Sharon-- I generally agree with your reading of Twain's persona in "A True Story," but as you point out, he's Aunt Rachel refers to him as "Misto C"--the only instance that I'm aware of in which his Clemens' identity is ever alluded to in print. So while he depicts himself as woefully unaware of what it means to be black, and foolishly assumes that Aunt Rachel is the stereotype of jolly negro that whites wanted to believe in, her identifying him by his true initial is a moment when the mask of pseudonymity drops. Larry Howe