illustration of the prince and the pauper standing back to back with a castle on the prince's side and a low building on the pauper's

The Prince and the Pauper

by Mark Twain

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Can you help me create a background/lead for my thesis on "nature of man" in Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper and explain what a topic sentence is?

Thesis: It is man's nature to struggle for freedom as it is evident in the Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain through Tom and Edward's [psychological struggle, physical struggle and spiritual struggle]

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Central to the theme of Mark Twain's social satire, The Prince and the Pauper, is the boys' struggles--what the boys do with their chances.  In the streets of London, Tom has dreamt of having royal power and he is given his chance when the Prince of Wales offers to trade places with him so he can have the chance to meet his subjects.

The famous director, Elie Kazan, once stated that no one truly becomes anyone of worth without a struggle, for it is in the struggle that one's character is formed.  Perhaps, then, the writing of this paper could be directed at how the psychological, physical/social, and spiritual struggles develop the two characters, who, of course, later prove to not be so dissimilar as appearances first make them.

Let your thesis contain three points that express an opinion about Twain's work.  Each topic sentence will be formed from one of the three points in the thesis.  (In general, a topic sentence expresses an opinion by the writer, as well as his/her attitude about this general statement.)  See the site below on paragraph writing.

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