October 26, 2009

I found the last three pages or so some of the most interesting in Tufts. He says on  p. 364, "I have worn no masks, no disguises, but have appeared in my every day dress." This remark is particularly interesting after all of the various forms of dress we have seen him wear. He has gone through several sets of clothes, some stolen and some bought, and has escaped from jail naked and made clothes from women's undergarments and pew pillows. If this is the every day dress of Henry Tufts, who is Henry Tufts? He most reminds me of an actor or a jester. His clothes are often ridiculous and comical, and they represent the outlandishness of his life. Since the two essential elements of disguise are performance and costume, it is fitting that his clothes should demonstrate his characteristics. As a counterfeiter, Tufts skillfully uses clothes to become whoever he needs to be. Two of his most memorable costumes represent two of his recurring personalities. He steals a church pew and makes underwear, which I think strikingly reflects his continual subversion of religion through his imitations of prayer and preaching and his reverence for superstition and fortune. He also attempts to make clothes out of women's undergarments, which illustrates his sensuality. His use of material that would be very close to a woman's skin exhibits his own constant desire for women.

I think it is also significant that the clothing market was vastly changing at this time. Mills and factories were just emerging in the American northeast and making a huge difference in communities. Clothes used to be a scarce commodity; they were the result of hard labor, and that probably by a woman within the family. With the introduction of factories and mills, clothing became literally distanced from people, even though once worn that distance was diminished. Eventually clothes also became cheaper. Instead of having a few items, Americans now have closets jammed with clothes. Clothes still play a significant part in self-representation, but they are vastly more interchangeable than they were in Tufts time. It is much easier for us to deceive others (and ourselves) through a quick costume change than it would have been for Tufts and his fellow rogues.

Another remark of Tufts that really struck me on these last Tufts was when he quoted Romans 6:23, "the wages of sin is death." He stops this verse just before the all-important "but"; "but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." Instead of finishing the verse, Tufts shares his own harsh view of judgment and religion. He writes, "the wages of a vicious, dissolute life is punishment" (365). He has seen a lot of punishment, but as is typical of Tufts and other counterfeiters, he feels his punishment his curse and not the natural result of deviant behavior. Tufts chooses to quote law over gospel. The gospel would set him free from sin and give him a new life and a new chance. Instead, he wallows in his punishments. He traps himself in a pattern of stealing and counterfeiting instead of finding a new start. His choice of the old testament (the law) over the new is especially interesting in light of his position within a new republic. Shouldn't the citizens of a new nation have hope for new beginnings? Instead, Tufts seems to damn himself. He resigns himself to the "certain doom" rather than trying to truly reinvent himself into the persona he has not yet tried- an honest man.