Pudd’nhead Wilson Long Blog Post

In Pudd’nhead Wilson, the entire plot of the book is a lesson that we as readers can learn from. In the book, a woman named Roxy who is 1/16th black switched her baby boy with another child so that he won’t have to be a slave. Her son Tom grows into a bratty and privileged boy, and treats the other boy Chambers very poorly. I think one of the main lessons a reader can learn from this book is that the way you are raised and the environment you grow up in can majorly define who you are as a person and the way you treat those around you, but it is ultimately up to you to decide who you want to be. Identity is a huge theme in this book, and it is shown through the different characters personalities. During the time that Pudd’nhead Wilson is set in, slavery is still a very big issue. Being even the slightest bit black can make you a slave. Even though Tom didn’t look black he still would have been a slave, and no one questions the fact that Chambers is a slave even if he doesn’t look black either. Knowing if you are black or not can change your entire personality and view on life. When Roxy told Tom about his past and who he really was, he spent the next few days reflecting on everything in his life. Thoughts ran through his head of why whites and blacks were treated differently: “And why is this awful difference made between white and black?” (133). He started to feel bad that Chambers was his slave, and he even felt ashamed to sit at “the white folk’s table” (135). These feelings had subsided and were soon forgotten about. The main thing that I took from this book is that you are able to choose the way you act, and can’t blame how you were raised for the way you act. Tom could have shown more humility and kindness towards Chambers growing up, but instead he treated him very poorly. Even though Chambers was a slave, that did not mean that he deserved to be treated the way that he was. When Tom found out that he was actually black, he had multiple choices of what to do with that information. He could have either started treating Chambers with more respect and not like a slave, or he could have even told the truth about himself even though it would be a complicated situation for him and Roxy. Tom chose to disregard all of this new information about his identity, and continued to be a terrible person in his life. I was able to understand that it would be hard to change who he is because it is all he’s ever known his entire life, but I don’t think his actions are justifiable. He continues to steal money from his family and even kills his own uncle in hopes of inheriting all of his money and the estate. He takes no responsibility for his actions, but is finally held accountable at the end of the book. Tom is arrested and put into jail, and Chambers is now a free white man. Though Chambers is no longer a slave, his situation isn’t much better. He spent his entire life thinking he was black and being treated as a slave, which formed his entire personality. Chambers feels like he doesn’t fit in with either the blacks or white, and has no place in society. It is like he is too black for the whites, but he no longer can be with the blacks. What I mainly learned from this book is that as individuals, we get to choose what kind of life we want to live with the freedom we have, and it is up to us what we make of our lives.