Vollono

Nick Vollono

We Learn by Repetition/Imitation

        All society is based on imitation, repetition, and self creation.  Roxy utilizes the same strategies of the dominant society, but is still considered a slave.  As a result, it seems that law is very distinct from custom.  Characteristics of blackness clearly become articulated early in the book, as a wall of difference is built.  It is only once she creates the subversive fiction regarding Tom and Chamber’s race, that the structure of society is at all questioned.  Playing off the concept of imitation and custom, Roxy is able to suggest the identity of the boys, and convince the residents of Dawson’s Landing that they are their opposite.  By blurring the lines between written and unwritten law it becomes clear that the ideas of society towards race are not clearly written down, but instead created through imitation and repetition.  The paradoxical changing of race, as seen by Roxy in Pudd’nhead Wilson, points out the inconsistencies between custom and law, as well as disrupt the common belief that race is an inherent binary, by smudging any clear distinction between natural and artificial, through the central theme of imitation.    

It would be too much to jump in immediately with Roxy’s strong character acting against society.  Instead, Twain uses the language of the people in Dawson’s Landing to narrate the ways in which race separates.  “From Roxy’s manner of speech, a stranger would have expected her to be black, but she was not.  Only one sixteenth of her was black, and that sixteenth did not show.”  (9)  Already, it seems fuzzy to what extent she biologically fits into a racial category, but clearly she is a slave regardless, making it clear that heredity only truly applies to non-slaves.  Roxy herself, falls into a seemingly similar trap of racial categorization, when talking about her own child Chambers.  “Bless yo soul, Misto Wilson, [Roxy says] it’s pow’ful nice o’ you to say dat, caze one of ‘em ain’t on’y a nigger.” (10)  Her apologetic tone towards her child’s race seems to re-entrench societies’ feelings toward black inferiority.  Later, during Tom’s realization of his true identity, Pudd’nhead Wilson, continues to build up the racial categorizations, by using Tom to perpetuate the common stereotypes and racial language.  “It was the ‘nigger’ in him asserting his humility… the ‘nigger’ in him was surprised when the white friend put out his hand… the ‘nigger in him was ashamed to sit.” (49)  Tom, in coming to terms with his own identity, hates himself for the same reasons the dominant white culture hates black people.  By this point, it seems almost as if Twain’s black characters create the sense of inferiority that plagues blacks in society, but shows how the rest of society enacts such racial separation.

Join now!

        These very methods which act as signifiers of the dominant racial categorization, also function to point out the contradictions, and ways in which such binaries are completely constructed by society.  The settler’s and descendents in Dawson’s Landing consider themselves to be rich and dignified descendents of the highest stock.  Each man describes himself through his lineage of family, all connecting to the original, high powered First Families of Virginia.  Without any context of the landing, it would seem that it was anything but a small settler town.  It seems that these people are not so much concerned with putting down ...

This is a preview of the whole essay