This book was defiantly a relief after Blithedale and Moby-dick; it was small, easy to read and didn’t act like an encyclopaedia. Twain only ever told us what we needed to know, unlike Melville who told us things about whaling we will probably only need if we go on a quiz show.
The story in itself is kind of complicated and I don’t entirely know how I’m meant to feel about it. Part of me thinks that this book is quite racist because Twain stereotypes his characters; we have the rude supposedly superior white slave owner, and then the meek and docile black slave. Even Roxy is stereotyped because of her speech and self-hatred of her black blood. However, I also think that Twain did his best to actually bring across the race issue but was limited with how far he could go.
I really enjoyed the presentation of nature vs. nurture. I’m a big supporter of the nurture aspect, in that people are a product of their environment. This is clearly seen with Tom and Chambers. Tom is allowed to get away with everything and therefore sees no issue with being badly behaved because he has never been punished for his behaviour, he has been raised to think that how he acts is perfectly okay and acceptable. Chambers on the other hand has been punished for even the slightest mistakes for the majority of his life. At one point Twain even says that Chambers had learnt early on that it was better not to fight back, the three times he did he was brutally punished. I just liked that Twain did challenge the idea of race at the time. Like I said I’ve always believed in nurture over nature and that the way you are raised becomes a large part of who you are, so maybe I refuse to see any nature arguments that arise.
Also the idea of culture, the fact that many of the white characters use names they have little or no right to. I realise now that as a relatively new nation Americans like to hold on to the ancestry of their families and feel connection to a nation or country that they may have never set foot in. However, this just seems such a strange notion because I feel like what you are connecting with is your family and not the country in general but I get that it is a touchy subject so I’m not going to go much further with it.
I can see the nurture side of things. But I can't tell if Twain is trying to make us see one side, or ask us our own opinion. I don't know how I feel either way. I think I'm leaning toward nature. I read an article that basically proved some traits, such as aggression, are genetic. But at the same time some of those genetic traits rely upon upbringing to see whether or not they arise. I think it's a difficult concept to grasp and I don't think either side can be completely proved without the other.
ReplyDeleteTo continue our discussion from class, you definitely bring up good points about the different (and seemingly illogical) mindset that many Americans have toward their ancestry. After all, Americans are descended from Europeans that left for one reason or another, and I would venture to say that the majority of them left because of hardships (potato famines, lack of work, low birth). So, why DO we feel compelled to understand and connect with our (x times great) grandparents' hardships? In some ways this parallels the illogical preoccupation that Roxy has with Chambers' "good blood." I do agree with you that really, Americans' connection with their ancestral "home" is largely tied to their family history moreso than the country of origin itself. Coming from someone whose family has cleared and worked the same farmland since the 1840s, a strong connection to family equates to a deep interest in the history behind how we all got here. I don't know that this is a touchy subject, but it certainly is an interesting question that digs into Twain's novel and the meaning (or lack of) the American perspective of national (or international) identity.
ReplyDeleteThe nature/nurture idea is one that we don't seem to be able to solve, Emma. Like Lukas, I thought it was interesting that you brought up the issue of names and connection to an "old country" that's by now generations removed from some Americans.
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