I found myself dog earing pages as a read to go back and read the epigraphs again once I had finished Pudd'nhead Wilson. We briefly touched on them in our discussion of class today, and something Onno brought up that I guess I had realized but hadn't particularly fixed on was the dark side of these jokes from Wilson's calendar. I really liked these jokes--although parts of the novel are funny, ironic, and ridiculous at times, these are the lines from the book that stood out to me most and actually made me laugh. They were so darkly insightful and honest, that I couldn't help but highlight many of them.
Among some of my favorites were:
(As i read in class)
"Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principle one was, that they escaped teething" (18).
"Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education" (25).
"The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime if not asked to lend money" (36).
"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example" (97).
These few stood out to me and after we left class I started to think about why Twain would put these in the novel. They are all cited as being from Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar--which means that Twain doesn't necessarily take responsibility for writing them, but rather Wilson would look them every day when turning a page on his calendar. It's interesting to think about the fact that Wilson got the nickname of Pudd'nhead from making a joke; jokes seem to be a part of his life coming into the town from elsewhere, but not quite understood by people within Dawson's Landing. For some reason this could be meant to set Wilson apart from the townspeople, as he is the one who eventually outsmarts most other people and solves the case of Tom and the knife. It could be a stretch, but these jokes are also catered to people of a bit higher intelligence--their format is a set up and a punchline, but they aren't simple jokes. Maybe these jokes were meant to show that Wilson would be the one to solve these mysteries in the story all along, that his outsider's perspective and personality are actually refreshing and in some ways heroic to the novel. Nevertheless, I found them entertaining, and even though they may be dark they're actually quite progressive jokes for the late 1800's.
I similarly enjoyed reading the epigraphs and found them very humorous. In addition to the ones you've already listed, one of my favorites was, “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man.” I think it's interesting to explore all the possibilities of how these epigraphs can relate to the actual plot, if they even do at all. Perhaps they serve simply to highlight the ironic tone that's prevalent in the novel.
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