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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page essay that argues that Twain took a sociological stance in his book The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson. While Twain's story is set in the antebellum era, it addresses sociological attitudes that were still prevalent throughout American society. People honestly believed that racist conventions, such as segregationist policies, could be rationalized through the belief that whites were genetically superior to other races. In Pudd'nhead Wilson, Twain's principal point is sociological in nature, that the slave mentality comes from society rather than from birth. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khpudd.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
of the twentieth century. While Twains story is set in the antebellum era, it addresses sociological attitudes that were still prevalent throughout American society. People honestly believed that racist
conventions, such as segregationist policies, could be rationalized through the belief that whites were genetically superior to other races. In Puddnhead Wilson, Twains principal point is sociological in nature, that
the slave mentality comes from society rather than from birth. Puddnhead Wilson is a Northern who comes to the small Missouri town of Dawsons Landing to build a law practice.
Wilson is an intelligent, observant, learned man who shows by his behavior that he has an inquiring mind and is always learning. To the locals, this makes him odd-a "puddnhead."
As this demonstrates, the nickname given his protagonist is itself a comment on American society. Twain is commenting on the fact that American society has always been slightly suspicious
of people who appeared to be too capable, or too smart. Americans have always had more faith in the "common" man, who accepted the dictates of society and did not
question situation that were accepted, but smacked of injustice. Roxana (or Roxy) is a beautiful slave who appears to be white. Because Roxy is one-sixteenth black, she can be
legitimately enslaved. Roxy gives birth to an infant son on the same day that a son is born to her white master. Twain emphasizes that the father of the white
child cannot tell the two babies apart except by their clothing. The "white" toddler was always dressed in "ruffled white muslin and a coral necklace, while the other wore merely
a coarse tow-linen shirt which barely reached to its knees and no jewelry" (Twain). Twain does not state any explicit reason why
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