The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Several characters in the novel have meaningful names. Choose one such character as the basis for your response.

• What is the significance of the character’s name? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three pieces of evidence that support your interpretation.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how this name reflects the type of humor that is characteristic of this novel or supports one of the novel’s thematic elements.

2. The motif of theft runs throughout The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson. Choose two incidents involving theft to use as the basis for your response.

• What is the implied moral comparison or contrast the novel is making between these two incidents? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three pieces of evidence that support your interpretation.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how this moral comparison or contrast supports the novel’s thematic concern with Nature or Nurture or its thematic concern with Honor.

3. Roxy’s life history and the symbolic setting of the “haunted” house comment on historical events.

• What historical events do Roxy’s life and her haunted house symbolically represent? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three pieces of evidence that support your interpretation. If you use an outside source for historical evidence, be sure to cite this source.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how the symbolic meaning of Roxy’s life and the haunted house supports the novel’s thematic concern with Racial Identity or its thematic concern with Honor.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. A notable motif in the novel is surface appearances that contradict a deeper reality. How does the novel’s setting support this motif? How do characterizations support this motif? How does the novel’s language point the reader to the contradiction between appearance and reality? Write an essay in which you analyze how this motif is developed throughout the novel. Offer both quoted and paraphrased evidence in support of your assertions, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson is full of binaries: Black/white, enslaved/free, North/South, and so on. How do the twins and the near-twins (Chambers and Tom) also act as binaries? Does Mark Twain mean to assert that the world is full of true binaries, or is he commenting critically on the nature of binary thinking? What does the novel’s use of ambiguity have to do with its employment of binaries? How is this related to the novel’s stances on issues such as nature versus nurture and good versus evil? Write an essay in which you analyze the novel’s stance on binaries, connecting this analysis to one or more of the novel’s key thematic interests: Racial Identity, Social Identity, Nature or Nurture, and Honor. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. Why title this book after David Wilson and his derogatory nickname? What is ironic about both the way Wilson gets the nickname and the way he finally “earns” his way out of the nickname? What larger group in society might David Wilson represent? In what sense does his position on race at the end of the novel represent a “tragedy” larger than David Wilson’s own life? What light does the dog joke early in the novel shed on the real tragedy being discussed in this novel? Write an essay in which you analyze the larger significance of the novel’s title. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.