For Kelly. My Puddn'head Wilson Discussion Summary (I only turned in a paper copy).

Discussion Summary

Twins

1. We concentrate a lot on Tom and Champers

2. What are your thoughts on them?

3. Do you believe that the revelation of Luigi killing someone is foreshadowing events to come

4. Kristel says that “their arrival seems somewhat suspicious”

5. What role do you think they will play in the plot of this novel

Story/Plot

1. Mark Twain packs a lot into this book. We have read over half the novel thus far and I have yet to see a central plot that ties all of our characters together. I believe that the only main person to connect all the characters together is Tom. This is a Crime and Literature class how do you think the race of Tom/Chambers will tie into the plot of the story.

Race

1. Maria stated that the characters within this novel were either white or black, and that their race categorized them into specific “social roles”; this of course was written in the 1800’s. Since the abolition of slavery in today’s society what roles, if any, do you believe race places people socially?

Slavery vs. Racism

1. Holly brought up a point in the blog where she believed that Mark Twain was opposed to the institution of Slavery, but she believe that he was still in fact a racist (believing that whites were superior to none whites)...... (Ask Holly to elaborate a little bit)………..Do you believe that Mark Twain was racist even though he wrote in a manner the defiled the institution of slavery?

Wilson

1. As we see on page 70 Pudd’nhead Wilson is elected to become a town official

a. What are your thought on the town’s ability to first ridicule Wilson, and then decided to make him a leader?

The discussion proved to be a successful one, with the class being focused on whether or not Mark Twain is a racist or not. Josh brought up because of the time period that Twain was in, and the audience that he was projecting to, that Twain may appear racist in order for his book to be read when in fact he is poking fun at the very people that are buying his novel. At the end of the allotted time period for the discussion it seemed as if the class was very much divided up on the topic, and could not come up with a general consensus as to the state of Twain’s racial views.