Book Review: Pudd'nhead Wilson

Image Courtesy: Simon & Schuster

I read this book some time ago in an effort to reconnect to reading good quality fiction writing. What better author to start with than Mark Twain, whose The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer had enthralled me with visions of adventure in my childhood. So I picked up this book titled Pudd'nhead Wilson a work of satire by the said author and started reading. This book deals with three main themes that were prevalent in pre-Civil War America - Slavery/ Racism, southern aristocracy and human nature.

This book is quite similar to another work by Twain The Prince and Pauper in the sense it deals with the swapping of identities at childhood and the revelation of truth at the end of the story. The book set in a little town named Dawson's Landing, Mississippi, USA, starts with the description of the arrival of a new individual to the town - David Wilson. The simple towns folk gather around to talk to him and there is a dog barking in the background. Out of frustration Wilson says: "I wish I owned half of that dog. I would kill my half". The simple towns folk did not get the satirical humor and at once decided that this guy was a fool and named him "Pudd'nhead Wilson" and it remains his name till the end of the novel when he demonstrates his ingenuity and commands the admiration of all.

The main characters of the book are Judge Driscoll, his brother Percy Driscoll, Roxy the slave who is only 1/16th African and looks like a white person but because of the little black heritage she is a slave. As the story progresses we learn the someone steals money from Percy Driscoll and he threatens his slaves that if the culprit did not confess he would sell all of them down the river. That puts the fear of god in them and they all confess to stealing it. He retracts the threat and records the incident in his diary as a humane deed done by him.

Meanwhile Driscoll's wife and Roxy give birth to a son each. Unfortunately Mrs. Driscoll passes away after childbirth leaving her baby in the charge of Roxy, who has become a mother herself. Roxy is worried that her son will be sold down the river once he grows up. Not wanting this to happen Roxy decides to switch the babies and make her son (1/32nd Black) the master's son and vice versa. Meanwhile Wilson has started a new hobby of collecting palm prints and he collects prints of both the babies during various stages of growth.

Nobody learns about the switch and the slave grows up as the master and the master as the slave. The slave who grows up as the master unfortunately gets into trouble in school, can not complete college, and develops a bad gambling habit which leads him into serious trouble. Meanwhile Percy Driscoll dies and sets Roxy free and the son goes into the guardianship of Judge Driscoll. Things progress till there is a twist in the story and the switch is revealed.

Pudd'nhead Wilson is an easy read and a short novel of 100-odd pages. While not thrilling like a suspense but good enough to sustain readers interest to completion.