Saturday, March 8, 2008

Pudd'nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins by Mark Twain

I found this book highly enjoyable, if troubling in some aspects. There's an over-indulgence in twinning, and the Italian twins (who started as conjoined twins) seem to retain some vestiges of their conjoined past (for some reason they were circus freaks after their parents died). This book explores carefully both race and identity; while the fingerprints bit is gimmicky, it also affirms individual uniqueness. Although Twain shows how circumstances affect the "white" baby (when he regains his place in society, he's unfit to occupy it), he also makes a point of letting the "black" baby's "natural viciousness" come out. I was also struck by the way that the story explores the limits and bounds of a mother's love. Roxana and Pudd'nhead are the most sympathetic characters in the story. Finally, Pudd'nhead's calendar (the aphorisms from which head each chapter) is fantastic.

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