I Am a Product of Me
Even though the human being is significantly influenced by the genetic code he endowed, education might be seen a key factor in shaping one’s personality. It cannot be stated that education alone can guarantee the adherence of the individual to strict moral standards, bringing him up as a decent man for it depends on the quality of education as well as on the amount of efforts put in it.
In case the man struggled to receive the solid education seeing it as a primary objective and a life goal, he would display the respectful attitude towards it absorbing and reflecting over the very single piece of knowledge he gets.
On the other hand, as can be evident from Twain’s Pudd’nHead Wilson that even the best educational institution cannot make the villain a noble man. Every human being is a product of himself and it depends only on the individual whether he will derive all the benefits from being able to study like Douglass did or will resist the didactic effects of knowledge. Education shapes one personality, however, only when the person wants to be influenced by knowledge. If not, nature will win over education.The issue of determining factors of personality development is broadly described in the novel Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain (1894). The major storyline revolves around two protagonists:
Thomas à Becket Driscoll, the son of Percy Driscoll and a potential heir to a large estate of his father, and Valet de Chambre, the son of Roxana, a slave owned by Percy Driscoll. The boys were switched in the cradle, and the one who had no rights from birth, enjoys all the advantages of a full-fledged and honorable Dawson citizen, and the one who must belong to the top of the local elite, falls to the very bottom.Though Roxana succeeded in implementation of her intention and in saving her son from a cotton plantation, her son though being provided with all the benefits of the rich life, failed to develop his identity relevant to his social status. Having found out the secret of his origins, Tom instead of showing gratitude to her mother as any moral man would do sold her to the slave-trader at cotton plantation. Then, he killed a man who brought him up after the death of his "father" Percy Driscoll. Twain clearly demonstrates that the education and susceptible environment for personal; growth and identity cannot guarantee that the person will absorb only the positive features of the benefits he was so richly granted with.
Thus, Tom Driscoll could enjoy the perks of the rich life in the noble family from his very childhood. He had an opportunity to study in the Yale University, however, his natural inborn features forcing him to behave according to his real self, as outlined in Ahsan’s et al. article 'Nature Vs. Nurture In Mark Twain`s Novel Puddn 'Head Wilson: An Over View Of Community Environment' , his genetics, hinder Driscoll …
