Irony in Pudd'nhead Wilson Anonymous 11th Grade

Pudd’nhead Wilson is a novel written by Mark Twain that tells the story of two near-twins who were switched at birth. The babies were interchanged because Roxana, the enslaved mother of one child, Chambers, wanted to save her son from the horrors of slavery, while the other child, Tom, did nothing to deserve the social standing and wealth he received just by being born. The switch of the two babies was possible because they looked identical to each other, despite Chambers being 1/32 black, because he was “passable” for white. Because of the child-exchange, there were many instances of verbal, situational, and dramatic irony that Twain included to enhance the plot.

Twain uses verbal irony on many occasions in the novel. One occasion being when David Wilson, a lawyer who is new to town, first arrives in Dawson’s Landing. Wilson was talking with a group of people he had just became acquainted with when a dog started barking uncontrollably. Without thinking, Wilson said, “I wish I owned half of that dog […] Because I would kill my half,” (3-4). This constitutes verbal irony because even though Wilson said he would kill the dog, he only meant that he wanted it to be quiet. Additionally, in his analogy, he could have owned the entire...