humor through one's faux pas

"I crave your indulgence: my nose itcheth cruelly. What is the custom and usage in this emergence? Prithee speed, for 'tis but a little time that I can bear it” (38).

This is a quote by Tom at his first royal dinner. This was when Tom didn’t know if there was a proper thing to do when his nose became itchy, whether a servant scratches his nose for him or if he could scratch it himself. Before someone could answer him, he couldn’t wait any longer and scratched it himself. Right afterwards he greatly apologized for scratching his nose. I thought this whole chapter was quite comical especially this nose bit. The humor came through Tom’s lack knowledge of good manners due to the whole switching identities with Edward bit. Their different upbringings was much displayed in this chapter. I could understand as to why Tom ate with his hands, didn’t know what to do with his napkin and what turnips and lettuce were but it became quite over the top once Tom stashed nuts into his pockets and this itchy nose bit which made the whole scene amusing. Twain did a great job at creating humor from the simple plot of identity swapping through Tom and Edward’s unawareness of how things are done in each of the other's lives.

Also, I find it clever in Twain’s writing on how he connected this simple nut cracking bit to the end of the book when trying to find the seal. It was a clever twist for me for I kind of forgot about Tom using the seal to crack the nuts.