Pudd'nhead Wilson
question
Significance of the Italian twins?
Devra
Aug 10, 2011 07:13PM
What do you think is the significance and role of the Italian twins in the story?
Good writers never include a superfluous detail. I don't think Twain would have added the Italian twins if they were not significant to the theme of the story. He could have made them brothers, cousins, friends, etc. But he made them twins. This is interesting when you consider that Tom and Chambers are a type of twins.
The comparisons go a little further. Luigi and Angelo were originally Siamese twins in Twain's first draft. The twins are joined together since birth. By contrast, Tom and Chambers are switched shortly after birth. Luigi saved Angelo from being killed by a thief. Similarly, "Chambers" saved "Tom" from drowning.
Twain seems to be drawing a connection between the Tom/Chambers pair and the Luigi/Angelo pair. They are like foils to each other. I see the parallels, but I can't seem to interpret them. I don't think I'm trying to read too much into the text; Twain is too masterful an author for such parallels to be insignificant.
What are your thoughts?
Good writers never include a superfluous detail. I don't think Twain would have added the Italian twins if they were not significant to the theme of the story. He could have made them brothers, cousins, friends, etc. But he made them twins. This is interesting when you consider that Tom and Chambers are a type of twins.
The comparisons go a little further. Luigi and Angelo were originally Siamese twins in Twain's first draft. The twins are joined together since birth. By contrast, Tom and Chambers are switched shortly after birth. Luigi saved Angelo from being killed by a thief. Similarly, "Chambers" saved "Tom" from drowning.
Twain seems to be drawing a connection between the Tom/Chambers pair and the Luigi/Angelo pair. They are like foils to each other. I see the parallels, but I can't seem to interpret them. I don't think I'm trying to read too much into the text; Twain is too masterful an author for such parallels to be insignificant.
What are your thoughts?
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I just saw them simply as outsiders to the cosmopolitan lifestyle of the town.
You are reading way too much into it. Twain doesn't really set up huge symbols and complex undertones in general. For example, Many people view the the river in Huck Finn as a symbol but Twain emphatically said it wasn't.
For this book, I recommend you read the epilogue written by Twain. He talks about how he started writing the book but then changed everything halfway through when he realized it wasn't working. It is a pretty enlightening insight into Twain's mind. As for the twins, Twain said that originally he had them as Siamese twins and that Puddinhead Wilson was actually just a minor character. Pretty interesting stuff.
For this book, I recommend you read the epilogue written by Twain. He talks about how he started writing the book but then changed everything halfway through when he realized it wasn't working. It is a pretty enlightening insight into Twain's mind. As for the twins, Twain said that originally he had them as Siamese twins and that Puddinhead Wilson was actually just a minor character. Pretty interesting stuff.
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