Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Pudd'nhead Wilson/Mark Twain/139 pgs.

The concept of children being switched at birth is not uncommon in fiction, but in this case, it's a black slave's child switched with the white owner's son. Roxy, a light skinned slave, takes care of her son, Valet de Chambre (Chambers), and the master's son, Thomas a Beckett Driscoll (Tom). Both boys are easily mistaken for one another, so fearing that her son, Chambers, will be sold and taken from her, Roxy decides to switch the infants. Each lives the life to which he was NOT born--the privileged one becomes the slave, and the slave becomes the privileged one. There is a lot packed in such a small book: the reflection of slavery in the mid-19th century, prejudice, murder, and suspense. I highly recommend this book!

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