From the Novel By

Mark Twain

(Samuel Clemens)

The Tragedy of Puddn’head Wilson

A Brief Summary of Chapters 1 - 10

York L. DriscollVirginia ancestryMarriedChildlessWealthyTraditionalJudge in the county

courtHighest ideal:

always be a gentleman

Younger brother of York Driscoll

MarriedLost three children

to diseaseWealthy, and

growing more soGood head for

business

The Driscoll Family

Percy N. Driscoll

On the 1st of February 1830, two boy babes were born in Percy Driscoll’s house.

One was born to Mrs. Driscoll.The other was born to Roxana (Roxy) a

twenty year old slave of the Driscoll household.

Mrs. Driscoll died of complications within a week of childbirth.

Roxy assumed the care of both babies.

The Arrival of the “Twins”

Valet de ChambresThe son of Roxana

(Roxy)Born February 1Born into slaveryVulnerable to the

whims of his masterVirtual twin to

Thomas

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Percy Driscoll

Born February 1Born into a wealthy

familyVulnerable to the

excesses of wealthVirtual twin to

Chambres

See’n Double

Thomas à Beckett

Percy Driscoll notices several small items are missing.

Percy Driscoll threatens to sell each of his slaves “down the river” if the thief is not found.

Roxy fears repercussions from any future theft at the Driscoll household.

Roxy is determined to save her child, Chambres, from the fate of endless slavery and uncertainty.

The idea occurs to her to “end it all “: she and Chambres must die .

The Old Switch’aroo

Roxy prepares herself for the end—she chooses drowning—but wants to be fished out looking decent.

She dresses herself in flamboyant attire.Wanting the same for her son, she exchanges

Chambres’ clothes with the nicer togs worn by Thomas, including the coral necklace.

A double take convinces her of the striking resemblance between the two babies.

A new plot hatches in Roxy’s head.

But Hold on There Just a Minute

Instead of killing herself and her son, Roxy will simply transfer the identity of Thomas Driscoll to Valet de Chambres. And vice versa.

Chambres is dressed in Thomas’ finery, and Thomas in Chambres’ coarse garments.

A few anxious moments in front of Percy Driscoll assures Roxy that her plan will work: Percy never looked that close at his son before and can’t tell the difference now.

Maybe clothes do make the man!

Whose Gonna’ Know?

The title character is David Wilson.He is a young, fresh out of law school New

Englander.The South beckons him. He arrives at

Dawson’s Landing, Missouri, right on the Mississippi River.

Nobody in town can make out David’s humor, which is filled with irony.

The townspeople are just too literal minded.David’ s cleverness is misunderstood and he

is branded with the moniker “puddn’head”.

Oh Yeah. Forgot about Wilson.

Because he is “ostracized” from the normal business dealings of the town, David (Puddn’head) must occupy his time with other than lawyerly endeavors.

A favorite pastime is collecting the fingerprints of anyone and everyone: something the solicitous folks in town are willing to concede to him.

Overhearing outside his window a “playin’ the dozens” conversation between Roxy and another slave, Puddn’head steps outside and meets Roxy and the two babies for the first time.

When in Doubt, Fingerprint.

Puddn’head asks for and secures the prints of the two boys for his files. Roxy is in no position to refuse.

He again collects the boys prints three months later.

This fact never escapes the still wary Roxy: will her ruse be foiled by science?

No Two Are Alike

Meanwhile the “Roxy twins” are growing up.Thomas (really Chambres) treats his constant

companion and designated servant, Chambres (really Thomas) like…well…a slave.

Thomas (C) is gaining the reputation of being a spoiled, demanding, angry, out of control boy.

Chambres (T) has to take all the abuse, even if he looks white.

Of course, Thomas (C) looks white, too.

Bad to Worse

In 1845, Percy Driscoll dies and sets Roxy free.At the same time, Percy’s “son”, Thomas (C), is

given as a ward to Percy’s brother, the childless Judge Driscoll and his wife.

A month prior, Judge Driscoll purchased Chambres (T) from his brother, Percy.

Judge Driscoll had gotten word that Tom (C) was urging his “father” to sell Chambres (T) “down the river”.

That action would have been too scandalous for the upstanding Driscoll family to bear.

Freedom by Death

Tom (C) lives the good life with his uncle and aunt for several years.

When nineteen, and after the death of his aunt, Tom (C) is sent to study at Yale.

Tom (C) returns after two years having dropped most of his surliness, having learned the foppish customs of Eastern society and having taken to the habit of gambling.

The “polish” of the Yale crowd did not sit well with Tom’s (C’s) peers at Dawson’s Landing.

The habit of gambling would not have sat well with Tom’s (C’s) uncle, so that fact remained hidden.

Spoiled ‘till Rotten

The widow Cooper, and her daughter Rowena, have a room to let in their house.

An ad they circulated is eventually answered by a pair of Italians, identical twins.

The ad’s response brings avid interest to the neighborly chatter all around Dawson’ Landing.

The town goes so far as to assert possession of the twins.

The lives of the two foreigners are destined to change.

Twins of a Different Color

The Italian twins become instant celebrities.The mere proximity of the two evokes

considerable fawning and scraping.The twins seem impossibly perfect to the

sheltered population.The best sides of the village are shown off by

Judge Driscoll himself, who remains blithely unaware of the tediousness of the tour and the polite interest the twins are obliged to feign.

Count Luigi and Count Angelo

A first meeting with David Wilson allows the twins some real discourse from an unassuming and genuinely interesting man.

Earlier that same day, Wilson had seen an unusual event at the Driscoll house, an event which Wilson was pondering just before the twins arrived on their arranged visit.

Wilson had inadvertently seen a “girl” in an upstairs bedroom, Tom(C) Driscoll’s bedroom.

What, besides impropriety, might be going on?

Puddn’head to the Rescue

The narrative shifts again to Roxy. We discover her on the verge of retirement.

Roxy had, for many months, prudently saved a portion of her earnings from her chambermaid position on a Mississippi steamboat.

She discovers to her anguish that the bank in which she deposited her savings has crashed. Roxy is penniless.

A desperate idea to visit her son Chambres (who believes he is Tom) and to beg him for one dollar a month for services rendered raising the lad seems, to her, worth a shot.

Back to Roxy

Alas. A bad time to try and beg money from the improvident.

Tom (C) has tried his uncle’s patience one too many times over this gambling addiction.

Uncle Driscoll has paid one too many of Tom’s (C’s) gambling debts. This last payment of two hundred dollars pushed the older man to write his nephew out of the family will.

No chance to inherit the cash stash now.Now that news would make anybody have a

bad day.

Life is a Gamble

After a revealing talk with Chambres (T), Roxy knows about the gambling habits, the loss of primogeniture.

Chambres (T) announces his mother’s petition to speak. Tom (C) roughs him up and kicks him.

In comes mom (unbeknownst, of course, by her son who thinks he is Tom Driscoll).

Tom (C) verbally abuses his mom and kicks her out so shamefully that, in a single moment she regains her self respect through a rapidly rising, indignant rage.

No, Roxy! Not Now!

Without revealing exact details, Roxy threatens to expose Tom (C) to his “uncle”—everything she knows. And Roxy makes Tom (C) understand that she knows a lot more than he even imagines.

His checkered past gives Tom (C) pause. What does she know? Maybe I better find out. I’ll do what she asks until I learn more (he sort of thinks to himself)

He kneels to his mother (which he is still unaware of). This act alone humiliates him far more than asking his “uncle” for money.

Now, Let Me Tell You Something

Apart from the rest of Dawson’s Landing, in a house considered haunted by the general populace , lives Roxy.

Tom (C) is meeting Roxy here.Roxy tells Tom (C) the whole story. Everything.

And Tom (C) now knows he is Chambres.Roxy now hears from her son that he has been

stealing objects from houses in town to pay for his gambling debts.

His disguise has been that of a girl or in some cases an older woman.

The Meeting House

All the dark secrets have been loosed between mother and son. All except for one.

In answer to a direct question by Chambres (who thought he was Tom), Roxy reveals his father.

None other than Colonel Cecil Burleigh Essex, from one of the highest standing families in Virginia. (catch the irony?)

No one in the entire town of Dawson’s Landing could hold a candle to that pedigree.

But Roxy does not let her son off the hook: he still owes her each month. And now the sum is up to twenty-five dollars.

Who is my Father? And, still…

Despite his desperate promises to himself, Chambres (who thought he was Tom), cannot control his gambling drives and finds himself in heavy debt, again.

Unable to face his “uncle” and the certainty that this new revelation would bring, Tom (C) concocts the scheme to pilfer the houses of everyone in the village, even his uncle’s.

At that moment the narrative reconnects with Wilson catching sight of a “young woman” in Tom Driscoll’s bedroom. (Chapter 7)

End of Part One

“I will control my gambling. I will?”