I couldn't understand a thing they were saying.

We all read Tom Sawyer when we were kids, and most of us had read Huckleberry Finn in high school English class. These are both great American classics, and deserve all the attention and various film versions they get. However, I believe that Pudd'nhead Wilson must be one of Mark Twain's most unsung masterpieces. This story, named for a bright, but eccentric young attorney, Tom Wilson, whose community thinks he is a "pudd'nhead," makes some very astute statements about the ironies of racism and slavery in the town of Dawson's Landing, Missouri in the years just before the Civil War. Part of the plot revolves around two baby boys, born at the same time, one white, and one part black, but so white that one would never know it. The mother of the black boy, who is herself only one-thirty-second black, doesn't want her son to grow up a slave, so she switches the babies, and what results is years of deception and farce. Twain weaves into his story the new-fangled idea of fingerprints that are unique to each individual, as well as some courtroom drama, which I always appreciate. The supreme irony of the story is saved for the end, and serves as a damning testimony to the absurdity of slavery as an institution and racist policy.

Pudd'nhead Wilson received his nickname because many townspeople considered him a fool. Although Pudd'nhead is not the protagonist, he plays an integral part to the story. I guess a subtitle could be, "How He Got His Name Back."

Mark Twain's tale involves a slave, 1/16th black, impregnated by the slave owner, Judge Driscoll. She gives birth to twins, now 1/32nd black, one to become the heir to the estate while the other to remain a slave. The mother switches the two at birth; therefore, the fate of the two are reversed. As the heir, Tom Driscoll grows to manhood, he engages in profligate living resulting in significant gambling debts. His outlook on life is worsened when his mother appears and reveals that Tom is actually black. Despondent, he disguising himself as a woman breaking into wealthy homes to address his gambling debts. However, matters only become worse.

Much of this book satirizes racism since the mother and twins essentially appear white. Another theme involves nature versus nurture or "clothes make the man."

One of the reasons that Pudd'nhead receives his nickname is that he has a hobby of collecting fingerprints, which plays an important part in the climax of the book. Since this book was published in 1893, it is worthy to note that fingerprinting as a forensic tool had only been introduced a year earlier by Inspector Eduardo Alvarez in Argentina and Mark Twain incorporated it into the plot of this book.

A lesser known book of Mark Twain I was glad I read.

The Show Trial
21 January 2013

tI had never heard of this story until I purchased a Samuel Clements (aka Mark Twain) book that contained it with two of the stories of his (Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer) that I wanted to read (and it also contained the Prince and the Pauper). In a way this story is very similar, but very different, to Prince and the Pauper. The similarities involve two boys that take each other's place, but that is pretty much where the similarities end. This story is set in the United States and the two boys are switched at birth, not by accident, but deliberately. Further, the story only focuses on one of the boys, since the switch involved a pure white baby and a baby that was 1/32 part Negro, but because of that really minor part that was Negro, he was still considered a Negro.

tThe character whom the title is named after, David Wilson, really takes a back seat for most of the story, and only comes to the fore in the last few chapters when he is finally given the chance to prove his worth. Basically Pudd'nhead is a lawyer that moves out to a small town south of St Louis and on his first day makes a stupid comment and is then cursed with the name Pudd'nhead, which basically means stupid. Pudd'nhead is more eccentric than stupid, and one of the things that makes him eccentric, his collection of fingerprints, is what ends up turning him around and making him a hero.

tSome have said that this story is a courtroom drama, but most of the comments that I have read about it have suggested that it is not. While there is a courtroom scene, it only makes up a small part of the story, though much of the story builds up to this scene. In a courtroom drama the murder is usually commented near the beginning, or even before the story begins. However the murder in this story does not occur until near the end, and while it is clear why the murder was committed (money and unpaid gambling debts) it is more like an anti-climax.

tThe thing that impressed me the most about this story though was that forensic fingerprinting played a very major role in an era before fingerprinting was actually accepted as evidence in court. However remember, this is a small town in rural America, and as such courtroom scenes become more like some sort of show (as is indicated in this book) than some really serious matter as one would expect in the city. Remember, everybody knows everybody else, including the judge, and it is basically the person that performs the best show that wins the trial.

tHowever, that is still very much the case today. Trials are less to do with actually finding the truth and more to do with who tells the more believable story, and who the judge prefers to believe. In my time in personal injury litigation there are always stories about soft judges and hard judges. This is basically determined by who likes plaintiffs and who hates plaintiffs, and even then, their word is never final. When somebody else ends up paying the court fees, the ability of plaintiffs to actually prosecute their case increases.

Twain's writing seems to always produce characters a reader either roots for or against. This short story falls in line with typical Twain characterization. The premise of the story is about two boys, one slave and one master's son, switched by the slave boy's mother to prevent her son from being sold "down the river." She's able to accomplish this by the fact that she is of mixed heritage and her son's father was a white man. Therefore, he looks white and easily doubles as the master's son's doppelganger. As the story progresses, one begins to really dislike the new "master's son" as he grows up to be a spoiled, petulant child with zero morale character and is also fairly spineless. The new "slave" is kept in the household and shows all the character traits of courage and humility. However, as they both age, the life of slavery reduces the young "slave" boy to an uneducated and cowed slave.

Most of the characters in the novel are rough sketches with the exception of the title character, Pudd'nhead, the new "master's boy," and his slave mother. Everyone else is given courtesy treatment when their characters are needed to fill in the plot. It is not to the detriment of the story. Twain's story is interesting and moves along rather rapidly. I will refrain from giving anything away -- there are some nice twists to the story -- but will say it was a decent read sprinkled with typical dry Twain wit.

The most interesting part of the book was Twain's epilogue to the story. He shares with the reader how the story developed and how it was actually a composition of two stories intertwined. Twain had difficulty in separating the two but it is educational to the aspiring writer to see how a master storyteller was able to extricate an interesting story from two original thought-lines. His explanation is also quite humorous as he explains how he at first decided to kill off a few characters by having each one fall into a well but decided that, after three or four, the reader may notice.

I'd recommend the book, it's a short story and easily completed within an hour or two.

An interesting commentary on prejudice. I found it particularly interesting that the prejudice most emphasized was that against the title character. I thought it interesting that the townspeople were able to recognize that they were wrong about David Wilson's intelligence, but unable to see (indeed, I am not sure that Twain's story really demonstrates) that the prejudice against an entire class of people is wrong.
Both Roxy's and "Tom's" attitudes toward their race seems to agree with those of the landowning class. Tom's behavior would seem to bolster those attitudes, as would Roxy's. While Twain was famous for arguing against prejudice of all kind, I am not sure that this story really acted as a supporting argument. Except, that is, to say that "looks can be deceiving." David Wilson seemed to be a "Pudd'nhead," but the ostensible Tom and Roxy really did not behave in any way that would cause the white landowners to realize that prejudice is wrong.
I think, perhaps, that I am confused on the implications made by this story. However, I did certainly enjoy it nevertheless.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens: I shall write a classic novel, full of my customary barbed wit yet leavened with my compassion for humanity. I shall open the tale with a delightfully wry meta-introduction - before "meta" was even a thing! The wryness shall continue throughout what will be an exciting story of bold misdeeds, uncertain justice, and a compelling and surely very surprising trial. We shall end the tale with evil happily circumvented - but it will be an ending that is also dripping with irony and pointed critique. An important fact: as a classic progressive, I have always been morally opposed to slavery and adamantly in favor of emancipation; likewise I firmly believe in enhancing the rights of former slaves and their descendants. This revolutionary perspective will be present in my tale - but it shall be a trifle muted, to allow for brisk sales.

Pudd'nhead Wilson: I am the moral center of this tale and I shall hold that title with much becoming humility. I shall charm the reader with my unusual observations, sly comments, humane nature, and my prescient knowledge and use of finger-printing - all of this despite the derision of my fellows. I am perhaps a stand-in for the estimable Mark Twain. More importantly, I am also what is known as an Underdog. Rally behind me!

The Italian Twins: We came from a discarded story, where we were once conjoined. But this tale has set us free! Pudd'nhead Wilson may be the hero of the piece, but our joie de vivre, pluck, style, and the utter fun we bring to this tale of dark deeds shall surely make us a favorite among certain lady readers - and certain reviewers like mark monday!

Valet de Chambre AKA Tom Driscoll: I am the villain of the piece - but I shall rally against such diminishing, unempathetic designations! I am only human, after all. I shall enrage the reader with my high-handed, bullying ways, my cunning and greedy nature, my cheeky aplomb, my devious misdeeds done in the dark of night. I am what is known as a changeling, a cuckoo's offspring, an interloper. I am an argument in favor of nurture over nature: it is the spoiling, too-generous nurture of my uncle and aunt that shall sour my nature and turn me into a braggart, gambler, and vindictive villain. Or is this truly the case? Even as a babe in arms, I am characterized by my monstrousness... surely this is not due to my blackness, if being 1/32 part black even constitutes "blackness"? Unfortunately, the author could have been rather more clear on where my innately bad nature sprung from. That lack of clarity certainly muddies the water a bit.

Roxie: "I's sorry for you, honey; I's sorry, God knows I is, - but what kin I do, what could I do? Yo' pappy would sell him to somebody, some time, en den he'd go down de river, sho', en I couldn't, couldn't, couldn't stan' it... 'Tain't no sin - white folks has done it! It ain't no sin, glory to goodness it ain't no sin! Dey's done it - yes, en dey was de biggest quality in de whole bilin', too - kings!"

mark monday: I thought this was an admirable tale in many ways, well-written and enjoyable, with a leisurely but exciting narrative. However - despite its good, progressive intentions - the cloudiness at the story's center, its confusion around "nature vs. nurture", made me increasingly uncomfortable. And reading Roxie's dialogue and monologues - despite being true to place and time - was completely excruciating, at least to these modern eyes.



5 of 16 in Sixteen Short Novels

Ten stars. This book is black comedy, social satire, courtroom drama, detective mystery, and a whip smart masterpiece. Essential American reading.

Mark Twain is one of my favorite authors. This is why I read the book. David "Pudd’nhead" Wilson, a lawyer who collects fingerprints as a hobby, makes a regrettable remark that causes people to call him Pudd'nhead. He later meets a slave woman by the name of Roxy and takes both her child and her master’s child’s fingerprints. Time moves on and Roxy decides to switch her son with her master’s to shield him from becoming a slave. It is funny. Her master could not even recognize his own son. Will Wilson someday discover the truth? Later, two foreigners are accused of committing a crime. Did they really or are they innocent? Wilson must decipher precisely who the murderer is. Will he gain back his respect in the process?

Pudd'nhead Wilson (David Wilson) thinks very differently from the rest of the townspeople. His sense of humor is not to their standards. Maybe this is why he lost respect from a remark that he made. His loss of respect causes his law practice to go nowhere. He is Judge Driscoll’s closest friend. Roxana (Roxy) is a slave woman and is only one-sixteenth black. She looks white and is an extremely beautiful woman. She strong, intelligent, and cares about the welfare of her son. Valet de Chambre is Roxy’s son. He grows up to be feisty and a lot of trouble.Thomas Becket Driscoll is the son of Roxy’s master. Judge Driscoll is a leading citizen of Dawson's Landing. He and his wife are childless. They later adopt “Tom” when Percy dies. Luigi and Angelo are near-identical Italian twins. Percy Northumberland Driscoll is Tom’s father. He seems more fair to his slaves than other people are with theirs. Widow Cooper (Aunt Patsy) is a widow who takes the twins in as boarders.

The story takes place in Dawson's Landing on the banks of the Mississippi River in the first half of the 19th century. All of the books I have read by Mark Twain took place on or near the Mississippi River. I am used to the setting.

Inequality is an important theme in the story. I see an example of this in the two boys, Tom
and Chambers. The slaves are treated as less than those who are white and free.

I would recommend the book for teens and adults of both genders. At times it can be hard to understand.

The trouble with studying literature is that close examination of a book can drain the enjoyment from reading it. As the feller said, if you take a cat apart to see how it works, the first thing you'll discover is a non-working cat.

Every now and then you strike lucky, and your deep study of a book only increases your enjoyment of it. Puddn'head Wilson blends a fairly standard baby-swap plot device with a proto-crime-novel thing in the second half, but as usual with Twain, it's the dessicated prose that is the real joy here.

One of the things I like about Twain, and it's the same reason I prefer, say, Otto Preminger to Alfred Hitchcock, is that he doesn't signpost anything, or say 'Look! Look! Social satire!'. The plot of the book and what it's about are two rather different things, and the latter is where Twain brings the full-bore artillery of his bone-dry wit to bear.

Without giving too much away, the baby-swap device illustrates the patent absurdity of one child with 1/32nd black heritage being considered a slave, while another, equally as white in appearance, is brought up as the son of a moneyed landowner. Twain has a lot to say about the racism and politics of the antebellum south, the resistance of it's people to change and modernity, and the acceptance of the status quo by all concerned, even the black population - but to his credit and in stark contrast to a lot of his contemporaries, he lets his characters do the talking, to much greater effect.

**TRAMPING THROUGH PUDDING**
If I haven’t read every single thing Mark Twain ever wrote, it must be because some manuscript hasn’t been brought to light. I ran out of “new” things to read about twenty years ago, so I find myself rereading his works for the third or fourth time. I naturally make an exception for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer’s adventures. I’ve lost count of how often I’ve read them myself and to all three of my children. (I wanted to inoculate them against political correctness and measles as early as medical science would allow.)

This month I finished A Tramp Abroad and Puddn’head Wilson. Let it be known that as a Twainiac of the first water, I yield to few in my admiration of America’s greatest writer. That doesn’t blind me to the fact he published some weak products. A Tramp Abroad is among those. His customary wit is there, but spread mighty thin amid more padding than a sophomore essay desperately hammered out the night before the due date. The one saving grace is the hilarious examination of That Awful German Language. Tramp is one of his travel journals. If that’s your cup of tea, go with Roughing It or Life on the Mississippi instead.

Puddn’head Wilson, on the other hand, is a whodunit shot through with acerbic observations on society, particularly one that prides itself on honor. If you’re sensitive to racial slurs, you’d best steer yourself to something safe, like Clifford the Big Red Dog. On the other hand, hip-hop devotees might shrug.

The story turns on a case of mistaken identity. Roxy, a house slave, is frantic with worry with the ultimate threat of being “sold down the river.” To avoid the ultimate indignity of her own being subjected to this disgrace, she switches her baby with the master’s baby.
How could she get away with this, you ask? Twain suggests:

“To all intents and purposes Roxy was as white as anybody, but the one sixteenth of her which was black outvoted the other fifteen parts and made her a Negro. She was a slave, and salable as such. Her child was thirty-one parts white, and he, too, was a slave, and by a fiction of law and custom a Negro.”

If you blinked, you may have missed the dig on the democratization of oppression. Note that Twain used “outvoted” instead of “outweighed” or something similar. Surely you didn’t overlook the “fiction of law and custom” sarcasm.

Twain incorporates features of detective work that would be commonplace today but then considered an eccentric pastime – fingerprinting. Naturally, he found a way to intersperse his observations on the foibles of mankind with the excuse that the fingerprinting/lapsed lawyer Wilson also kept book, including this witticism:

“Adam was but human--this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent.”

It was fun to read and very interesting. It’s a murder mystery with other things mixed in.