For this post I want to address the character of Pudd'nhead himself. Although the book itself is named after him, he really isn't in it all that often. Certainly, he's pivotal to the storyline, but for the most part the book follows the story and thought processes of Tom aka Chambers. What struck me the most about Pudd'nhead is his similarity to Samuel L. Clemens himself.
It is hardly unheard of for an author to write an exportation of themselves into the book; Stephen King does it all the time, for example. In Pudd'nhead's case, he is the embodiment of Twain's love of parapsychology and science; in by a small town driven by gossip and 'good ol' boy' politics, he is the (mostly ignored) voice of reason. He is the Free Thinker in a town full of Methodists; the joke there should be obvious. He is the only one who defies tradition and dares to be different, and because of that he is branded a fool.
Twain was branded a fool, too, in a more medieval sense. He was a joker, a humorist. He had to work twice as hard to get a serious message through, and without being heavy handed, either. When he wanted people to take him seriously, he had to write under a psuedonym - a different one than the one he was already using, that is.
The biggest hint, though, that Pudd'nhead echoed Clemens were the Mark Twain-isms at the beginning of each chapter, from Pudd'nhead's calendar. Nobody ever said that Twain didn't like being funny; he just didn't like that it was the only thing people thought he was.
I'd agree with you, Fawn: Pudd'nhead is, like Twain, the voice of reason in a town full of superstition--and, like Pudd'nhead's, his real wisdom is ignored because he has a dry sense of humor that not enough people understand.
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