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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Feb. 10, 2024

Introduction:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a novel written by Mark Twain, (real name: Samuel Langhorne Clemens) and was published in 1876. The book has a sequel called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which was published eight years after. The novel is one of the most classic masterpieces of all time.

The Plot:
Thomas Sawyer is an orphan who lives in Missouri with his aunt, Aunt Polly, and his half-brother, Sid. One day, Aunt Polly caught Tom skipping classes and made him whitewash the fences as a punishment. Tom convinces his friends to do his work by tricking them into thinking it’s fun. He trades the things they give him for tickets at Sunday school. With the tickets, he gets a Bible as a prize, even though he’s not good at school or knows about the Bible. This makes the other kids jealous and surprises the adults. Tom falls in love with a new girl named Becky Thatcher. He impresses her dad by getting the Bible but then shows he doesn’t know much about it. Tom tries to be with Becky and kisses her, but she finds out he is already “engaged” to another girl named Amy Lawrence, so their relationship falls apart. Becky rejects Tom, so he hangs out with Huckleberry Finn. They go to a graveyard at midnight to do a ritual. While there, they see three guys stealing a dead body. A fight happens, and one guy kills another. They blame the unconscious guy for the murder. Tom and Huck promise not to tell anyone because they’re scared the killer will come after them. The blamed guy goes to jail without defending himself. Tom gets bored with school, so he, Joe Harper, and Huck run away to an island. People think they’re dead and search for their bodies. Tom secretly goes back home and sees his family upset. He comes up with a plan to surprise everyone by showing up at his funeral. It works, and people respect them for the trick. In school, Becky accidentally tears a page in a book, but Tom takes the blame to impress her. During the trial for the guy in jail, Tom breaks his promise and tells the truth, saying someone else did the killing. The real killer runs away, and the guy in jail is set free. Tom and Huck now live in fear because they know the killer, Injun Joe, is still out there. After school ends, Tom and Huck decide to search for buried treasure. They come across an abandoned house where two men, including Injun Joe, plan to hide stolen treasure. However, they accidentally find gold coins. Tom and Huck are determined to find a new hiding place. One night, Huck overhears the men plotting to hurt a lady who was whipped in public. He stops them from breaking into her house but doesn’t want his name known to avoid trouble with Injun Joe. Meanwhile, Tom and his classmates go on a picnic to a cave. Tom and Becky get lost inside and struggle to survive without food and water. They eventually find a way out and are relieved to be back in town. The cave entrance is locked to prevent accidents. Tom realizes that Injun Joe is still inside and informs the authorities. Injun Joe is found dead from starvation. A week later, Tom and Huck go back to the cave to search for the stolen gold. They find it, it’s worth a lot of money. The Widow Douglas adopts Huck, but he finds it hard to adjust to a settled life. He tries to run away but returns when Tom suggests they start a robber gang.

Analysis:
The novel presents the idea of a teenage boy’s life through Tom and Huck’s adventures. In the novel, we can see how Tom is a troublemaker and pulls artifices on adults and kids. The novel shows Tom’s thinking using dialogue, stating that he wants to run away because he’s bored. This communicates that teenage boys’ lives are full of boredom and they want to have adventures and fun, even if it’s by pulling clever tricks on others. This represents that boyhood takes time and patience when they are being chaotic. The novel also goes over the theme, of freedom. The novel shows Tom as a troublemaker but is also introduced as a free person. He doesn’t listen to others and acts and thinks on his own. When he escapes to Jackson’s Island, it shows freedom from the boredom he has. He also was bored before looking for the treasure.

Conclusion:
The Adventure of Tom Sawyer is a novel written by Mark Twain and published in 1876. The book has a sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The novel conveys the idea of a teenage boy’s life through Tom and Huck’s adventures and their thinking. It also presents the theme, of freedom, as it appears quite frequently in Tom’s actions. The novel presents a teenage boy’s life as a long process so we have to be patient while a teenage boy is going through his boyhood.