The Prince and the Pauper

by

Mark Twain

John Canty’s wife. Tom’s mother is one of the only truly kind and gentle people in his life aside from his sisters, Bet and Nan. Tom’s mother hides her own food away to give to Tom on the nights when John sends him to bed without any dinner, although John typically beats her for doing it. When Edward Tudor is mistaken for Tom and barred from getting into his own palace, he goes looking for Tom’s house. John finds him and brings him to the family’s hovel. As soon as Edward tries to tell his story, Tom’s mother (who thinks Edward is Tom because they are identical and they have switched clothes) fears that her son has gone mad and she tries to protect him from John’s beating. That night, Tom’s mother is tortured by the thought that the boy isn’t actually her son, that his story was true, so she decides to test it by startling him because Tom’s first instinct when he’s scared is to put his hand up in front of his eyes with his palm facing outward. When she startles Edward, he doesn’t make the same movement, and Tom’s mother fears that the story was true. Still, she tries to convince herself that her son is just mad because it’s easier to believe. The next day, the family is forced to flee when it’s revealed that John inadvertently killed Father Andrew. Tom’s mother and sisters get separated from the rest and never show up at the spot at which the family was supposed to meet. Later, during the coronation parade, Tom’s mother stands in the audience to see the new king and is shocked to see her own son being carried through the street. She runs up to him but she is taken away by the guards while Tom denies knowing her. When Edward returns and reclaims his throne after Tom helps him prove his identity, Tom goes back to his mother to share the benefits of his new position as King’s Ward with her.

Tom’s Mother Quotes in The Prince and the Pauper

The The Prince and the Pauper quotes below are all either spoken by Tom’s Mother or refer to Tom’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Appearances vs. Reality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

All Offal Court was just such another hive as Canty’s house. Drunkenness, riot and brawling were the order, there, every night and nearly all night long. Broken heads were as common as hunger in that place. Yet little Tom was not unhappy. He had a hard time of it, but did not know it. […] When he came home empty handed at night, he knew his father would curse him and thrash him first, and that when he was done the awful grandmother would do it all over again and improve on it; and that away in the night his starving mother would slip to him stealthily with any miserable scrap or crust she had been able to save for him by going hungry herself, notwithstanding she was often caught in that sort of treason and soundly beaten for it by her husband.

Related Characters: Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, John Canty / John Hobbs, Tom’s Mother, Grammer Canty
Page Number: 6-7
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

“Now were he impostor and called himself prince, look you that would be natural; that would be reasonable. But lived ever an impostor yet, who, being called prince by the king, prince by the court, prince by all, denied his dignity and pleaded against his exaltation? No! By the soul of St. Swithin, no! This is the true prince, gone mad!

Related Characters: Earl of Hertford / Duke of Somerset (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, Tom’s Mother, King Henry VIII
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

“O my poor boy! thy foolish reading hath wrought its woful work at last, and ta’en thy wit away. Ah! why didst thou cleave to it when I so warned thee ‘gainst it? Thou’st broke thy mother’s heart!”

Related Characters: Tom’s Mother (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, John Canty / John Hobbs
Page Number: 55-56
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

To the rest of the world the name of Henry VIII brought a shiver, and suggested an ogre whose nostrils breathed destruction and whose hand dealt scourgings and death; but to this boy the name brought only sensations of pleasure, the figure it invoked wore a countenance that was all gentleness and affection. He called to mind a long succession of loving passages between his father and himself, and dwelt fondly upon them, his unstinted tears attesting how deep and real was the grief that possessed his heart.

Related Characters: Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, Miles Hendon, John Canty / John Hobbs, Tom’s Mother, King Henry VIII
Page Number: 122
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

Tom’s poor mother and sisters travelled the same road out of his mind. At first he pined for them, sorrowed for them, longed to see them, but later, the thought of their coming some day in their rags and dirt, and betraying him with their kisses, and pulling him down from his lofty place, and dragging him back to penury and degradation and the slums, made him shudder. At last they ceased to trouble his thoughts almost wholly. And he was content, even glad; for, whenever their mournful and accusing faces did rise before him now, they made him feel more despicable than the worms that crawl.

Related Characters: Tom Canty, John Canty / John Hobbs, Tom’s Mother, Bet Canty, Nan Canty
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 210
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31 Quotes

At this point, just as he was raising his hand to fling another rich largess, he caught sight of a pale, astounded face which was strained forward out of the second rank of the crowd, its intense eyes riveted upon him. A sickening consternation struck through him; he recognized his mother! […] In an instant more she had torn her way out of the press, and past the guards, and was at his side. She embraced his leg, she covered it with kisses, she cried, “O my child, my darling!” lifting toward him a face that was transfigured with joy and love. The same instant and officer of the King’s Guard snatched her away with a curse, and sent her reeling back whence she came with a vigorous impulse from his strong arm. The words “I do not know you, woman!” were falling from Tom Canty’s lips when this piteous thing occurred; but it smote him to the heart to see her treated so; and as she turned for a last glimpse of him, whilst the crowd was swallowing her from his sight, she seemed so wounded, so broken-hearted, that a shame fell upon him which consumed his pride to ashes, and withered his stolen royalty. His grandeurs were stricken valueless: they seemed to fall away from him like rotten rags.

Related Characters: Tom’s Mother (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, John Canty / John Hobbs, Father Andrew
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 216
Explanation and Analysis:
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Tom’s Mother Quotes in The Prince and the Pauper

The The Prince and the Pauper quotes below are all either spoken by Tom’s Mother or refer to Tom’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Appearances vs. Reality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

All Offal Court was just such another hive as Canty’s house. Drunkenness, riot and brawling were the order, there, every night and nearly all night long. Broken heads were as common as hunger in that place. Yet little Tom was not unhappy. He had a hard time of it, but did not know it. […] When he came home empty handed at night, he knew his father would curse him and thrash him first, and that when he was done the awful grandmother would do it all over again and improve on it; and that away in the night his starving mother would slip to him stealthily with any miserable scrap or crust she had been able to save for him by going hungry herself, notwithstanding she was often caught in that sort of treason and soundly beaten for it by her husband.

Related Characters: Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, John Canty / John Hobbs, Tom’s Mother, Grammer Canty
Page Number: 6-7
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

“Now were he impostor and called himself prince, look you that would be natural; that would be reasonable. But lived ever an impostor yet, who, being called prince by the king, prince by the court, prince by all, denied his dignity and pleaded against his exaltation? No! By the soul of St. Swithin, no! This is the true prince, gone mad!

Related Characters: Earl of Hertford / Duke of Somerset (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, Tom’s Mother, King Henry VIII
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

“O my poor boy! thy foolish reading hath wrought its woful work at last, and ta’en thy wit away. Ah! why didst thou cleave to it when I so warned thee ‘gainst it? Thou’st broke thy mother’s heart!”

Related Characters: Tom’s Mother (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, John Canty / John Hobbs
Page Number: 55-56
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

To the rest of the world the name of Henry VIII brought a shiver, and suggested an ogre whose nostrils breathed destruction and whose hand dealt scourgings and death; but to this boy the name brought only sensations of pleasure, the figure it invoked wore a countenance that was all gentleness and affection. He called to mind a long succession of loving passages between his father and himself, and dwelt fondly upon them, his unstinted tears attesting how deep and real was the grief that possessed his heart.

Related Characters: Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, Miles Hendon, John Canty / John Hobbs, Tom’s Mother, King Henry VIII
Page Number: 122
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

Tom’s poor mother and sisters travelled the same road out of his mind. At first he pined for them, sorrowed for them, longed to see them, but later, the thought of their coming some day in their rags and dirt, and betraying him with their kisses, and pulling him down from his lofty place, and dragging him back to penury and degradation and the slums, made him shudder. At last they ceased to trouble his thoughts almost wholly. And he was content, even glad; for, whenever their mournful and accusing faces did rise before him now, they made him feel more despicable than the worms that crawl.

Related Characters: Tom Canty, John Canty / John Hobbs, Tom’s Mother, Bet Canty, Nan Canty
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 210
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31 Quotes

At this point, just as he was raising his hand to fling another rich largess, he caught sight of a pale, astounded face which was strained forward out of the second rank of the crowd, its intense eyes riveted upon him. A sickening consternation struck through him; he recognized his mother! […] In an instant more she had torn her way out of the press, and past the guards, and was at his side. She embraced his leg, she covered it with kisses, she cried, “O my child, my darling!” lifting toward him a face that was transfigured with joy and love. The same instant and officer of the King’s Guard snatched her away with a curse, and sent her reeling back whence she came with a vigorous impulse from his strong arm. The words “I do not know you, woman!” were falling from Tom Canty’s lips when this piteous thing occurred; but it smote him to the heart to see her treated so; and as she turned for a last glimpse of him, whilst the crowd was swallowing her from his sight, she seemed so wounded, so broken-hearted, that a shame fell upon him which consumed his pride to ashes, and withered his stolen royalty. His grandeurs were stricken valueless: they seemed to fall away from him like rotten rags.

Related Characters: Tom’s Mother (speaker), Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales / King Edward VI, Tom Canty, John Canty / John Hobbs, Father Andrew
Related Symbols: Clothes
Page Number: 216
Explanation and Analysis: