around a placard advertising a reward for the capture of a mysterious impostor, and some took this opportunity to purchase money belts or biographies of famous criminals. The deaf-mute approached the placard, wrote platitudes about charity on a slate, and displayed them to the crowd. Meanwhile, a barber opened his shop and hung a sign that read “No Trust.” Rebuffed, the mute walked to the forecastle and fell asleep at the foot of a ladder.
...[The entire page is 2439 words long]
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