thinking about the uncanny in puddnhead and hbtc

Prof. Parham made a comment in class today that really brought some themes together for me. She said that Tryon hearing Rena’s voice as he slept and dreamt of Rena was an example of the uncanny, of realizing that what we think we know is actually completely unknown or unfamiliar. I was thinking about this before (for my paper) and this brought up an new set of ideas. I had been thinking of the idea of the uncanny as the ability to pass (because you’re physical appearance enables you to be seen as the same). I don’t know if that makes sense but to restate it, I understood the ability to pass as what was uncanny and not the revelation that one has been passing. To push this idea further, in Puddnhead, I interpreted Puddnhead Wilson’s thoughts about Roxy’s appearance (“to all intents and purposes, Roxy was as white as anybody, but the one sixteenth of her which was black outvoted the other fifteen parts and made her a negro”) as a moment in which he looks at her and sees something familiar but in the same thought understands her unfamiliarity.
However, after Prof. Parham’s remark in class today, I’m beginning to understand that revelation is key to the uncanny. Because without the revelation, there is no disruption of what was previously believed to be true.

Blame it on Roxy

“Yes the little deception could do no harm, and everything would come out right and pleasant in the end, anyway” (Twain 1015). This is “Tom’s” reasoning for deceiving his mother, Roxy, and sending her down the river. Similar rationale was used by Roxy when she traded her son’s identity for that of his white master. Roxy, for the remainder of the novel continues to assure herself that all of this was for the better and would eventually benefit her son and give him a better life. However, Roxy inadvertently sentences the innocent “Chambers” to life of hardship and slavery which was undeserved and cruel. What happened to Roxy’s strong Christian and moral convictions in the beginning of the novel? I understand a woman’s want to provide the best life for their child but the deceptive means to which she comes about this “better life” lessens her character. In the end Tom ends up being a low-life. He’s a thief, a liar, a coward and a murderer. I can only speculate if Tom would have been a better person had he grown up with everyone knowing he was black, but I’m certain that Roxy’s negatively altered Tom and Chambers’ future. Roxy was driven by jealousy, envy and the ideal that money brings happiness. In the end race nor money brought happiness to any of the three main characters, and it was all Roxy’s fault.

Reading Puddnhead

Although Puddnhead Wilson was one of the easiest reads that I have encountered thus far at Amherst College, it left me feeling just as confused as any sociology article. This is partly because I wasn’t sure how to interpret the story. We have already discussed that it was the first crime/mystery novel of its time, but the element of passing complicates the story in other ways. As I read, I found myself interpretating it as some sort of allegory. With each new development in the plot I found myself “moralizing”; constantly wondering whether Roxy actions were supposed to be taken as good or bad. And whether or not Tom’s demeanor is a result of nature or nurture. When I was finished, I found myself wondering if Mark Twain had written a cautionary tale against passing? Considering his audience, is he warning other White people about the possibility of blacks successfully passing for white?
The ironic element of this story, however, is that Tom was not conciously passing. He is not trying to hide his true identity in order to assume a new one. He is simply being the person he was raised to be. It isn’t until he finds out that he (supposedly) black that he begins to think of his identity as a performance.

Thinking about Tom

Although I feel sorry for Roxy’s losing her relationship with her son, until now, I don’t think that I considered that it must have been difficult for Tom to cope (at least to some degree) with suddenly learning that he’s not white, or rather, the race he grew up thinking that he was.  In a sense, he loses part of his identity, because he based his feelings of entitlement  on his white skin and status.  I am not a fan of Tom’s, but I would think that such a potentially life-altering experience might be similar to having a rug pulled from under one’s feet.  He grew up in an environment that privileged white skin and looked down upon the Other; when Tom learns that he’s black, he feels ashamed and repulsed, but during this time period, can we entirely blame him for feeling this way if he’s grown up thinking that blacks are the basest people in society?  Yes, his attitude and feelings toward his mother aggravate me–especially when he would betray her for money (p.110) to pay off his gambling debts… even after all Roxy had done for him.    I initially expected/wanted Tom to feel connected to his mother (and his race), but maybe I shouldn’t have.  Given his upbringing, is Tom wrong for wanting to cling to his status and privilege?  Doesn’t his desire reflect human nature to a certain degree?