The new Tom (which was previously Chambers) turns out to be a spoiled baby. He never stops crying and gives Roxy troubles. One of his most prominent tiring acts is when he "holds his breath" and almost kills himself from suffocation. If I'm not mistaken, Dr. Adams once told us a story about how Mark Twain had a very strong memory and remembered one incident in his infancy when he (held his breath and) cried in order to get his parents attention. Well, I guess this life of infant Tom is taken from Mark Twain's own infancy.
How "Tom" finally becomes a very spoiled child and troubles his slave (who is actually his mother) and "Chambers" rises so many questions on my part. However, I will keep this question until a bit later, after I explore some more of this kid's naughtiness.
"Tom" becomes so very spoiled and troublesome for Roxy that Roxy one day kinda regrets why she has exchanged the babies. This fake master finally becomes her real master and troubles in his every single waking hour.
For "Chambers", "Tom" becomes a kind of threat that he can finally face lightheartedly. Once he tries to fight against "Tom" and put him down. However, his status as a slave-boy makes him face his master's ("Tom"'s ostensible father) beating on his butt. Later, he always succumbs to whatever things tom want. However, there's a blessing in disguise from this thing. He turns into a stronger boy due to a lot of practice--by practice I mean doing anything to save his little master from any danger, either from his enemies as well as from other things that endanger his life.
However, there are times when "Tom" cannot escape his enemies' bully because "Chambers" is away doing other things for him. Later, "Tom"'s dependence on "Chambers"'s help gives him a bad nickname, "niggerpappy's son". "Tom" hates "Chambers" even more, despite all the helps that "Chambers" has given him.
A twist of the plot occurs when Percy Driscoll, the big master, "Tom"'s ostensible father dies. He sets Roxy free from slavery. "Tom" wants his father to sell "Chambers" down the river, but his father refuses it. Being freed, Roxy decides to work as a chambermaid in a steamboat. However, there is one passing test that she has to go through--actually it's not a test at all, it's just Roxy sees it as something that can hinder her steps--that is, Pudd'nhead Wilson's fingerprint copying of hers and the two boys's. This time, Pudd'nhead Wilson senses a kind of fear on Roxy's part from Roxy's curious behavior, bringing a horseshoe everytime she goes to Wilson to have her boys' fingerprints taken.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
pudd'nhead wilson: chapter three
Roxy feels a kind of fear that her son will be sold down the river by his master. She even thinks about killing her own son because she doesn't have the heart to see him sold down the river, and live the same fate as she does.
She sees her master's son, who actually isn't any more handsome than her own son but enjoys a totally different fate that her son. She also complains how her son, who has done no sins in his life but has to experience such a terrible life and faces the threat to be sold down the river any time.
It's a very good serious mourning about the fate of a slave. She actually questions the value in the world. She questions why white people can enjoy easy life while the black people have to experience such a difficult life and are prone to being sold down the river. However, she doesn't have any question about the origin of slalvery and so on--she just questions the present condition, without tracing to the origin of the slavery.
Later, she has the idea of exchanging the baby, and there she sees how actually her son is not any different from her master's son. And she believes that her master will not recognize because one time, when she was washing the babies, her master asked about which one his son was.
This scene shows how actually rich people do not really care about their children's detail, especially fathers. They are not balanced in their life. They might be too serious with their daily jobs, but they do not spend enough time giving love to their children, so that they can't even differentiate their children from other people's children.
Later, Roxy realizes how actually the idea doesn't come up from thin air. She previously listened to a sermon in the black people's church about a slave who changed her son with her queen's son. And since the one who told this story is preacher, she thinks it is not a sin. Therefore, she thinks about what she has done as something good and starts seeing it happily. Here, we can get the explanation of Roxy's "brilliant" idea, such brilliant an idea, although rather wicked, is actually infused by someone cleverer--and here, it could be Twain's other criticisim on religious stories, that is, giving bad examples, if not explained correctly (remember Mark Twain's letter to a librarian in Brooklyn library in response to the news about the ban of his book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the library saying that "The Adventures of Huck Finn" is an adult book and no children should read the book without their parents watching and explaining them before it can give bad impact just like what Bible did to him as a child).
What makes the situation very conducive for this baby change is the selling of the three slaves indicted of stealing money. The three slaves are the one who know the difference of the two babies (see, it shows how the slaves spend more time with the two babies and can differentiate one from another). This shows Mark Twain perfect planning on the logics of the story, despite the fact that Mark Twain is known to be someone who is very bad at plotting.
If there is one person whom Roxy is rather afraid of, it will be Pudd'nhead Wilson who has taken the two babies fingerprints. Roxy also knows that Pudd'nhead Wilson is not a "pudding head", he might even be the smartest person in the town. This might be Roxy's brilliance. Only brilliant people can see other people's brilliance. HOWEVER, this is the part that I guess needs explanation. Roxy seems to know the importance of a fingerprint, and she does seem to know that everybody has different fingerprint from other people. I'm not sure myself about it, but I wonder whether it was already a common knowledge in 1830s that people have different fingerprints.
She sees her master's son, who actually isn't any more handsome than her own son but enjoys a totally different fate that her son. She also complains how her son, who has done no sins in his life but has to experience such a terrible life and faces the threat to be sold down the river any time.
It's a very good serious mourning about the fate of a slave. She actually questions the value in the world. She questions why white people can enjoy easy life while the black people have to experience such a difficult life and are prone to being sold down the river. However, she doesn't have any question about the origin of slalvery and so on--she just questions the present condition, without tracing to the origin of the slavery.
Later, she has the idea of exchanging the baby, and there she sees how actually her son is not any different from her master's son. And she believes that her master will not recognize because one time, when she was washing the babies, her master asked about which one his son was.
This scene shows how actually rich people do not really care about their children's detail, especially fathers. They are not balanced in their life. They might be too serious with their daily jobs, but they do not spend enough time giving love to their children, so that they can't even differentiate their children from other people's children.
Later, Roxy realizes how actually the idea doesn't come up from thin air. She previously listened to a sermon in the black people's church about a slave who changed her son with her queen's son. And since the one who told this story is preacher, she thinks it is not a sin. Therefore, she thinks about what she has done as something good and starts seeing it happily. Here, we can get the explanation of Roxy's "brilliant" idea, such brilliant an idea, although rather wicked, is actually infused by someone cleverer--and here, it could be Twain's other criticisim on religious stories, that is, giving bad examples, if not explained correctly (remember Mark Twain's letter to a librarian in Brooklyn library in response to the news about the ban of his book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the library saying that "The Adventures of Huck Finn" is an adult book and no children should read the book without their parents watching and explaining them before it can give bad impact just like what Bible did to him as a child).
What makes the situation very conducive for this baby change is the selling of the three slaves indicted of stealing money. The three slaves are the one who know the difference of the two babies (see, it shows how the slaves spend more time with the two babies and can differentiate one from another). This shows Mark Twain perfect planning on the logics of the story, despite the fact that Mark Twain is known to be someone who is very bad at plotting.
If there is one person whom Roxy is rather afraid of, it will be Pudd'nhead Wilson who has taken the two babies fingerprints. Roxy also knows that Pudd'nhead Wilson is not a "pudding head", he might even be the smartest person in the town. This might be Roxy's brilliance. Only brilliant people can see other people's brilliance. HOWEVER, this is the part that I guess needs explanation. Roxy seems to know the importance of a fingerprint, and she does seem to know that everybody has different fingerprint from other people. I'm not sure myself about it, but I wonder whether it was already a common knowledge in 1830s that people have different fingerprints.
pudd'nhead wilson: the second chapter
now we're on the second chapter of pudd'n head wilson. following points are the most vividly seen through a first swipe reading, :D. this list will enlarge with the course of time.
Wilson opens a law service as an attorney, but his unlucky remark keeps prospective clients away from him
--> he leaves the small office that he rents in the town, and decides to stay at his home and opens the same business here, but only gaining small-scale clients for trivial stuffs.
Wilson grows interest in palmistry
--> since it enlarges his
He sees hears Roxy and another Jasper quarrelling about something and threatening each other with harsh words
--> it shows that there's something serious between them, and here, Wilson's hobby in collecting fingerprints makes him take Roxy's and the two babies in her craddle's fingerprints.
In this scene, Roxy is introduced as a one-sixteenth black girl--although she's as fair as other white women, she speaks the way black people do.
Later in this chapter, Roxy's master shows a kind of anger because he senses a theft or two among his slaves
--> in this scene, we are introduced to one of the scariest things for black people, that is, being sold "DOWN THE RIVER".
Wilson opens a law service as an attorney, but his unlucky remark keeps prospective clients away from him
--> he leaves the small office that he rents in the town, and decides to stay at his home and opens the same business here, but only gaining small-scale clients for trivial stuffs.
Wilson grows interest in palmistry
--> since it enlarges his
He sees hears Roxy and another Jasper quarrelling about something and threatening each other with harsh words
--> it shows that there's something serious between them, and here, Wilson's hobby in collecting fingerprints makes him take Roxy's and the two babies in her craddle's fingerprints.
In this scene, Roxy is introduced as a one-sixteenth black girl--although she's as fair as other white women, she speaks the way black people do.
Later in this chapter, Roxy's master shows a kind of anger because he senses a theft or two among his slaves
--> in this scene, we are introduced to one of the scariest things for black people, that is, being sold "DOWN THE RIVER".
pudd'nhead wilson: the first chapter
so sorry for being absent quite some time. so sorry too for not finishing my close reading on the portrait of a lady. it was awesome actually, but i could hardly catch up with the class, hehehe... so i decided to stop for a while and concentrate on what i had to do in the class.
and now, i'm starting another book by twain (actually after a portrait of the lady we discussed the adventures of huckleberry finn in the class, but i didn't have time to record the close reading here). hope this time i can do a bit better than the other day.
so, here comes the important points in the first chapter. actually i could've been a bit difficult for me to understand the texts, specially regarding the dense description in the first several chapters, due to the specific vocabulary used there... however, thanks to the online version that has illustrations, i could understand the text quite well:
The opening "Tell the truth--but get the trick"
--> tricky, it has the impression of telling us the truth but with a slightly different way, with a witty way? or with a misleading way?
The house description with the cat
--> very peaceful and nice house where people live in harmony with the nature, with honeysuckle and all, and the sight of the cat impresses leisure, because cat itself is known as a lazy animal...
A home without a cat [...] may be a perfect home, [...], but how can it prove title?
--> well-fed cat can prove someone's wealth?
Description of the main street
--> it's like a leisure area where rich people live, with tree trunks covered by a kind of wooden boxing.
Candy-striped pole
--> in Venice nobility here only barbershop.
tinpots-wreathed lofty pole
--> actually ugly, but funny.
About Dawson's Landing economy
--> in keeping with the leisurely sight, the town is a slow-growing one, it has a rich "slave-worked grain and pork country back of it"
York Leicester Driscoll
--> proud of his Virginian ancestry, hospitable and rather formal, keeping up his old tradition
Parade of character
--> the judge, his sister, Pembroke Howard
the judge and his sister are not happy
--> no child and "never" to be happy, told since first off
religion
--> judge free thinker, sister presbyterian, the lawyer Howard a devoted presbyterian, so they're scottish descendant
the half dog incident
--> so smart, but the locals, who are fools, think he is fool for the joke. A small joke but the locals discussed it foolishly exhaustively
and now, i'm starting another book by twain (actually after a portrait of the lady we discussed the adventures of huckleberry finn in the class, but i didn't have time to record the close reading here). hope this time i can do a bit better than the other day.
so, here comes the important points in the first chapter. actually i could've been a bit difficult for me to understand the texts, specially regarding the dense description in the first several chapters, due to the specific vocabulary used there... however, thanks to the online version that has illustrations, i could understand the text quite well:
The opening "Tell the truth--but get the trick"
--> tricky, it has the impression of telling us the truth but with a slightly different way, with a witty way? or with a misleading way?
The house description with the cat
--> very peaceful and nice house where people live in harmony with the nature, with honeysuckle and all, and the sight of the cat impresses leisure, because cat itself is known as a lazy animal...
A home without a cat [...] may be a perfect home, [...], but how can it prove title?
--> well-fed cat can prove someone's wealth?
Description of the main street
--> it's like a leisure area where rich people live, with tree trunks covered by a kind of wooden boxing.
Candy-striped pole
--> in Venice nobility here only barbershop.
tinpots-wreathed lofty pole
--> actually ugly, but funny.
About Dawson's Landing economy
--> in keeping with the leisurely sight, the town is a slow-growing one, it has a rich "slave-worked grain and pork country back of it"
York Leicester Driscoll
--> proud of his Virginian ancestry, hospitable and rather formal, keeping up his old tradition
Parade of character
--> the judge, his sister, Pembroke Howard
the judge and his sister are not happy
--> no child and "never" to be happy, told since first off
religion
--> judge free thinker, sister presbyterian, the lawyer Howard a devoted presbyterian, so they're scottish descendant
the half dog incident
--> so smart, but the locals, who are fools, think he is fool for the joke. A small joke but the locals discussed it foolishly exhaustively
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