The story of the prince and the pauper was something that we just know as a child, the same way we were taught Aesop’s fables and Helen Keller. It’s just part of the repertoire of children’s books printed out in Indonesia, all primary schoolchildren were expected to be aware of the story and its moral allegory. I was surprised when some years ago that Mark Twain wrote this story, not someone else from an earlier time. This perhaps show us how timeless the story is.
You know the story — the prince swapped his garments with a beggar boy so that he could frolic around in the mud with the other happy street children. He quickly finds that reality outside of the castle isn’t what he supposed it to be. On the other side of the coin, Tom Canty the pauper felt very much out of place in the palace, as he was deemed by all as mad. The prince, Edward, was constantly abused by his peers, his criminal “father” and the band of criminals that he got mixed up with. Luckily, Miles Hendon found the prince and saved him from an angry crowd and was resolute in adopting him and making something out of the prince, unaware the whole time that he was effectively the ruler of England.
The Prince and the Pauper is not merely children’s book, it is also historical fiction. Prince Edward eventually became King Edward VI, who succeeded his father, the infamous Henry VIII. Much of it is fictional though, but Twain does his best to capture what London was like at that point in time. It would be difficult to imagine what life was like then, as any false accusations borne out of obscure superstitions can lead you to the gallows or burned at the stake. Some of the victims of these accusations are based on historical records that Twain stumbled upon.
It is also a period of great class difference, as it is right now, as it was in the time of Twain’s writing. The prince had little understanding of the hardships the lower classes had to endure so he could stay in his throne. Frolicking around in the mud isn’t fun when mud is getting shoved onto your face, and you can’t order about just about anyone. Anybody who did had averse intentions, mostly. Tom Canty’s position as the prince is filled with unnecessary and absurd complexities, which he discovered as he was getting dressed, that every single piece of clothing must pass through a number of hands before he is dressed. He is also under surveillance by those in his service and the public, which gives him little privacy. Still, it is more difficult to descend in class than to ascend in class.
More of the story spotlights the Edward’s side than Tom Canty’s side. When Edward is in the spotlight, the book reads almost like an adventure story as he goes into one mishap to the next. And it is perhaps read as such. I wasn’t sure whether I liked this book in the beginning, but ended up liking it towards the end. The story of Miles Hendon and his homecoming is genuinely heartbreaking, Tom Canty’s interactions with the convicts about to be executed is heartwarming, and the end of the book tied the loose ends satisfactorily.
