Switching Places Mark Twains The Prince and the Pauper

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Switching Places Mark Twains The Prince and the Pauper

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain was a fun book to read, but it didn’t

match the normal profile of a Mark Twain novel. Everything that I have read by him was

set in the Mississippi River Valley before the Civil War. The Prince and the Pauper was set in sixteenth century England.

The story revolves around a Prince and a Pauper if you can imagine that. Both

Prince Edward Tudor and Tom Canty were born on the same day. Edward was welcome

by the whole country as an heir to the throne, but Tom’s family didn’t want him because

they were too poor as it was. The book mentions this and then keeps to the boys teenage

years.

Tom grew up in Offal Court. He had a very tough life. His dad made him go out on

the streets and beg all day and if he didn’t get enough money his father and grandmother

would beat him . If he thought he raised enough money for a day, he would go to Father

Andrew’s church and learn to read and speak Latin.

Tom’s biggest wish was to see a real prince dressed like royalty. He got this wish

one day when he was walking by the king’s palace and saw a boy his own age. He got

closer to the fence and a guard grabbed him and pushed him away. The prince saw all of

this and told the guard to let Tom in the palace. Prince Edward fed Tom and the started

talking about each other’s lives and switched clothes. Then, Edward noticed the bruise on Tom’s hand and went to punish the guard. Dressed in Tom’s old clothes, the prince was thrown out of the palace by the guard. Tom was suddenly Edward, Prince of Wales and

Edward, Tom Canty of Offal Court. Tom was not refined enough to be a prince. While at

state dinners, he had no clue what to do and just began to stress out King Henry.

Tom’s father found Edward and took him home and beat him because he hadn’t collected enough money from begging. He kept proclaiming that he was the Prince of Wales, but no one believed him. That night, Tom’s father found out he was wanted for murder and began to run.

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