How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[Roxy] had an easy, independent carriage—when she was among her own caste—and a high and 'sassy' way, withal; but of course she was meek and humble enough where white people were. (2.13)
Roxy's way of altering her identity around white people sounds an awful lot like what twentieth-century black historian W.E.B. DuBois described as African Americans' sense of double consciousness, or the "sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others." [Source: W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk, New York: Gramercy Books, 1994 (1903, original publication date)]
Quote #2
Was [Roxy] bad? Was she worse than the general run of her race? No. They had an unfair show in the battle of life, and they held it no sin to take military advantage of the enemy—in a small way; in a small way, but not in a large one. (2.33)
Twain sure likes his metaphors tough and gritty. By using the words "battle" and "military advantage," the narrator employs the language of war to emphasize the hostility and threats of violence that are the hallmarks of a racially prejudiced society.
Quote #3
Tom did his humble comrade these various ill turns partly out of native viciousness, and partly because he hated [Chambers] for his superiorities of physique and pluck, and for his manifold clevernesses. (4.12)
Lots of readers have scratched their heads at this one. For all of the novel's emphasis on the role of upbringing on character, it's kind of weird that Tom's bad qualities are described as the result of native or natural viciousness. And the fact that he is the true black child has led some critics to wonder if the novel is confused when it comes to race.
Quote #4
Tom had long ago taught Roxy 'her place.' It had been many a day now since she had ventured a caress or a fondling epithet in his quarter. Such things, from a 'nigger,' were repulsive to him, and she had been warned to keep her distance and remember who she was. (4.21)
Thanks for giving us the perfect example of dramatic irony, Mr. Twain. Our knowledge that Tom shares Roxy's racial status makes his unabashed prejudice especially ridiculous.
Quote #5
Wilson said to himself, "The drop of black blood in [Roxy] is superstitious; she thinks there's some devilry, some witch business about my glass mystery somewhere; she used to come here with an old horseshoe in her hand; it could have been an accident, but I doubt it." (4.32)
Tsk, tsk. We expected more of you, Pudd'nhead. His assumption that Roxy's "drop of black blood" makes her superstitious suggests that even smart, enlightened people like Pudd'nhead can fall back on racial stereotypes to explain the quirky behavior of others.
Quote #6
Then [Tom] laid himself heavily down again, with a groan and the muttered words, "A n*****! I am a n*****! Oh, I wish I was dead!" (10.1)
Pretty intense. Why does Tom consider being black a fate worse than death?
Quote #7
[Tom] began to think. Sufficiently bitter thinkings they were. They wandered along something after this fashion:
"Why were n*****s and whites made? What crime did the uncreated first n***** commit that the curse of birth was decreed for him? And why is this awful difference made between white and black? [. . .] How hard the n*****'s fate seems, this morning!—yet until last night such a thought never entered my head." (10.3)
Tom's thinking so hard we can smell the smoke. Finding out that he is, in fact, black stirs up some profound thoughts and questions about the origins of racial prejudice. Funny how a change in social position can radically affect one's thoughts and perspective.
Quote #8
If [Tom] met a friend he found that the habit of a lifetime had in some mysterious way vanished—his arm hung limp, instead of involuntarily extending the hand for a shake. It was the 'n*****' in him asserting its humility, and he blushed and was abashed [. . .] (10.7)
The fact that his handshake is suddenly limp as spaghetti probably has a lot more to do with his awareness of others' expectations about how blacks should act rather than some innate or inherent tendency he has as a result of being born black.
Quote #9
[Chambers] could neither read nor write, and his speech was the basest dialect of the negro quarter. His gait, his attitudes, his gestures, his bearing, his laugh—all were vulgar and uncouth; his manners were the manners of a slave. Money and fine clothes could not mend these defects or cover them up; they only made them the more glaring and the more pathetic. (Conclusion.6)
Hmm, being born with white blood doesn't mean diddly squat for Chambers at the end of the novel. What does Chambers's situation suggest about racial identity?
Quote #10
[Chambers] could not endure the terrors of the white man's parlor, and felt at home and at peace nowhere but in the kitchen. The family pew was a misery to him, yet he could nevermore enter into the solacing refuge of the 'nigger gallery'—that was closed to him for good and all. (Conclusion.6)
Boy oh boy, Chambers really got a raw deal. Why is he excluded from both the white and black communities at the novel's end?