Pudd'nhead Wilson
by Mark Twain


 
Junior English
Mark Twain stands in a group by himself.  He is an author that captures the the natural sound of the southern dialect along with adding that extra spice of humor.  When we read Pudd'nhead Wilson, we do it in a unit by itself.  I guess you could call the theme of the unit "Regionalism."  We discuss how dialect is something that is not a past thing, but a present one.  We discuss the different regions of the United States and how we all have our own way of speaking.  Along with this, we focus on interpretation.  Twain uses quotes to start each chapter of this novel.  He claims that they come from Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar.  As with most philosophical quotes, there are usually a deeper meaning to them.  We look at the quotes and how they relate to the chapters and also how they relate to life in general.  At the completion of this novel, there is any essay test where the students must be prepared to dive into a couple of these quotes and explain them.  Below is a brief description of the novel.
American Studies
Mark Twain stands in a group by himself.  He is an author that captures the the natural sound of the southern dialect along with adding that extra spice of humor.  We read Pudd'nhead Wilson in conjunction with historical side of the Civil War.  Although Twain doesn't deal directly with the Civil War, he does touch on the feelings of people in this time.  Instead of focussing on the war, we will focus on "Regionalism."  We discuss how dialect is something that is not a past thing, but a present one.  We discuss the different regions of the United States and how we all have our own way of speaking.  Along with this, we focus on interpretation.  Twain uses quotes to start each chapter of this novel.  He claims that they come from Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar.  As with most philosophical quotes, there are usually a deeper meaning to them.  We look at the quotes and how they relate to the chapters and also how they relate to life in general.  At the completion of this novel, there is any essay test where the students must be prepared to dive into a couple of these quotes and explain them.  Below is a brief description of the novel.

 
 
PUDD'NHEAD WILSON
 At the beginning of Pudd'nhead Wilson, a young slave woman, fearing for her infant son's life, exchanges the light-skinned child with her masters.  From this rather simple premise, Mark Twain fashioned one of his most entertaining, funny yet biting novel.  On its surface, Pudd'nhead Wilson possesses all the elements of an engrossing nineteenth century mystery: reversed identities, a horrible crime, an eccentric detective, a suspenseful courtroom drama and a surprising, unusual solution.  Yet it is not a mystery novel.  Seething with undercurrents of antebellum  Southern culture, the book is a savage indictment in which the real criminal is society, and racial prejudice and slavery are the crimes.

 
AN EXCERPT FROM PUDD'NHEAD WILSON
There was a voiceless interval of some duration, now, in which no sounds were heard but the beating of the rain upon the panes, the sighing and complaining of the winds, and now and then a muffled sob from Roxana. The sobs became more and more infrequent, and at last ceased. Then the refugee began to talk again: "Shet down dat light a little. More. More yit. A pusson dat is hunted don't like de light. Dah-dat'll do. I kin see whah you is, en dat's enough. I's gwine to tell you de tale, en cut it jes as short as I kin, en den I'll tell you what you's got to do. Dat man dat bought me ain't a bad man; he's good enough, as planters goes; en if he could'a' had his way I'd 'a' be'n a house servant in his fambly en be'n comfortable: but his wife she was a Yank, en not right down good lookin', en she riz up agin me straight off; so den dey sent me out to de quarter 'mongst de common fiel' han's. Dat woman warn't satisfied even wid dat, but she worked up de overseer ag'in' me, she 'uz dat jealous en hateful; so de overseer he had me out befor' day in de mawnin's en worked me de whole long day as long as dey'uz any light to see by; en many's de lashin's I got 'ca'se I couldn't come up to de work o' de stronges'. Dat overseer wuz a Yank, too, outen New Englan', and anybody down South kin tell you what dat mean. Dey knows how to work a nigger to death, en day knows how to whale 'em, too-whale 'em till dey backs is welted like a washboard. 'Long at fust my marster day de good word for me to de overseer, but dat'uz bad for me; for de mistis she fine it out, en arter dat I jist ketched it at every turn-dey warn't no mercy for me no mo'." 

 
The Scarlet Letter The Crucible Harold and Maude
Ethan Frome The Great Gatsby Of Mice and Men
The Moon is Down Henry David Thoreau Ralph Waldo Emerson
Edgar Allan Poe Walt Whitman Tim O'Brien
Pudd'nhead Wilson Jonathan Livingston Seagull Fahrenheit 451
Stephen King Inherit The Wind

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