Pudd’nhead Wilson · Chapters

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Chapter companions for Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain.

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Chapter 1
A Whisper to the Reader
Mark Twain offers a playful authorial aside, defending the legal accuracy of the court chapters in his book by claiming they were reviewed by William Hicks, a man with a brief and rusty legal background. He muses on the power of ridicule to destroy character, using the humble ass as an example, and signs off from his villa in Florence with characteristic wit.
Chapter 2
Pudd'nhead Wilson
The chapter introduces the town of Dawson's Landing and its inhabitants, focusing on the arrival of David Wilson, a young lawyer with a penchant for odd remarks that earns him the nickname 'Pudd'nhead.' It also sets the stage for the birth of two boys—one slave, one free—and the fateful decision by Roxana to switch them in their cradles.
Chapter 3
I: Pudd'nhead Wins His Name
The chapter introduces Dawson's Landing, a sleepy slaveholding town on the Mississippi in 1830. It describes the prominent Driscoll family, including Judge York Leicester Driscoll, his widowed sister Mrs. Rachel Pratt, and his younger brother Percy Northumberland Driscoll. On February 1, 1830, two boys are born in Percy's house: one to him and one to his slave girl Roxana. Mrs. Percy Driscoll dies within the week, leaving Roxy in charge of both babies. The chapter also introduces David Wilson, a college-educated young lawyer who arrives in town but is immediately labeled a 'pudd'nhead' after a misunderstood remark about killing half a dog, a nickname that sticks for twenty years.
Chapter 4
II: Driscoll Spares His Slaves
In this chapter, Pudd'nhead Wilson continues his hobby of collecting fingerprints, while Mr. Driscoll confronts his slaves about a series of thefts. After threatening to sell them down the river, all three confess, but Driscoll spares them from that fate, selling them locally instead. The chapter also includes a conversation between Roxy and Jasper, and explores the moral complexities of slavery and theft.
Chapter 5
III: Roxy Plays a Shrewd Trick
Roxy, terrified that her child might be sold down the river, decides to switch her baby with the master's child, Thomas à Becket. After dressing her own son in the fine clothes of the heir and putting the heir in her child's humble cradle, she rationalizes the act by recalling a preacher's story of a queen's child being switched by a servant. She practices calling her own child 'Marse Tom' and the true heir 'Chambers,' and later visits Pudd'nhead Wilson to have the babies' fingerprints taken, hoping to avoid detection.

A Whisper to the Reader

Pudd'nhead Wilson

I: Pudd'nhead Wins His Name

II: Driscoll Spares His Slaves

III: Roxy Plays a Shrewd Trick