The Prince And The Pauper Mark Twain (1835-1910) Essay, Research Paper
In 1835, when Halley’s comet streaked
across the skies, Mark Twain was born in an obscure farm town. Sevebty
five years later, when the comet reappeared, Twain died, a famous author.
He is a well-loved American writer and the inventor of the mythical epitome
of American boyhood< Tom Sawyer.
While his more famous Adventures of Hucleberry
Finn was yet unfinished, Twain wrote The Prince and the Pauper. Here we
have two people living one another’s lives for a brief, instructive time.
The reader wants to believe it could happen because he would secretly like
to see the beggar boy rise in life, while the privileged princeling is
brought down to have his nose rubbed in reality.
In this tale, Twain shares with us his
outrage at the social injustice that exists in the 1500s, 1800s – and that
even now in one form or another. By presenting a case of mistaken identity,
Twain clearly and simply potrays these injustices. Such a situation seems
immpossible, but like Twain sais, “It may have happened, it may not have
happened; but it could have happened.”