Analysis Of Pudd Nhead Wilson And A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court

In Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the two books demonstrate the influences society and culture have on people. The idea of clothing, appearance, and religion maintain a strong theme throughout the two books, forcing the characters to grow and learn. In his texts, Mark Twain describes how people are judged based on their clothing. In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the characters are quickly gauged of both their sanity and nobility based on their clothing. When King Arthur disguises himself as a peasant, none of the other townspeople recognize him as the ruler of the land, nor as their King. The King is so disconnected with his people that not a single one of the peasants even recognize

In Pudd’nhead Wilson, after Roxy switches Tom and Chambers no one can tell a difference between the two of them. As all outward appearances are the same, both children are white. Chambers looked as white as Tom did, despite being one - thirty - second parts black. His likeness to Tom was commented upon by Roxy when she says, “. . . he had blue eyes and flaxen curls like his white comrade . . . (896 - 897)”. Regardless of Tom’s appearance as a high class white boy, he grew to be an uneducated slave boy that “could neither read nor write, and his speech was the basest dialect of the Negro quarter. His gait, his attitudes, his gestures, his bearing, and his laugh- all were vulgar and uncouth; his manners were the manners of a slave (996)”. Chambers appearance as an upper class white man has the effect of him growing up to be a cruel slave owner despite of his hidden black blood. The two children shared the same appearance as many upper class white children. Thus, it gave Roxy the ability to switch the children without any difficulty. Roxy herself is looks white in appearance, though she is one-sixteenth black. Puddd’nhead comments that her looks give the impression of s upper class white women and how from her “manner of speech, a stranger would of expected her to be black, but she was not. Only one sixteenth of her was black, and that sixteenth did not show. She was of majestic form and stature, her attitudes were imposing and statuesque, and her gesture and movements distinguished by a noble and stately grace (896)”. Roxy’s appearance was so convincing as a white woman, that only her manner of speech revealed that she was one sixteenth black. Appearance is crucial in the books storylines, providing an example of how class influences the characters