Nature Versus Nurture

In the well-received novel “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” Mark Twain skillfully addresses the ancient argument about the origin of one’s character and whether it’s derived from his nature or his surroundings. We can best see this battle between nature versus nurture by inspecting the plot lines that follow the characters Thomas a Becket Driscoll, Valet de Chambre, and Roxana the slave. Thomas was born into a wealthy white family while Roxy birthed Chambers into a life of slavery. It seemed as though each would have gone their separate ways into opposite walks of life, but Roxy secretly swapped the children, which destined each to their counterintuitive fates. Through their words and actions, Tom, Chambers, and Roxy have proven the idea that one’s behaviors and desires are a result of his upbringings and the environment he lives in rather than by his innate nature.
In the first few chapters of the book, we can already see just how spoiled Tom becomes due to his indulgent lifestyle. While Chambers is being fed “mush and milk,” Tom is being spooned “delicacies” with no limits (Twain 17). This leads Tom to always getting what he wants and bullying those who don’t comply to his rules. Although I might have thought this pampered lifestyle would fashion Tom into a strong and credible young man, much like a prince grows into the leader of a kingdom, it ended up ruining him into a weak and almost sickly child, with a character to match. Because Tom was always being ushered his life on a silver platter without lifting a finger, he later develops into someone who is unable to look after himself and solve his own problems. Later on in the book, we can most clearly see the effect of Tom’s upbringing onto himself after Roxy admits to Tom his true herita...

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...chief, much like the white upper class did at the time. In fact, I feel that if it wasn’t for the arbitrary social ramifications of the time, Roxy’s black percentage would have been easily dismissed, and she’d be accepted as a white.
These instances of Tom, Chambers, and Roxy all confining to the ways in which they were raised while defying their true natures all point to the fact that it is, indeed, our environment that shapes us as a person both inside and out. Even though there were a few instances in which both Tom and Chambers could have forged new habits, the gravity of their pasts were too much to overcome. In light of this discovery, I, too, wonder just how much my upbringing has affected who I am today, and whether or not it could have been changed. It seems that Tom and Chamber’s character could have been reversed, if only Roxy didn’t switch the kids.