Chambers,

I think it's finally time that I'd have my say in dis here situation. It seems like evr'body else has been makin' decisions for me 'bout my life, not takin the time to ask me 'bout what I think or what I want. So since you ain't gots the time to ask me, i'm just gonna tell you how I'd really feel and what I'se really be thinkin of you.



Chambers, you'se the meanest, spoilest, most namsy-pamsy thing i'se ever seen walkin' this earth. Now that i'se white, I gots the right to make yo life as miserable as yo behind made mine. I can make you fight my battles, clean my house, call me "marse" just like you made me. Fo' years you'se been treatin' me like I is less than de dirt 'neath yo feet. But now you is gonna find out what it feels like to be animal, not a breathin', thinkin' man.

But i ain't cuz i ain't got it in me to do you so rotten as you'se done me. I cain't stay mad at you no mo' for life as a slave ain't easy. I should know nows dat I'se a white man, but I still cain't figures what dat means. I don't 'long nowheres anymo'. I ain't black, but i don't feels white either. What am I then? My whole life i'se been thinkin' that i'se gots negro blood runnin through my veins, thinkin that's the on'y reason why my life has been so hard. But now, i comes to learn that you'se the slave i shoulda been the marster. I don't hardly knows what to think no mo'. Roxy not my mammy, you'se not white, my blood ain't black, me is Marse Tom. I just feels plain confused now. Somedays, i wisht that i was a slave agin 'cuz at 'least then i knew where i'se 'spose to be. I don't feel right no places i go, is like people can still see the slave in me. But i cain't be a slave, i gots to be a freed man now. Gots to find my place out there in the world.

Chambers, de good Lord hisself couldn't've come up with a better way to give ya what you'se deserve. You bein sold down river, so you gots a tough life 'head of ya. I ain't gonna hold no ill will towards ya anymo'. I wish ya luck, but i hopes you learn a lesson, cuz you need to.

Tom

Questions:

1) At the end of the novel, it seems as if everybody has returned to their rightful place, yet no one is happy, What is Twain trying to say about mistaken identity and the importance of race by having his ending be so depressing?

2) Throughout the story, Roxy and her son are described as looking completely white, suggesting they could easily pass as white (since they are mostly white) yet they were slaves because of their small amount of negro blood. their most distinguish feature is their speech and their appearance. What then matters most in race and passing, appearance, speech or blood?