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The first is the contrast between the aristocracy and the ragtag (lower class people). In Arthur’s Britain, slaves are regarded as properties and freemen no more than independent paupers. These lower class people live under the crucial reign of the aristocracies: a master might kill his slave for nothing, for mere spite, malice, or to pass the time; a gentleman can kill a free commoner, and pay for him—cash or garden truck; the skinned freemen cannot leave the estate of their lord or their bishop without his permission and they only have liberty to bestow the remnant in his barn, in case it is worth the trouble because there are taxes and taxes. Even worse, in Morgan Le Fay’s dungeons, there are countless innocent poor people whose names, offences and dates of incarceration are no longer known and a civilian will be hanged for a very trivial case(e.g. stealing a piece of bread for his/her hungry child). Twain carefully illustrates the contrasts between classes everywhere in the novel to make the satire more profound and more intense to be felt. Speaking of the aristocracies, Twain hates their guts for a noble title is all they get, the rest are only hypocrisy, chicanery and evils.
The second is between the old archaic English and American colloquial slang. Language is one of the touchstones in A Connecticut Yankee. Hank Morgan travels to the 6th century Britain from the 19th century America, thus a conflict between Old English and American slang is unavoidable. This contrast reaches its peak in Chapter XV “Sandy’s Tale” when Hank’s modern language such as “where do they hang out”, “the cowboys” , “hello-girl” and “Great Scott” cannot be understood by people in 6th century and the old phrases like “peradventure she”, “but me no buts” , old names like “Alisande la Carteloise”(which Hank simplifies it as Sandy) and the monotonous looping way those ancient people speak all seem so confused and tedious to Hank that he thinks that “[Sandy] never [has] any ideas, any more than a fog has [and] she [is] a perfect blatherskite”(81). The contrast is quite humorous, especially when Sandy misuses “Hello-Central”, the modern saluting word used at the telephone, as her new baby’s name. The contrast is also pretty satiric as it reflects the ignorance and lockstep rooted in the characters of those 6th century people. However, what is more sarcastic is Hank’s own surrender to the old way of speaking in the end, showing not only more tolerance but also the liking in adopting the old language, just as Thomas says in his article that “acknowledging an intimate relationship between thought and language, Hank’s absorption of Arthurian language indicates that he gradually adopts medieval ideas, allegiances, and values that are contrary to the humanitarian goals he pretends to seek”. (Thomas, 1991:453)
Through this contrast between the two styles of language with one’s victory over the other, Twain manages to increase the profundity of the humor and satire, indicating his own indecisive and ironic attitude towards the progress of man and his pessimistic attitude towards the weakness of man since Hank is conquered at last by what he originally intends to overcome and eradicate.
Entwined with these contrasts is the symbolism used in the novel. Symbol is a way of using something integral to the work to reach beyond the work and engage the world of value outside the work (Guerin, 2010:86). Many characters in A Connecticut Yankee bear symbolic meanings so as to deepen the satire. In “How Sir Lancelot Slew Two Giants and Made a Castle Free”, the well-armed two giants carrying two horrible clubs in their hands symbolize the Catholic church and monarchy, and Sir Lancelot is the avatar of Twain himself, who is wielding his sword against the two mighty powers in the hope of overthrowing them forever. “Just as Sir Lancelot is waging battles dressed in Sir Kay's armor, so Twain is waging his battles in the garb of ‘the Boss’” (Juliette, 1951:382). Such symbolism also expands to Merlin who symbolizes humbugs and quacks who only know how to threat and cheat others by juggleries; to the knights and the whole Arthur’s court which represent a corrupted hierarchical society based on castes and to the common civilians in England, who altogether embody fatuous human beings helplessly shaped by the cruel society and also controlled by it, the list goes on and on. Twain cleverly creates his characters as different symbols, each carrying ironic meanings, and strips bare both the seemingly “romantic” 6th century the verisimilar “free” 19th century.