Racism In Mark Twain's 'Pudd' Nhead Wilson

Racism in America has and always will be an ongoing issue among people. Since Americans take up nearly 17% of the population, it makes us the so called “biggest racial group.” In the book Pudd 'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain, it states just that; how racism is such a major problem in society today, and how harsh it actually is on people. Mark Twain shows that racism is unjust by: creating an unlikely protagonist, showing empathy throughout the book, using nature versus nurture and the author himself coming out with his opinions and thoughts on racism and other horrible things at that time.

Throughout the book, the reader is introduced to multiple characters who are considered to be unlikely protagonists because their described as such strong people

Giving the reader the feelings the characters are feeling at that moment in time. “Why were miggers and whites made? What crime did the uncreated first nigger commit that the curse of birth was decreed for him? And why is this awful difference ,and between white and black?... How hard the nigger’s fate seems, this morning!- yet until last night such a thought never entered my head.”This quote shows that those so called “nigger’s” are upset for the way whites are treated and how differently they are treated. Whites are treated like royalty and blacks or even those with the slightest amount of black in them are treated poorly and tossed around like rag dolls. When in reality your race shouldn’t matter and shouldn’t be what people judge you by. “Dey knows how to work a nigger to death, en dey knows how to whale ‘em, too-whale ‘em till dey backs is welted like a washboard. ‘Long at fust my master say de good word for me to de overseer, but dat’uz bad for me; for de mistis she fine it out, en arter dat I jist ketched it at every turn- dey wasn’t no mercy for me mo.’” This quote shows that if you 're black you will get beaten; hard. During this moment in this book the reader gets sucked in and feel the emotion of the characters in that moment. You feel the emotion and tensity Roxy has towards the beating of the little girl, and you feel the same emotion towards that

“Tom slumped to his knees and began to beg, saying: ‘you see, I’m begging, and it’s honest begging, too! Now tell me, Roxy, tell me.’” This quote proves to show that Mark Twain was thinking of Tom losing “dignity” in himself because he bowed down to a so called nigger. This shows Mark 's opinion because it shows that he wanted Tom a so called white boy to bow down to a black and beg for something; that 's a sight you would never see and he shows it in this book. “It had been imagined that she “would not know,” and would think she was traveling upstream. She! Why she had been steamboating for years.” This quote goes to prove Mark’s feelings on how Tom disobeyed his mother after finding out about the entire thing, lying to her and actually sending her down the river to work. Mark is showing his opinion on how getting sold down the river probably isn 't the best thing to lie about. And to your own mother makes it worse. Tom did this and Roxy found out and wasn’t impressed by it at all. Mark wanted to show his opinion on the thought of Tom betraying his mother and actually sending her down the