How Nancy Jackson Married Kate Wilson and Other Tales of Rebellious Girls and Daring Young Women

Mark Twain, Rebellious Girls, and Daring Young Women

Mark Twain, Rebellious Girls, and Daring Young Women Fondly recalling his daughters’ teenage years, Samuel Clemens between 1895 and 1910 made friendships with adolescent girls,his‘‘Angel-Fish,’’andcreatedahostofyoungfemaleprotagonists in his fiction. Some connections between the AngelFish ,Twain’sstoriesofgirlsandyoungwomen,andClemens’s daughters are direct and well-documented. For example, in his autobiographical dictations Clemens declared that several Angel-Fish reminded him of his daughter Susy, particularly Carlotta Welles and the young writer and Angel-Fish Dorothy Quick. He also commented that he had fashioned Cathy Alison, the protagonist of A Horse’sTale, as a posthumous tribute to Susy. He began writing The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc at Susy’s bidding, read passages of the manuscript-inprogress for hereditorial suggestions, and viewed the finished novel as a tribute to her brief but exceptional life. Clemens’s richest memories of his daughters’ childhood focus on Susy, with her ‘‘intense’’ personality and her precocious talents, rather than on Clara or Jean. This is understandable, given Susy’s early promise as a writer and her tragic death. Susy’s younger sister, Clara, may also have influenced the shape and direction of the girl and young woman stories. More strongwilled than Susy, she became interested in men at the age of sixteen, then aspired to independence and a career—desires which vexed her father for the next twenty years. Assertive and rebellious female characters like Joan of Arc and Cathy Alison appear to have been inspired not only by Susy but also incorporated aspects of Clara’s personality and relationship with her father. 229 Tseng 2001.6.11 17:19 6351 Twain / HOW NANCY JACKSON MARRIED / sheet 245 of 271 Mark Twain, Rebellious Girls, and Daring Young Women Clemens had not been prepared for the maturation of his daughters,astheybecameinterestedinyoungmenandineducation and training outside their happy but protective family environs. He was perhaps least ready to be no longer at the center of their worlds. He resisted Susy’s and then Clara’s desires to leave home for further education and, in keeping with his stalwart perpetuation of the Victorian code, forbade them to go out unchaperoned orappearconspicuously in public. Exceeding even the rigid expectations of his society regarding the proper protection of young women, Clemens insisted that Clara travel with and be accompanied at all times by a suitable chaperone until she married. Clara eventually married at the age of thirty-five. The battle for freedom and independence was waged more vigorously by Clara than by Susy, reflecting Clara’s stronger health and more rebellious nature. In 1890, at the age of sixteen , Clara received reluctant family permission to enroll in the Willard School in Berlin for music training. (The family was living in Italy at the time.) Clara wrote home excitedly about the many social events she was attending and casually mentioned that she had been the sole female at a banquet held by forty young German officers. Although the event was entirely innocent, she assured her parents, Clemens’s lengthy reply was witheringly vindictive, registering his concern about his own reputation as much as hers. It began: ‘‘If you would not have yourself and us talked about, there is but one course for you—to make yourself acquainted at the earliest moment, with the nicest shades of what is allowable by German custom and keep strictly within the boundaries of it for the future. We want you to be a lady—a lady beyond reproach’’ (Harnsberger , 140–41). Both parents expressed their fears that she had injured her reputation. On another occasion Clemens locked Clara in her hotel room as punishment for exchanging glances with a young man. Even as late as 1904, when Clara was thirty years old, this protectiveness continued. Once while Clemens and Clara were having tea in a Florence tearoom, he noticed a table of Italian officers looking at his daughter with amorous interest, 230 Tseng 2001.6.11 17:19 6351 Twain / HOW NANCY JACKSON MARRIED / sheet 246 of 271 Mark Twain, Rebellious Girls, and Daring Young Women obviously attracted to Clara’s dark beauty. Enraged, Clemens hastily returned to their rented villa and cut the artificial fruit away from the rim of Clara’s hat, declaring it coquettishly provocative . Threats of further punishment did not constrain ‘‘Blackie’’ —as her family called Clara—for long. As the fair-haired Susy was effectively confined to home due to...