This study examines the psychogenesis of father-son conflict in Mark Twain’s fiction and traces the distinctive patterns of action by means of which it is portrayed in The prince and the pauper.
In this novel the father appears in complementary vers...
This study examines the psychogenesis of father-son conflict in Mark Twain’s fiction and traces the distinctive patterns of action by means of which it is portrayed in The prince and the pauper.
In this novel the father appears in complementary versions, one brutal, the other benevolent; the son is likewise split into two characters, a passive figure and an aggressive, ambitious one. This splitting of representations affords the author a measure of freedom from guilt as he imagines his sonheroes confronting and triumphing over the father-figure.