Twain is not merely embellishing a well-known theme. Though not immune to the sentiments of cynicism and skepticism, Twain was imbued with the frontier spirit of openness and sincerity characteristic of the West. By poking fun at hidebound tradition, manifested through the narrator’s arrogant and polite speech, he ridicules Eastern customs and manners. In creating these three “simple” characters, Simon Wheeler, Jim Smiley, and the stranger, all of whom are superior to the narrator, Mark Twain places his humorist’s stamp of legitimacy on the American West.