KidLit Forum

The Prince and the Pauper was first published in 1881 in Canada, before its '82 publication in the United States. The action of this first historical fiction is set in 1547 and it tells the story of two young boys who look like twins, though they have nothing else in common but their birthday. Tom Canty, one of the boys, is a pauper who lives with his abusive father in Offal Court off Pudding Lane in London. The other one is Prince Edward himself, son of King Henry VIII. They are at opposite poles regarding wealth and social status. Tom is the poor boy dreaming to be a prince while Edward is the prince himself.
Tom's wish is so powerful, that Twain grounds him with the possibility of existing as a prince for a while but not without a cost... one should imagine that once become a prince everything turns pink, or once deprived of that, as in Edward's case, it's still a good and fair happening as he was too blessed and why would he be?...
Now, looking at the two boys' experience but, having also in mind the issue of the minority, my question is: should we consider Tom the exponent of the minority in this novel or rather Edward? The social status would incline the balance towards the pauper's boy. Regarding from a quantity point of view, Princes' are way outnumbered by the poor people. I, personally, am seeing this from the point of view of surviving skills: Tom has all the means to succeed: he is strong willed, smart, sly, hardened by the difficult life he had to live till this point in life and not to much conscience to bother him; Edward, on the other hand, is highly disadvantaged - the only thing that keeps him going on through all he had to endure was optimism. No other skill or knowledge could be helpful to him. when the switch happened, Edward was not at all ready to face the hardness of the world so he had to learn on the hard way about poverty, hostility, imprisonment, about the unfairness and superficiality of the law and the system of justice. He started as an innocent, clueless boy and ended up as a responsible ruler, aware of the shortcoming of the life and the law that affects the whole population of his kingdom... And once all this is learned and understood by the young man, the reward is coming: He manages to arrive to the crowning ceremony exactly on time, ready to rule, consciously and fair.