As we are no longer in the 19th century and aren't forced by convention to take Twain's words as holy writ, it's worth mentioning both the point of the essay (supplanting Cooper as the Great American Writer) and illustrating how well (or poorly) the points map to Cooper's actual works.
As we are no longer in the 19th century and aren't forced by convention to take Twain's words as holy writ, it's worth mentioning both the point of the essay (supplanting Cooper as the Great American Writer) and illustrating how well (or poorly) the points map to Cooper's actual works.