Summary Of Pudd Nhead Wilson

The novel Pudd’nhead Wilson and other tales by Mark Twain, is an attack on American society as Twain believes Americans don’t have the right values and ambitions during the 1800’s. The book juggles three plot lines that all come together in a murder trial at the end. David Wilson is a northern who moves to the Dawson’s landing a small town on the Mississippi River seeking to become a lawyer, but after one unintelligent comment he gain the nickname pudd’nhead and receives no legal work. He does odd jobs and enjoys looking at fingerprints. Luigi and Angelo are foriegins who move to the town and are an attraction for the local people. However their very expense knife gets stolen by Tom Driscoll. Roxana is a slave who’s 1/16th part black. She

“Dawson’s Landing was a slaveholding town, with a rich, slave-worked grain and pork country back of it. The town was sleepy and comfortable and contented. It was fifty years old.” (Twain,7). In this quote Twain talks about how it’s a small town that relies on slavery for the towns survival. The town is old and most citizens are well off living comfortably. This shows the distinction how the white citizens are the upper class and the blacks are the lower class. Another example of Twain addressing class in the book is when Roxana says, “De Lord have mercy on me, po’misable sinner dat I is!” (Twain, 147). This shows how as a slave Roxana didn’t get educated growing up and doesn’t speak to the towns society norms, making her lower class. “Tom had long ago taught Roxy her place. It had been many a day now since she had ventured a caress or a fondling epithet in his quarter. Such things, from a ni$$er, were repulsive to him, and she had been warned to keep her distance and remember who she was.” (Twain,43). This shows the separation between the two classes and how race is the main cause for this. Tom believing, he is a white upper class man feels entitled to talk down on Roxy showing the prejudice and disgust white upper class society had with slaves and lower class society. In reverse roles once, Chambers learns he is the real Tom Driscoll he feels out of place within

Chambers, son of the slave Roxana who is 1/32 black looks identical to Tom Driscoll, son of the slave master Peter Driscoll. The babies are switched out with only Roxana knowing. Even though both babies look identical and even Peter can’t tell them apart one is considered a “slave” and the other is considered a “master”. The novel shows how twain believes racial identity is just a way for white society to differentiate it self as the better people even though there is no real distinction between the two races. “Then Tom laid himself heavily down again, with a groan and the mutterd words, a ni$$er! I am a ni$$er ! Oh, I wish I was dead.” (Twain, 202). This powerful quote demonstrates how racial identity meant everything to societ and how white people felt about being black. Making Roxana a sympathetic character who is victimized by the white raciest society shows how he is sympathetic to social injustices during his time. Twain uses the town of Dawson’s Landing Missouri to show his displeasure for the institution of slavery. “Dawson’s landing was a slaveholding town.” (Twain, 8). In Dawson’s landing there is a white population that uses the black population to live an easy comfortable life. From birth the color of your skin determines if you live a life of prosperity or live a life as a slave being used and being property of someone. Twain believes slaves are made not