Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Tom

Pointing out that Tom is the antagonist, or bad guy, in this tale isn't exactly a shocking observation. Come on, the dude sells his own mother down the river (yes, literally) and then robs and kills his uncle. It's pretty safe to say that Tom isn't going to be awarded Nice Guy of the Year any time soon.

What is a bit of a surprise is the extent to which the novel focuses on the antagonist. All told, we spend way more time with Tom than we do with our protagonist Pudd'nhead which is rather unusual (especially in a book entitled, ahem, Pudd'nhead Wilson). Of course, bad guys can be pretty intriguing figures and we can learn a lot by exploring the dark side of human nature, right?

Then again, maybe Twain just stuck us with Tom to torture us. Bwahahahaha.