Mark Twain’s Quest for American Nationalist Identity in The Prince and the Pauper

Abstract

This study on Mark Twains’ The Prince and the Pauper looks at how the author is concerned about securing American identity and consciousness. The novel which is based upon the author’s experience and roots in Europe and now ingrained in American consciousness has molded our perception of the nineteenth-century American identity. In this book, Mark Twain explores the American issue of identity in European disguise. As he presents the “prince” and the “pauper” in the observe roles in the court of King Arthur, Twain reveals the issue of separating the true from the false identity. His unconscious preoccupation with elusive identity in the aftermath of American independence not only recurs in this work but haunts his life as well. Thus, by presenting the “prince” and the “pauper” in the obverse roles, Mark Twain emphasizes on separating the truth from falsity, which shows his search for recovering the lost American history and true identity