For example, in the beginning of the story, the ways in which Mr. Wilson received his nickname of "Pudd'nhead" are established after making an especially sarcastic comment about a noisy dog. Later, on page 86, Twain calls into question not the sanity of Mr. Wilson, but the ability of the town to truly grasp or appreciate sarcasm and irony in general. "But irony was not for those people; their mental vision was not focused for it. They read those playful trifles in the solidest earnest, and decided without hesitancy that if there had ever been any doubt that Dave Wilson was a pudd'nhead, - which there hadn't - this revelation removed that doubt for good and all." After our class discussions, it seems like this is a direct statement to the reader warning them that taking the writer's irony as literal would be detrimental to his own understanding of the book, and possibly life in general.
Similarly, Twain frequently hints towards his own views of religion and piety in his stories. It seems that this book is no exception. Upon Roxy's return to the area, we begin to see the ways in which she has flourished with her new found freedom. "And there was the church. She was more rabid and devoted Methodist than ever, and her piety was no sham, but was strong and sincere. Yes, with plenty of creature comforts and her old place in the amen corner in her possession again, she would be perfectly happy and at peace thenceforward to the end" (102). As in the case of Hadleyburg, religion and piety are described as possessions, and as such (as Gill said in class) they are capable of being bought, lost, or stolen. And for Roxy, this sudden religious conviction was only after losing all her life's savings to the failed bank. Therefore, Twain could be implying that religion is only something found when money cannot be its stand-in.
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