Mark twain puddenhead wilson
For this assignment, you must write an essay of at least 800 words analyzing all three of the main characters from Mark Twain’s novel Pudd’nhead Wilson: 1) David “Pudd’nhead” Wilson, 2)Roxy, and 3) Roxy’s son, “Tom.” In addition, you need to incorporate three or more relevant ideas about Twain’s motivations for writing the story as explained in the essay entitled “’Sure Identifiers’: Race, Science, and the Law in Pudd’nhead Wilson” by Susan Gillman which is posted in Canvas. Furthermore, you need to show how at least one entry from Pudd’nhead
Wilson’s Calendar (those funny sayings at the start of each chapter) is relevant to one or more of the characters in the story.
Your essay should consist of an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement, several body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. Each one of the three main characters should receive his or her own body paragraph, although you may use more than one paragraph for him or her if a single paragraph would be too long. Within the paragraph(s) for each of these three characters, you will describe how he or she behaves throughout the novel as well as some of the reasons for that behavior.
Your examples of these traits and motivations of each character should include some quotations of the author’s words as well as descriptions in your own words of specific scenes and dialogue. The most comprehensive portrait of each character will be painted by examining episodes from throughout the novel, including the conclusion; do not take all of your examples from just one chapter.
The main characters are complex, so you should explore as much evidence as possible about them.
Misinterpretations will result from incomplete examination of the facts. In other words, each of these three main characters has both good and bad points, and there is something ironic about each of them. Thus, do not ignore episodes that seem to contradict your initial impression of a character. Instead, deal with them by adjusting and enlarging your understanding accordingly. (Of course, feel free to mention other characters besides Wilson, Roxy, and her true son if necessary, too.)
The order in which you discuss the three main characters is up to you but should probably be based on your view of their importance to the novel; whichever one plays the most significant role in the story should be the last one to be analyzed. In addition, be sure to include at least three ideas about Twain’s inspiration for them as explained in Gillman’s essay.
However, because her ideas may or may not tie in directly with your analysis of each character, you will need to decide whether to combine your discussion of Gillman’s claims with your discussion of the characters or whether to include her ideas in a body paragraph of their own. The same can be said of the calendar entry that you select; it can analyzed in its own paragraph, or else you can analyze it within one of the other paragraphs of the paper.
First you should translate the calendar entry’s meaning into modern English; then you should explain how the entry is relevant to a character,event, or theme in the novel.
In your conclusion paragraph, you will need to decide which one of the three main characters that you analyzed seems to be the most convincingly portrayed in Pudd’nhead Wilson. Your conclusion should also indicate why this story is still relevant to life in America today; to do so,try to refer to one or more of the themes of this book that were listed in class.
