In "The Mysterious Stranger" Mark Twain portrays a society so dependent on outside sources for guidance that the majority of Eseldorf's citizens do not have independent thought. This reliance is what eventually ruins many of the resident's lives and Satan merely serves to elucidate their foolish behavior. Though it is a much more modern time and setting, "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg," is the same idea in a more modern time and setting. The inhabitants …showed first 75 words of 724 total…

…showed last 75 words of 724 total…of society may change over time but its basic features do not. There is always weakness and corruption and the key to confronting this is through knowledge. If knowledge is withheld from society, people will live in ignorance doing only what they know, and ultimately creating a cycle which, if not stopped, will spread. It is only through people like Satan and the stranger that the truth is revealed and the cycle can be broken.