The Invalid's Story

In the characters’ escalating attempts to overpower the smell of the cheese, Thompson purchases an odd assortment of items—chicken feathers, dried apples, leaf tobacco, rags, old shoes, sulphur, asefetida (an herb), and “one thing or another” (Paragraph 39)—and then sets them on fire. All would, presumably, have a strong odor when burned.

Twain frequently lampooned institutional Christianity in his work. In words intended for his autobiography, but suppressed by his family for many years, he described the religion as “bad, bloody, merciless, money-grabbing and predatory” and called it “a terrible religion.” The idea that Christianity has been corrupted by its gatekeepers is visible in “The Invalid’s Story,” particularly in this symbol. When viewing  When viewing the story through this lens, the fire can be seen as a symbol of a ritual burnt sacrifice in the tradition of those in the Hebrew Bible. For example, Leviticus 6:8-13 gives specific instructions for how to conduct a burnt offering.

This offering, however, does not appease the vengeful spirit of what the two characters perceive as the decaying corpse. Instead, the original smell “stood up out of it just as sublime as ever” (Paragraph 40). The fire is the last straw that drives them to the freezing platform to stay, until they are dragged off “frozen and insensible” (Paragraph 44).