Human beings possess an innate need to simplify and categorize the complexities of human identity. For the purposes of this article, fingerprinting, DNA typing, and genetic mapping are modern manifestations of the idea that identity is found on the skin and in the blood. These methods of determining one's character, propensities, and abilities based on physical indicators are based on the concept that identity can be read in the body. While the social implications of locating racial identity in the body are clear if not obvious, the social implications of centering identity in the body are not so obvious when it comes to the topic of sexual orientation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Mark Twain's novel Pudd'nhead Wilson and outside sources show that locating identity in the body transforms society into a hierarchy of dominant groups and oppressed groups. Therefore, by locating identity in the body and using the evidence of scientific data to confirm this identity, dominant groups within society maintain their control. This article will examine the social construction of race and the use of science in locating identity in the body during the antebellum South through the lens of Pudd'nhead Wilson's dominant and oppressive groups. In comparison, the social implications of sexuality and the use of science to locate this identity in the body throughout the 20th century will also be examined. This statement will be shown to be true both for societies in which race was the central issue and for modern societies that see gay marriage as the civil rights struggle of the decade. Numerous scholars have discussed Twain's satire on the economic and legal institution of slavery and servitude. if Twain supports the idea that identity is found in the body (Gillman and Robinson 137). Unfortunately, the criticism barely surpasses the satirical nature. Scholars fail to critique the idea that identity is located in the body and the role that science plays in supporting this idea. For example, Roxy's interaction with "Tom" highlights society's adherence to the fact that identity is located in the body. Roxy, "Tom's" mother, is only one-sixteenth black, meaning her son is only one part in thirty-two black. When Roxy is alerted to her son's cowardly refusal to duel Luigi Capello, she correlates this cowardly part of his identity to his black lineage, commenting "that little part is your soul" and that it is enough to "paint his soul". ” (Twain 88-89). "Tom's" behavior is limited to his black race, and any discussion of whether his behavior is a result of his upbringing is omitted. This is a clear example of how identity was located in the body during the antebellum South. Furthermore, this example indicates that scientific knowledge and methods maintained the stratification of society. The categorization of individuals during the antebellum South is based on identity in the body, not just the skin. The characters in the novel are aware of the fact that skin can betray one's identity. To combat this limitation in locating identity in the skin, knowledge of genetics is used. In a society based on visual identity, individuals like Roxy and "Tom" would not be detected. Not only is identity in the body, but racial identity, as depicted in Pudd'nhead Wilson, is found in the blood. Skin color only helps maintain the separation of races. But the separation of people based on genetics, or their racial proportions, guarantees that inferior races – e.gthe lower traits they carry with them – do not penetrate the higher realms of society. Scientific knowledge of genetics empowers dominant groups and oppresses marginalized groups. Second, the closing scenes of Crazy Wilson, when "Tom" is revealed to be the killer through the collection of Wilson's fingerprints, illustrate the power of science in affirming the stratification of an identity-based society in the body . As previously noted with Roxy, it is not only the novel's actions that reveal an adherence to the idea that identity, and subsequently character, are properties of the body, but the words of the characters also reveal this truth. Notably, as Wilson makes his statement to the court, he presents the general essence of fingerprinting. He states that they are “physical signs that do not change their character” (Twain 136). The use of the word character is immediately striking and stands out in the surrounding debates. This word seems to suggest that character – which is based on identity in the body, on race – can be read and sorted through the use of a scientific method: the fingerprint. If taken alone, this singular word does not suggest that dominant groups use the location of identity in the body and in science to maintain their position in society. But the comments don't stop there. Pembroke Howard's comments and the story's crucial ending strengthen the case. Furthermore, Pembroke Howard, in presenting his case against Luigi and Angelo Capello, states that the crime was committed by “the blackest heart and the cowardest hands” ( Due 126). Howard's statement refers to Roxy's comments about "Tom" earlier in the novel. Defends the idea that identity was located in the body during the antebellum South, and then dominant groups used this idea to separate and classify races, whether on the presence of darker skin or on the presence of a notion of genetically inherited racial characteristics . “The Blackest of Hearts” suggests that race doesn't stop at skin color. Skin can be deceiving and is not an affective method of characterization, classification or separation as in the case of "Tom". Genetic knowledge is necessary to ensure separation. Secondly, Pembroke Howard states that the hands that committed the crime are the “most cowardly hands”. This description grounds the notion of personality and character in one part of the body, the hands, explicitly confirming the notion that identity is found in the body. Finally, fingerprint science is used to discover and reveal the cowardly hands that belong to "Tom", the slave who went undiscovered in white society. Here, science is used to classify people and restore order in society, maintaining the dominance that whites had over society during the antebellum South. This ordering of society and domination over society is exemplified at the end of the novel when "Tom" is sold down the river despite his mother's best attempts to pass him off as white, and "Chambers" is unsuccessfully integrated into society due to his behavior. Black Mannerisms (Twain 144). In essence, the idea that identity is located in the body and blood was a large portion of ideology during the antebellum South. Several characters in Pudd'nhead Wilson such as Roxy, Wilson, and Pembroke Howard verbalize that this ideology has led to the classification of people into a dominant group and a submissive group. Therefore, dominant groups have used knowledge of genetics and the science of fingerprinting to maintain control of society and ensure separation. As stated, the consequences of linking identity in the body with racial characteristics and behaviors are clear. However, theimplications of linking identity in the body with human sexuality – the current civil rights issue of the moment – ​​are not so obvious. By locating identity in the body, dominant groups in society have once again used science to substantiate the idea that an individual's biology, and therefore key aspects of their character, can be read, resulting in the separation of society into dominant and marginalized groups. During the Stonewall riots of the 1960s and even before, the dispute over homosexuality has been a question of nature versus nurture ever since. While black Africans and black Americans in the antebellum South were seen as chattel, deviant sexualities were seen as anomalies as these sexualities crossed racial lines. Similar to dominant groups during the antebellum South, the dominant heteronormative culture of the mid-20th century also used science to justify the classification of individuals and the separation of homosexuals from mainstream society. For example, the term “sexual deviant” – which at the time referred to individuals with homosexual tendencies – was a diagnosable disorder contained in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association until 1973 (Haggerty 680-681) . . Homosexuality was seen and confirmed by scientific institutions as the product of arrested development, an arrest that could be treated and cured. Therefore, the mechanisms and methods by which the white dominant society justified the oppression of blacks are similar to the way gays and lesbians were oppressed by the dominant heteronormative society. Homosexuals were separated from society and seen as anomalies of normal heterosexual behavior. The following statement published in the Gay Histories and Culture Encyclopedia best illustrates the social implications of locating identity in the body: "the pervert has been religiously condemned, legally punished, and medically diagnosed, all of which serve as mechanisms for social control and regulation of individual behavior. Therefore, by labeling deviance… non-conforming individual behaviors and beliefs can be limited, discouraged, eliminated and punished” (Haggerty 680). science to justify locating identity in the body to portray homosexuality as a deviance of heterosexuality and oppress the homosexual population. Furthermore, since Dean Hamer's article “A Link Between DNA Markers on the X Chromosome and male sexual orientation” was published in the journal Science in 1993, scientists waited for the discovery of the “gay gene,” the supposed gene that determines a person's sexuality. . In short, his article believed that homosexuality was not a choice, but was as biologically determined as eye or hair color (Hamer 1993). However, the gay community, all too aware of society's constant and ongoing attack on the gay community, realized the far-reaching implications of the discovery of such a gene and the classification of individuals into sex categories based on DNA typing and on genetic mapping. Others fear that the discovery of a gay gene could be used as a tool of oppression by “a repressive and eugenics-inclined majority” (Assault on Gay America). Overall, mid-20th century society used science, albeit unverified and unproven, in the form of genetic and psychological diagnoses and treatments to maintain hegemonic control over society, thus justifying the oppression of the gay community. identity located in the body is used to separate groups.