The Black Mississippi and White Fluidity in Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson
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Through the lens of racially marginalized black characters and a Northerner, another socio-cultural outcast, Twain reveals the absurdity of the notion of race as a biological marker, stressing that race is a social construct. Racial identity is open-ended, and thus the idea of whiteness is also in fluidity. In this paper, focusing on Roxana, a strongly powerful and cunning female protagonist, I argue that marginalized Southern blacks obtain mobility, although temporarily, while floating up and down the Mississippi River. Also, I explore how they are able to cross racial boundaries through child-swapping, passing, and cross-dressing; and how their newly obtained mobility is ironically frustrated by Pudd’nhead Wilson, a Northern new comer to Dawson’s Landing. Furthermore, I demonstrate the ways the postbellum Southern town sustains its status quo, with the aid of the technologically modernized and scientifically advanced North. My critical reading suggests that the relationship between two marginalized characters, Roxy and Wilson, is sharply contrasted in the hierarchical sense: Wilson’s final social status as a celebrity in the Southern town, climbing up the ladder from the northern Pudd’nhead, is only possible with the tragic downfall of the rebellious black woman.
Abstract
Through the lens of racially marginalized black characters and a Northerner, another socio-cultural outcast, Twain reveals the absurdity of the notion of race as a biological marker, stressing that race is a social construct. Racial identity is open-ended, and thus the idea of whiteness is also in fluidity. In this paper, focusing on Roxana, a strongly powerful and cunning female protagonist, I argue that marginalized Southern blacks obtain mobility, although temporarily, while floating up and down the Mississippi River. Also, I explore how they are able to cross racial boundaries through child-swapping, passing, and cross-dressing; and how their newly obtained mobility is ironically frustrated by Pudd’nhead Wilson, a Northern new comer to Dawson’s Landing. Furthermore, I demonstrate the ways the postbellum Southern town sustains its status quo, with the aid of the technologically modernized and scientifically advanced North. My critical reading suggests that the relationship between two marginalized characters, Roxy and Wilson, is sharply contrasted in the hierarchical sense: Wilson’s final social status as a celebrity in the Southern town, climbing up the ladder from the northern Pudd’nhead, is only possible with the tragic downfall of the rebellious black woman.
참고문헌 (24)
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