Reputation is a recurring theme in the novel Pudd’nhead Wilson and many of the characters personify it. To have a reputation means to be known for having a specific skill or characteristic. In the first chapter of this novel, the quote in David’s calendar notes how easy ridicule can tear down a person’s reputation. We see an example of this when David first arrives in Dawson’s Landing and makes a remark about wishing to own half of a dog. From then on he is known as “Pudd’nhead” and is outcast as a “fool.”
The first character with a reputation whom we’re introduced to is Judge Driscoll. In the first chapter he is described as “very proud of his Virginian ancestry” and “in his hospitalities and his rather formal and stately manners” kept up with its traditions. He is looked up to in Dawson’s Landing and is respected, valued, and beloved by his community.
“Tom” or Chambers has a reputation of being spoiled, vicious, and a jerk to almost everyone around him. Especially to his uncle and even his mother Roxy after he finds out she’s his birth mother. All he seems to care about is money; he even resorted to selling his mother into slavery again and floating her down the river knowing that it’s one of her biggest fears. He lies multiple times to his uncle about money-related stuff and his actions to stay in his will and to get his uncle money when he dies, though in the end he ends up murdering his own uncle. Even though he grew up alongside his uncle, he still treats him like dirt and kicks him around because he is his slave.
Luigi and Angelo, the Italian twins, have a reputation of being very cunning and smooth-talking. They woo the crowd when they talk about their travels (especially about being slaves in a circus and about them get out of it) and all about what they’ve done in their lives and what they plan on doing. Luigi also finds trouble in Dawson’s Landing. He assaults “Tom” after “Tom” insults him. This assault leads Judge Driscoll to worry about his own family’s reputation. He worries that the fact “Tom” had gone to court to deal with it rather than dueling him would reflect poorly on their family name. Because of this, he challenges Luigi to a duel himself. Luigi and his brother are widely admired when he honorably engages in the duel with Driscoll. It’s also revealed that Luigi has had a dark past. He killed a man that was trying to hurt his brother, Angelo. This comes to play again later when their reputation is tarnished after “Tom” spreads a rumor that the reward for the twin’s stolen knife is a hoax and when Judge Driscoll suggests that Luigi is an assassin. They are later accused of killing Judge Driscoll but they leave Dawson’s Landing unmasked as conmen.