Pudd'nhead Wilson Analysis

Missouri Side of Mississippi River, town of Dawson's LandingIf you're a fan of Twain's Tom Sawyer or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, you'll find yourself right at home in the setting of Pu...

Buckle up because we're going to be bouncing around a lot in Pudd'nhead Wilson. That is, the third person omniscient point of view of this novel means that we get to move in and out of the consciou...

Historical Fiction The nineteenth century might seem like one big blur to us smartphone-carrying, twenty-first-century readers. But it's super important to recognize that Pudd'nhead Wilson is a nov...

Don't get us wrong: it's not that all (or even most) of the situations in Pudd'nhead Wilson are amusing. In fact, some are downright horrifying. The prospect of being forever separated from a loved...

Oral (or speech-like): Yakety-Yak Style is supposed to be about the way a book is written. So where do we get off describing the style of this novel as oral? Hang with us for a minute and we'll exp...

Guess what? Never mind—you probably won't guess because it's pretty unbelievable: this novel was originally titled The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson. As readers have long pointed out, that title n...

We sure can't accuse Twain of leaving us hanging at the end of this novel. The Southern gentleman courteously includes an entire "Conclusion" devoted to filling us in how everything turned out for...

Reading a novel by Mark Twain isn't all laughs; we've also got some work to do. Now, following the story of Pudd'nhead Wilson itself shouldn't give you too much trouble. But the one thing that may...

Sticks and Stones. . .and a Name that Breaks A Reputation Our chatty narrator shows us around the town of Dawson's Landing and gets us acquainted with some of its quirkier residents like David "Pu...

Pudd'nhead Wilson's reputation in Dawson's Landing is shot after he makes a remark that the town folk have deemed idiotic. As a result, the dude can't get his law career off the ground. Pudd'nhea...

We meet some of the folks who inhabit Dawson's Landing, including the stars of our show: Pudd'nhead Wilson, Roxy, and Tom. Then Roxy takes our breath away with the stunt she pulls in making the sw...

Change of plans: when Mark Twain set out to write Pudd'nhead Wilson, he thought that the twins, Luigi and Angelo, would be the stars of the novel. (Source.)Middle school was apparently something Tw...

There's a lot of action going on in this novel, but it's sure not of the steamy variety. Surviving slavery, raiding the town, fighting in duels, and solving crimes doesn't leave the characters of P...

David and Goliath (3.8)-Biblical figures; in a battle between the Philistines and Israelites, the giant Goliath was slayed by the young man DavidSir Kay (4.8)-King Arthur's foster brother and one o...