Why Is Tom Canty Important To The Pauper?

Tom Canty is a poor boy living in the slums of London. He lives with his violent father and grandmother, his mother, and two sisters, Nan and Bet. The family is a bunch of paupers, so they depend on others for survival by begging. Tom lives a rough life with very little food and no place to call home. Futhermore, his father, John Canty, is a thief and beats Tom for not begging enough. Tom can expect his father to “curse him and thrash him…” “when he came home empty-handed at night” (Twain 13). Because of his unfortunate situation, Tom has dreams of becoming a prince and living in royalty. The priest, Father Andrew, teaches him to read and write and inspires these desires. Tom uses these imaginations to escape reality and even begins acting

He is the son of King Henry VIII, and is used to having hundreds of servants to treat him with the utmost honor and reverence. The prince’s pride is apparent in his first encounter with the pauper; when the crowd is laughing at Tom, Edward declares, “How dar’st thou use the king my father’s meanest subject so!” (Twain 18). It may seem as if Edward is showing kindness towards Tom, but in reality, he is reprimanding the crowd for harassing his property. This emphasizes the prince’s prideful nature and the way he looks down on the poor. Edward’s ignorance is also an evident flaw in his character. When he finds out that the kingdom has mistaken Tom Canty for himself, he immediately chooses to believe that the pauper “had deliberately taken advantage of his stupendous opportunity and become a usurper” (Twain 61). Then he declares that he wants Tom to be sentenced to death in the most gruesome way possible. The prince shows no mercy and makes this assumption without enough details about the situation. Living such a privileged life with any desire at his command, Edward acts spoiled and selfish. When the King dies, he seems to be more excited to take possession of the throne rather than mournful over the death of his father. As he takes the place of Tom as a pauper, Edward maintains a strong sense of self. He continuously asserts his true identity as the prince, and his confidence never falters. However, he undergoes an important transformation during this time. Experiencing the life of a peasant and being treated poorly brings him back to the kingdom a changed boy. He realizes what Tom goes through and proclaims that “none shall lay a hand upon him to harm him” (Twain 199). This journey teaches Edward lessons to implement during his reign and gives him insight into the lives of the lower class. He gains a sense of perspective and the quality of