How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"En you refuse' to fight a man dat kicked you, 'stid o' jumpin' at de chance! [. . .] Pah! It make me sick! It's de n***** in you, dat's what it is. Thirty-one parts o' you is white, en on'y one part n*****, en dat po' little one part is yo' soul. 'Tain't wuth savin'; 'taint wuth totin' out on a shovel en throwin' in de gutter." (14.38)
Whoa. Roxy's assumption that it's the "n*****" in Tom that's responsible for his cowardice suggests that prejudice against blacks in 19th-century U.S. was so powerful that even blacks themselves might come to believe they were inferior to whites.
Quote #5
"My great-great-great-gran'father en yo' great-great-great-gran'father was Ole Cap'n John Smith, de highest blood dat Ole Vinginny ever turned out, en his great-great-gran'mother or somers along back dah, was Pocahontas de Injun queen, en her husbun' was a n***** king outen Africa—en yit here you is, a-slinkin' outen a duel en disgracin' our whole line like a ornery low-down hound!" (14.40)
That's quite a pedigree, Roxy. Roxy's clearly appalled that Tom has disgraced her powerful and courageous line of ancestors. Why is this lineage so important to her?
Quote #6
"Why, you were right in range! Weren't you afraid?"
[Roxy] gave a sniff of scorn."Fraid! De Smith-Pocahontases ain't 'fraid o' nothing', let alone bullets." (14.57-59)
Roxy's obsession with her brave ancestors reminds us of the importance of family lineage to powerful white characters like Driscoll and Pembroke. What do you think Twain might be up to in making such a comparison among these characters?