Ready Reference Treatise: Pudd'nhead Wilson

By Raja Sharma

“Pudd’nhead Wilson” by Mark Twain was first published in 1894. This novel had been initially published in the form of a series in The Century Magazine between 1893 and 1894.

It was the time the Reconstruction had totally failed in the United States. Reconstruction was the process of reintegrating the Confederate States into the United States, and attempting to place the freed slaves in the American society. During such times, “Pudd’nhead Wilson” was written.

In those days, Ku Klux Klan and the Jim Crow laws characterized the relations between the white and blacks, rare relations. By that time, Mark Twain had stopped living in the South. However, he kept writing about the South.

Ready Reference Treatise: Pudd'nhead Wilson
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Aug 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311302830

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: Pudd'nhead Wilson

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: Pudd'nhead Wilson

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: Introduction

Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain was first published in 1894. This novel had been initially published in the form of a series in The Century Magazine between 1893 and 1894.

It was the time the Reconstruction had totally failed in the United States. Reconstruction was the process of reintegrating the Confederate States into the United States, and attempting to place the freed slaves in the American society. During such times, Pudd’nhead Wilson was written.

In those days, Ku Klux Klan and the Jim Crow laws characterized the relations between the white and blacks, rare relations. By that time, Mark Twain had stopped living in the South. However, he kept writing about the South.

It is a curious fact that his writings are all set before the Civil War. In those days, Mark Twain himself was a boy. It is possible that Twain did want to write about the things which he knew during his childhood.

He seemed to be particularly interested in writing about the past probably because he wanted to look at the causes and alternatives of the present. He wanted to see what could have been had the things been a little different.

Through the novel Pudd’nhead Wilson he wants to show that the current mess could not have been avoided.

The structure of the present novel is a bit messy, but it is an interesting story.

Chapter Two: Plot Overview

The story is set in a fictional Missouri frontier town of Dawson’s Landing. The town is situated on the banks of the Mississippi River. The time period is the first half of the 19th century.

David Wilson happens to be a young lawyer. One day, he comes to that town. He passes a remark, but it is misunderstood. The residents of the town brand him a Pudd’nhead. It means a nitwit.

He has the hobby of collecting fingerprints, but it does not make any difference, and the people of the town do not respect him. The town-dwellers think that he is an eccentric. They do not come to seek his assistance in the legal issues. His law practice is not frequented by the people.

At this point the focus of the narrative shifts to the slave Roxy, her son, and the family they work for, leaving Pudd’nhead Wilson in the background. Roxy happens to be only one-sixteenth black. Valet de Chambre is her