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... ist rations (Sloane 118). Twain realized the harsh treatments towards blacks. He also noticed that whites most likely did not realize the great deal of suffering that the average black person received. He felt that writers could address this issue during this time; however, many people did not choose to discuss this in their novel. Twain attempted to teach the American public on the issue of slavery and the attempt to close the gap between whites and blacks (Sloane 119).
Twain wrote another book called Puddnhead Wilson. The novel was published in 1894. Again this book begins in a small town near the Mississippi River called Dawsons Landing. Puddnhead Wilson is an anti-slavery novel that reveals the things that slaves did to improve their life (Robinson 80).
This is another one of Twain's novels that was written just after the Reconstruction period that discusses the fight against racism and the moral issues behind slavery. The novel begins with the birth of two boys, Thomas Driscoll and Valet de Chambre. A slave named Roxy gave birth to Valet de Chambre and Thomas Driscoll is a son of an aristocrat (Puddnhead 8). One day Percy Driscoll find that some of his things have been stolen, nothing much, only some extra food. Percy Driscoll, however, decides that this is unacceptable and threatens to sell them down the river.
Roxy is quite threatened at the thought of this and contemplates how she can save her child from ever experiencing slavery. She then decides in order for her child to never experience slavery, she could switch the two children. Since the child is only 31 / 32 black, it would be seen as white (Sloane 147). As all this is occurring, a man named Wilson comes to town. He is a lawyer looking for work. He cannot find any work because he alienates the people of the town, so he decides to have some fun by taking fingerprints of various people throughout the town.
Roxy's son grows up to be the heir to the estate and the real Tom becomes the bodyguard to Chambers (Blooms Major 81). Roxy is the only one that truly knows the identity of the two boys. When she tells her son of his true heritage, he runs away. Luigi and Angelo, two twins come to Dawsons Landing looking to rent a room, saying that they are tired of the fast moving world (Puddnhead 43). Luigi confesses to Pudd " need Wilson that he once killed a man who tried to steal a fabulous Indian knife from him (Puddnhead 84).
Roxy's son, now known as Tom, steals this knife and used it to kill Judge Driscoll. Luigi gets into an argument with Tom and he has Luigi arrested. The twins lose their reputation through the fabrications made against them and cost them the election for offices. Wilson is elected as mayor instead. Shortly after the election, Tom murders Judge Driscoll with the stolen knife while robbing him (Blooms Major 82).
Right after the murder, the two twins enter the room and ultimately get blamed for the murder of the judge. However, they find the knife that has the fingerprints of Tom on them (Puddnhead 188). In the end, the truth is uncovered and everything is set straight. In the exchanging of the babies, Roxy put several years of slavery on a person that was going to live a great life. This shows the great desperate nature of people during the pre-Civil War era (Blooms Major 82).
Roxy is a person that is caught up in all the trouble. Roxy is a slave that looks white. She is only 1 / 16 black (Puddnhead 16); however in Dawsons Land that still makes her a slave. Her fear for her child makes her human and it shows the society of that day that slaves have human characteristics. Her fear also shows how slavery can change the state of mind of someone (Puddnhead 18). Her motherly sacrifice that allows her son to become heir to the fortune shows what great lengths a mother would go to in order to save her son from slavery (Puddnhead 22).
This also demonstrates how horrible it is to be a slave and truly how demeaning it is. Her sacrificial nature is the same as a completely white mother. However, in the end, Tom betrayal is so horrendous because of the sacrifice that she did for him (Sloane 153). Twain's work shows the harsh nature of the period of time after the Reconstruction period. Slavery may have been abolished; however, the social status of a black person was not equal.
The nation did not have the will to have true emancipation and the recovery from the Civil War was a long and difficult battle for a black person (Williams 96). The central issue of Puddnhead Wilson is the fact that if a person is at all black, they are considered black legally (Sloane 155). This shows how the entire society will not stand up for something that they have believed since they were children. If a person appears to be white, but is 1 / 16 th black, they are legally black (Puddnhead 16). Majority does not rule in this case.
The fact that a person must be a slave if they have any slavery in their heritage is something that does not make sense at all. Another issue in the novel is the problem with slavery. Slavery is the abuse of the rights of a human and distorts peoples beliefs of themselves. Slaves had an unfair chance in that they were stolen of their liberty from the day that they were born. They never had the chance to prove themselves. This lack of liberty caused the switching of the two babies by Roxy.
Twain believed that the condition of African Americans at the end of nineteenth century as unfair and morally wrong (Sloane 157). Miscegenation is another issue discussed in Puddnhead Wilson. It is sort of the basis of the novel with the interbreeding between blacks and whites. In this novel, Roxy is 1 / 16 th black and 15 / 16 th white (Puddnhead 16). This is the result of four generations of white males mating with African American females and Tom, being 1 / 32 nd black results even from another generation of miscegenation.
With the switching of the babies, Twain brings up a point about race. There are instances, if one was not to know about the heritage of a person, they would not be able to distinguish between white and black. Sometimes the appearance of a person can be obscure to the race of that particular person. This was the worst situation for the racist, white males.
If a person cannot differentiate if a person is white or if a person is black by the appearance, then they may feel that they need slavery in order to show that a black person is inferior. Without the label of slave, a person that is 1 / 16 th black, seems to be a white person. Twain used his writings to attempt to get the nation to realize the fact that slavery and racism was morally wrong. Even though that many of the other writers of that time did not express their views through their writings, he felt it necessary to teach the nation about the issue. Although Twain wrote the novels after slavery was abolished, racism was still a part of everyday life.
Things had not gotten better for blacks in the South. Twain attempted to teach the nation about the incorrectness of racism. Twain's colorful life shaped by his various careers and experiences enabled him to get the word out on the issues of slavery and his view about it. He was able to portray his views against slavery through the beginnings of the modern American novel.
He used his ability to speak and teach about the issues of slavery and racism through his writing. Selected Bibliography Bloom, Harold, ed. Blooms Bio Critiques: Mark Twain. Broomall, Pennsylvania: Chelsea House Publishers, 2003. -- -. Blooms Major Novelists: Mark Twain. Broomall, Pennsylvania: Chelsea House Publishers, 2000.
Sloane, David E. E. Student Companion to Mark Twain. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001. Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Logan, Iowa: The Perfection Form Company, 1979. -- -. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. New York: Gramercy Books, 1982. -- -. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court. New York: Gramercy Books, 1982. -- -. The Prince and the Pauper.
New York: Gramercy Books, 1982. -- -. Puddnhead Wilson. New York, New York: Pocket Books, 2004.
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