Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper contains several instances of mistaken identity, the most obvious cases being those of Prince Edward and Tom Canty. Through the experience of mistaken or lost identity, Twain depicts one’s personal identity as something with a dualistic nature. For Twain, as these characters’ experiences demonstrate, identity exists as a composite…
Tag: Mark Twain
The Prince and the Pauper – Historical Background – Setting
The Monarchy of Henry VIII As a historical novel, The Prince and the Pauper is inspired by the general history of the time period in which the novel is set. (Like any historical novel, it does not claim to be wholly accurate factually. For example, historically Prince Edward was only nine when he became King…
The Prince and the Pauper – Literary Devices – Narration – Satire
Nineteenth-Century Historical Romance The Prince and the Pauper was labeled upon publication a ‘‘historical romance.’’ As a genre, nineteenth-century historical romances did not necessarily feature a romantic relationship between two individuals. Rather, the term historical romance was used to characterize books that looked back to an earlier time in European history and focused on the…
The Prince and the Pauper – Themes
Social and Economic Inequality Twain’s novel demonstrates the stark contrast between two social classes in sixteenth-century England. The society of the day is organized around the idea of a class system. The noble class is a group of people who inherit titles and the corresponding wealth, and usually lands, as well. One is born into…
The Prince and the Pauper – Characters
Father Andrew Father Andrew is the kindly priest who instructs the pauper Tom. He teaches him reading, writing, and some Latin. He shares with Tom stories of castles and kings and princes, encouraging in Tom the boy’s yearning toward nobility. When Edward is captured by John Canty and taken to be his own son, Father…
The Prince and the Pauper – Story Summary
Chapter 1 The first chapter of The Prince and the Pauper announces the birth of Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales, and that of Tom Canty, a pauper. Chapter 2 In this chapter, the narrator tells of Tom’s poverty, recounting the deprivations of Tom’s formative years in Offal Court, the part of London where Tom and…
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County: Analysis
“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” appears at first glance to be a simple, humorous story, but actually is a complex satire of American literature, social conventions, and politics. Like the land around the mining settlement of Angel’s Camp, it has riches under the surface, and the patient and careful reader can tap into…
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County: Setting
America in the Mid to Late Nineteenth Century “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” was first published in 1865, when Mark Twain was living in the American Southwest, which was still in the process of being settled. The Industrial Revolution had brought machinery and factories to the eastern United States, but most of the…
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County – Literary Devices
Structure The frame tale structure of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is one of its most important parts. In a frame tale, one story appears in—that is, it is framed by—another story. In “Jumping Frog” the outer tale focuses on Mark Twain and his meeting with the talkative old storyteller, Simon Wheeler. This…
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County – Themes
A cultured Easterner relates his recent visit to a talkative old man at a western mining camp. Rather than providing information that the Easterner is looking for, the old man keeps him waiting while he spins a tale about a betting man and his pet frog. Culture Clash “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,”…