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

Introduction

Introduction Until very recently Mark Twain’s portraits of female characters have been dismissed as stereotypical. Critics have generally faulted him for neglecting to create authentic portraits of young women, and in their place presenting colorful portraits of widows and elderly spinsters such as MissWatson and the widow Douglas from Huckleberry Finn. Similarly, the girls Twain portrayed have been characterized as innocent, pure, and narrowly limited in experience, even for his day. This collection of girl and young women stories should help remap the female presence in Twain’s literary landscape. In fact, the dominant characteristics of the female protagonists in these stories couldn’t be further afield from those exemplars of Victorian middle-class girlhood: Becky Thatcher in Tom Sawyer and Mary Jane Wilks in Huckleberry Finn. Although Twain’s interest in stories about girls and young women spans his writing career, it intensified between the years 1895 and 1908. He experimented boldly with a wide range of unconventional, even socially unacceptable female personalities, and he placed his girl characters in challenging plots that required unexpected skills and daring actions. UnlikethehelplessBeckyThatcherandthenaiveMaryJaneWilks , Twain’s ‘‘new girls’’ fend capably for themselves. Not only do they respond effectively to the challenges before them, their male counterparts appear indecisive or incapable of effective action. These stories give readers an opportunity to witness the evolution of his female characters over four decades. Even if Mark Twain had planned to write a collection of stories featuring young female protagonists, it is doubtful he would have presented a wider variety of plots, settings, and xi Tseng 2001.6.11 17:19 6351 Twain / HOW NANCY JACKSON MARRIED / sheet 11 of 271 Introduction characters than these possess. His girl and young women protagonists come from the widest possible social backgrounds; theirages range from three to about twenty; some live at home andothersarewithoutparentsorlivingindependently.Among their common characteristics are that none are married, they are intelligent and independent, and most possess bold, assertive personalities. Taken as a whole, these young women are not waiting at home, polishing theirdomestic arts and hoping for a marriage proposal. Instead, they are off riding stallions and fighting battles, resisting traditional female roles and battling , each in her own way, for a new order of women’s freedoms and rights. Mark Twain’s evolving feminine aesthetic came from the daily influence of his wife, Olivia, from his three daughters, and from the contributions of a wider circle of women, some of whom gave valuable literary advice or were involved in the revolution for women’s rights. Thanks in large part to his wife’s influence, he became a supporter of the progressive causes of his day. Clemens and all of Victorian society were exposed to and challenged bya succession of issues centering on women’s rights: suffrage, higher education, professional careers , changing gender roles and definitions, changing sexual habits, and the accepted concepts of marriage and family life. Toward the end of the century, as more and more women attended college or received professional training, entered the job market, and lived independent lives, gender roles were being redefined (whether wished for or not), and the change affected men as well as women. Male reaction to the ‘‘New Woman’’ movement came in a variety of forms and responses. For the most part, in Britain and America a counterattack of manliness appeared in reaction to the rise of women and a perceived softening of men. New scrutiny was given to the education of boys, the publiclyaccepted images of men, the training of military troops, and the belligerence of foreign policy. Samuel Clemens was a product of his times, eventually becoming a divided character: partly embracing the views and aspirations of the New Woman, partly resisting such radical changes. Various biographers have surmised that in his perxii Tseng 2001.6.11 17:19 6351 Twain / HOW NANCY JACKSON MARRIED / sheet 12 of 271 Introduction sonal interactions with adult women, Clemens admired a certain quality of innocence and girlish youthfulness, and he disliked and tended to keep his distance from powerful, highly successful women such as Mary Baker Eddy (Complete Works, 24:33). During his early adult years Clemens could not imagine a professional life for women, an attitude he shared with the majority of middle- and upper-class men. Yet Clemens also pointed out on many occasions that since women were morally superior to men...