All That’s Minor Will End Minor

Witnessing a character’s life after the plot is a common feature of many novels of the 19^th century. In most cases, the last chapter was more of an epilogue than anything else. It feels like everyone wanted a sense of closure for every single character. It also often reconfirmed the stance of morality at the time. Were you a good character and managed to live at the end of the novel? Great, you get a happy ending! You were a terrible person? Enjoy the bad luck that will follow you around until the day you die!

Pudd'nhead Wilson fits this typical pattern; “Tom” (also known as Chambers) was sold into slavery, Roxy repented for all of her sins until the day she died, and the twins did the sensible thing and moved back to Italy. All of the other characters are way too minor for us to care about, right?

As we've mentioned before, Wilson himself is a minor character in a novel that is named after him. Yet the last we see of him highlights how minor of a character that he is. The last time readers see Wilson is after he wins the trial in a spectacular fashion, and readers learn that the townspeople began to recognize Wilson’s intelligence. Then our focus is diverted to other characters.

For readers, this doesn’t necessarily give us a satisfying conclusion. We already know that Wilson's intelligent, and I for one don't hold out hope that the town will remember to keep Wilson in a favorable light. Not only that, but one of his friends his dead and the other two are going back to Italy. Are readers expected to believe that Wilson remains in town as a popular figurehead?

It's unusual that readers are denied this closure on Wilson. It's as if Twain didn't care or didn't know himself how Wilson would live on after the trial. Although that hasn't stopped authors from writing mediocre endings for their characters before, it's interesting that Twain chooses to stop as it is.