Throughout the first two chapters of Pudd’nhead Wilson, Mark Twain makes the argument for race being socially constructed rather than a biological reality. He does this through the characters of Chambers and Tom, who are switched by Roxy when they are very young Primarily, Twain shows that race is socially constructed through Roxy switching her baby with that of her master’s. When Roxy considers killing herself and her child early in the novel her child’s beauty stops her and she says, “‘Marse Tommy ain’t a bit puttier—not a single bit.’/ She stepped over and glanced at the other infant… ‘When I ’uz a-washin’ ’em in de tub, yistiddy, he own pappy asked me which of ’em was his’n (Twain 27).’” In this scene, Roxy sees herself that her child in no different than her masters, and she makes the decision to switch them (Twain 27). …show more content…
Since both of the children grow into their assigned roles, rather than those of the ones they were born into, it proves that it is only societal standing that decides how a certain race acts or sees themselves. Even more to the point, “Tom”, or Roxy’s son, begins to be a very cruel owner of “Chambers” as the two grow older, proving that Tom’s ability to control Chambers is not because of race, as Tom is the one who is actually part African American. Rather, it was the way in which Tom was raised, as he was given anything he wanted, that left him with a sense of entitlement (Twain 35). After Roxy ultimately tells her son the truth, he begins to question these racial lines, “‘Why were niggers and whites