Pudd Nhead Wilson Character Analysis

It has been long debated whether one's character and personality is ingrained at birth or developed in the environment one is raised. This theory has been debated as an ongoing theme among many different platforms and works of literature. In his novel, Pudd'nhead Wilson, Mark Twain shows his stance on the matter through the two characters Tom and Chambers. Though race and social status minutely affect their evolution, Twain shows his affinity for nurture in determining the quality of one's character through the behavior and luxuries of both boys as children, the impact of the boys both learning of their true identities, and the fate of the two at the conclusion of the story.

When the switch took place, it appeared as if Tom and Chambers' lives

When they are alone, she tells Tom of his true bloodline, announcing "Yassir, en dat ain't all! You's a nigger - bawn a nigger en a slave!" (47). At that point, Tom's attitude completely changes, as Twain states "the 'nigger' in him went shrinking and sulking here and there and yonder...So strange and uncharacteristic was Tom's conduct that people noticed it, and turned to look after him when he passed..." (52). Tom, now knowing of his true descent, took on a contrasted personality as if he was black. However, Twain shows his affinity for nurture as his "opinions were totally changed...but the main structure of his character was not changed....Under the influence of a great mental and moral upheaval, his habits had taken on the appearance of complete change, but after a while with the subsidence of the storm, both began to settle toward their former places" (53). Twain maintains this by writing "He dropped gradually back into his old frivolous and easygoing ways and conditions of feeling and manner of speech" (53). This gives confirmation that even upon the revelation of his real identity, Tom still defaults back to the old habits and characteristics that were instilled in his upbringing. Therefore, nurture has virtually proven its superior influence on Tom's character over his racial

As a slave, he is depicted as a very unassertive and easygoing individual, which in turn could possibly have been the reason he was stringently disciplined as a child. Nevertheless, this discipline led the supposed black slave to grow into a healthy and independent man, as Twain notes "Tom was sickly, and Chambers wasn't" (19). Although Chambers was born white, the strict and rigid means of nurture he experienced growing up ingrained a feeling of strength in Chambers not given solely due to his ancestry. Further towards the end of the book, Pudd’nhead Wilson reveals the true identity of both boys, shocking the townspeople. Chambers is rightfully put back in his place as the heir to the Driscoll will, whereas Tom is sold down the river as a slave. However, Chambers rapid rise to power comes not without consequence, as “The real heir suddenly found himself rich and free, but in a most embarrassing situation… The poor fellow could not endure the terrors of the white man's parlor, and felt at home and at peace nowhere but in the kitchen” (139). Though Chambers is given a life most slaves only dream of, he has no idea of how to carry himself as a wealthy man, but only as a lowly slave. This sense of unawareness and inability to conduct one’s self appropriately obviously stems from the fact that due to Chambers being raised a slave, as he knows no other way to behave other than one. Thus, Twain voids the claim that