{"id":21278,"date":"2012-03-11T01:32:53","date_gmt":"2012-03-11T01:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=21278"},"modified":"2016-12-11T23:16:30","modified_gmt":"2016-12-11T23:16:30","slug":"exploring-prejudice-miscegenation-and-slaverys-consequences-in-mark-twains-puddnhead-wilson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=21278","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Prejudice, Miscegenation, and Slavery’s Consequences in Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exploring Prejudice, Miscegenation, and Slavery’s Consequences in Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research<\/a>
\nVolume 1, Issue 1<\/a>, Article 3 (2011)
\n5 pages<\/p>\n

Steven Watson<\/a><\/strong>
\nKennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia<\/em><\/p>\n

This research paper analyzes Mark Twain’s<\/a> use of racist speech and racial stereotypes in his novel Pudd’nhead Wilson<\/a><\/em>. Twain has often been criticized for his seemingly inflammatory language. However, a close reading of the text, supplemented by research in several anthologies of critical essays, reveals that Twain was actually interested in social justice. This is evident in his portrayal of Roxana as a sympathetic character who is victimized by white racist society in Dawson’s Landing, Mississippi<\/a> during the time of slavery. In the final analysis, Twain’s writing was a product of the time period during which he wrote. This knowledge helps students understand the reasons behind Twain’s word choices, characterization, and portrayal of race.<\/p>\n

In his novel Puddn\u2019head Wilson<\/em>, Mark Twain uses racist speech and ideology to examine slavery\u2019s consequences and make a plea for the elevation of the black race. Roxana, the true protagonist and an obviously sympathetic character, appears to be a white supremacist. This is a logical contradiction. It is one of many contradictions that lend the book its complexity and make it challenging to interpret. Roxana has a dual nature in more ways than one. She is smart yet always loses. She is committed to her own survival while being filled with self-loathing. She is free and relishes her freedom, yet can be bought and sold at any time.<\/p>\n

The basic plot of Pudd\u2019nhead Wilson <\/em>involves Roxana, a house slave<\/a> of Percy Driscoll living in Dawson\u2019s Landing, Missouri. She gives birth to a child on the same day that Driscoll\u2019s wife does. Fearing her child will be sold down the river, Roxana switches the two babies in their cribs so that her son will be raised as Driscoll\u2019s son and heir. She is able to do this because both she and her son are of mixed race and can pass<\/a> for white (Twain 15). When the children become adults, one is accused of murder. Only the title character, a disgraced young lawyer, is able to sort out the identities and identify the murderer…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exploring Prejudice, Miscegenation, and Slavery’s Consequences in Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research Volume 1, Issue 1, Article 3 (2011) 5 pages Steven Watson Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia This research paper analyzes Mark Twain’s use of racist speech and racial stereotypes in his novel Pudd’nhead Wilson. Twain has often been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1649,12,1196,8,6462,6940,20],"tags":[9993,149,9991,9990,9992],"class_list":["post-21278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anthropology","category-articles","category-literary-criticism","category-media-archive","category-passing-2","category-slavery","category-usa","tag-kennesaw-journal-of-undergraduate-research","tag-mark-twain","tag-puddnhead-wilson","tag-steven-watson","tag-the-kennesaw-journal-of-undergraduate-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21278"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50546,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21278\/revisions\/50546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}