Barron's Book Notes - Twain, Mark - Tom Sawyer
Barron's Book Notes - Twain, Mark - Tom Sawyer
0
Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
--------------------------------------------------------1876
MARK TWAIN'S
TOM SAWYER
by Eric F. Oatman
Editor, Scholastic Update
Scholastic Inc.
SERIES COORDINATOR
Murray Bromberg, Principal,
Wang High School of Queens, Holliswood, New York
Past President, High School Principals Association of New York City
CONTENTS
SECTION............................ SEARCH ON
TTOMPLOT
TTOMCHAR
TTOMSETT
TTOMTHEM
TTOMSTYL
TTOMVIEW
TTOMFORM
TTOMSTOR
A STEP BEYOND
Tests and Answers.................................... TTOMTEST
Term Paper Ideas and other Topics for Writing........ TTOMTERM
The Critics.......................................... TTOMCRIT
Advisory Board....................................... TTOMADVB
Bibliography......................................... TTOMBIBL
AUTHOR_AND_HIS_TIMES
-
(TTOMAUTH)
good one. He piloted riverboats, but the Civil War put him out of
work. He tried soldiering- and deserted. He spent a disastrous year
mining gold and silver.
In desperation, he became a newspaper reporter in Nevada. Running
afoul of the law, he fled to San Francisco, found another newspaper
job- and got fired.
Twain was thirty now, and about this time he sat in his room,
pointed a gun at his head, and contemplated pulling the trigger. It
was a good thing he held back. For he soon discovered that he had a
talent for "literature," as he wrote his brother, "of a low orderi.e., humorous." Over the next two decades, he wrote several books,
which made him rich and world famous. Among those books were two of
America's most important contributions to world literature: The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Surely this is the type of startling reversal worthy of Tom
Sawyer- the boy who breaks every rule imaginable, longs for a romantic
death, and ends up a rich and revered member of his community. How did
Twain manage this feat? For an answer, you should take a close look at
the man, his art, and the times in which he lived.
Twain was born on November 30, 1835, in the frontier hamlet of
Florida, Missouri. His parents named the sickly child, their fifth,
Samuel Langhorne Clemens. (He adopted the pen name Mark Twain in
1863.)
In 1839, John Clemens moved his family from their poor, two-room
shack in Florida to Hannibal, Missouri, on the banks of the
Mississippi River. Hannibal boasted only 450 citizens when they
arrived, but the town seemed destined to thrive and raise the
Clemens family's fortunes with it. Hannibal grew, but the Clemenses
did not prosper. Although John Clemens became one of the town's most
respected citizens, he went bankrupt, lost all his property in
Hannibal, and died of pneumonia in 1847. Samuel was eleven at the time
of his father's death. His mother, Jane Clemens, took him into the
room where his father's coffin lay and made him promise to behave.
"I will promise anything," Twain would remember saying, "if you
don't make me go to school! Anything!"
"No Sammy; you need not go to school anymore. Only promise to be a
better boy," his mother said. "Promise not to break my heart."
You will hear echoes of Jane Clemens in Tom Sawyer. Twain modeled
Tom's Aunt Polly after his mother, whom he called his "first and
closest friend." Aunt Polly is not Jane Clemens with a different
name and a frontier dialect, however. Jane Clemens was stronger and
quicker than Polly. When defending the oppressed, Twain would
remember, she was "the most eloquent person I have heard speak."
For two years after his father's death, Samuel worked as an
apprentice to a Hannibal printer. In 1850 his older brother, Orion,
bought a local newspaper. Samuel went to work for him, but Orion ran
such an unprofitable operation that Samuel often went without pay.
In 1853, at age seventeen, Samuel set off on his own. For two
years he worked as a typesetter in St. Louis, New York, and
Philadelphia before returning to the Mississippi Valley and working
once more for Orion, who was now a printer in Keokuk, Iowa.
At this point, Samuel had published several short pieces in
Orion's newspaper and a humorous sketch in a Boston magazine. Yet he
had no desire to make writing his life's work. He left Keokuk in
November 1856, and in the spring he persuaded a steamboat pilot on the
Mississippi River to teach him his trade. He spent the next few
years steering steamboats up and down the Mississippi. In April
1861, the Civil War halted river traffic between the North and South
and put Clemens out of work.
Clemens was unhappy to leave the river. He loved the work and its
high pay. Besides, as he wrote in 1875, "A pilot, in those days, was
the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived in
the earth...."
In Chapter 6 of Tom Sawyer, Twain speaks of Huck Finn in similar
terms. "Huckleberry came and went, at his own free will... he did
not have to go to school or to church, or call any being master or
obey anybody...."
In Iowa, Samuel's brother Orion had backed Abraham Lincoln's 1860
race for the U.S. presidency. His reward was an appointment to a
high administrative post in the Nevada Territory. He went with Orion
and spent a year unsuccessfully prospecting for gold and silver in
Nevada. Broke, he took a job writing for the Territorial Enterprise in
Virginia City, where for the first time he began signing his pieces
"Mark Twain"- the river call for a depth of two fathoms.
Precisely how he chose that name is a mystery. Clemens said he
"confiscated" it from a newspaperman who wrote for the New Orleans
Picayune in the 1850s. However, scholars can find no record of any
writer's using that name before Clemens. In Virginia City, Clemens
used the river term in a unique way. He would tell bartenders to "mark
twain"- that is, to add two more drinks to his bill. Scholars
believe it's likely he invented the New Orleans journalist story to
disguise his pen name's link to the barroom after he became
"respectable" in the East.
After fleeing to California and losing his newspaper job there,
Twain wrote sketches for a humor magazine. He published a tall tale in
a New York magazine in late 1865. The story- "The Celebrated Jumping
Frog of Calaveras County"- was reprinted in newspapers all over the
country, and marked the true start of Twain's writing career.
In January 1867, he went to New York City to write a series of
travel letters for a California newspaper. He continued writing
dispatches for the newspaper after he joined a group of wealthy
tourists bound for Europe and the Holy Land.
The trip took five months and had two important consequences for
Twain. First, it provided him with material for a book, The
Innocents Abroad, which brought him fame when it was published in
1869. Second, the trip led to his meeting Olivia ("Livy") Langdon, who
would become his wife. Livy's brother had gone on the trip and
introduced Twain to his sister afterwards. Twain and Livy were married
in February 1870 and went to live in Buffalo, New York. Some
scholars believe that Twain's description of Tom and Becky's courtship
in Tom Sawyer is a parody (take-off) of his own bumpy courtship of
Livy.
The couple moved to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1871. There Twain
wrote Roughing It, a book about his experiences in Nevada and
California. Published in 1872, the book added to his reputation as a
humorist.
In 1873, he collaborated with a neighbor, Charles Dudley Warner,
on his first novel. Called The Gilded Age, the novel satirized the
political corruption and the mania for speculation that
characterized the post Civil War era. The book earned Twain a great
deal of money. In 1874 he built his family an extravagant home in
Hartford.
Before moving into the home, the family spent the summer in Livy's
hometown of Elmira, New York, where Twain began working in earnest
on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He had actually begun the book during
the winter of 1872-73, in Hartford, but had put it aside to work on
The Gilded Age. Now, in Elmira from April to September 1874, he was
able to work almost daily on the project. Soon the writing became
forced and artificial. "I had worked myself out, pumped myself dry,"
he wrote a friend. So he put the manuscript aside and wrote a series
of articles on his steamboating days, "Old Times on the
Mississippi." It wasn't until eight months later that he returned to
Tom Sawyer.
When the book was finally published in December 1876, the reviews
were favorable. Sales, however, were another matter. A Canadian
publisher undercut the U.S. edition by flooding the country with a
cheap pirated version. Twain's own publisher sold fewer than 27,000
copies of the novel during the first year. Oddly, sales of Tom
Sawyer never really took off until after 1885, when The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn appeared and reviewers began to link the two books
in the public's mind. Since then, Americans have bought millions of
copies of the novel. It is a favorite of both children and adults- a
testament to Twain's genius for enriching his tales of childhood
with humor and penetrating insights into human nature.
Most readers agree that Tom Sawyer is Twain's second-best book.
First-place honors must go to Huckleberry Finn, where Twain explores
both language and ideas in greater depth. However, Tom Sawyer is
probably Twain's best-loved novel, and its extraordinary success
with people of all ages seems to prove it.
To understand Tom Sawyer, it may help to put yourself in Twain's
place- that of a worldly man, nearing forty, who is viewing
childhood across the bridge of thirty years. Between Twain and his
boyhood stand years of personal travel, trial, and error; a civil
war marked with heroism and sacrifice but also greed and cruelty; an
end to slavery; and startling developments in industry and
communications. From the vantage point of the post Civil War era,
the 1840s must have seemed idyllic indeed- as carefree and innocent as
an endless summer.
Primarily, Tom Sawyer is a reminiscence of Twain's boyhood, which he
recalls with a longing for the past. But it is more than a remembrance
because Twain has let his broad literary background shape his
memories.
Literary sources for Tom Sawyer include Charles Dickens' A Tale of
Two Cities, which contains a grave-robbing scene like the one Tom
and Huck witness. The treasure hunt contains elements of Edgar Allan
Poe's story, "The Gold Bug." Although in 1869 Twain claimed to dislike
Thomas Bailey Aldrich's The Story of a Bad Boy, many readers feel that
he borrowed ideas from that book, as well.
Thus, you shouldn't read Tom Sawyer as Twain's autobiography. In
fact, you even have to read Twain's real autobiography with a grain of
salt, for as he warns at the end of one chapter: "Now then, that is
the tale. Some of it is true."
The Hannibal of Twain's youth was a far rougher and shabbier place
than St. Petersburg, Twain's fictional version of his hometown. A
village on the American frontier, Hannibal had a darker side, which
Twain only hints at. As a boy, he nearly drowned three times. He
watched villagers try- unsuccessfully- to hang an anti-slavery man. He
witnessed a hanging, and he watched a man burn to death in a jail
cell. He also saw two drownings, an attempted rape, as well as two
attempted and four actual murders.
Such experiences helped Twain to understand that life is not a
THE NOVEL
THE PLOT
(TTOMPLOT)
An orphan named Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly in St.
Petersburg, Missouri, a small town on the banks of the Mississippi
River. Tom is not a "model boy," and early one summer around 1845,
he proves it. In a single day, he eats jam behind his aunt's back,
plays hooky from school and lies to his aunt about it, and fights with
a new boy in town.
With helpful hints from Sid, Tom's half-brother, Polly sees
through the lie. She punishes Tom by ordering him to whitewash her
fence on Saturday. However, Tom finds a way to avoid the work. He
makes whitewashing seem like so much fun that other boys give up their
prize possessions for the privilege of doing Tom's work.
After playing war games with friends, he notices a new girl in townBecky Thatcher- who throws him a flower. Smitten, Tom goes home,
only to be blamed by Polly for Sid's crime- breaking the sugar bowl.
At Sunday school, Tom trades his whitewashing loot for tickets
that boys earned reciting biblical verses. On the way to school the
next day, Tom runs into Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunk, and
the two plan a midnight meeting. In school, Tom proposes marriage to
Becky, who accepts until she learns that Tom was "engaged" before,
to Amy Lawrence. Sulking over his rejection, Tom skips the afternoon
THE CHARACTERS
(TTOMCHAR)
MAJOR CHARACTERS
TOM SAWYER
Tom, the novel's hero, appears in almost every scene. Poorly
behaved, scrappy, and often thoughtless in his pursuit of the
spotlight, he triumphs in spite of his bad behavior.
One of Tom's great strengths is his ability to turn everything- from
fence-painting to death- into play. He is also a born leader. Again
and again, he persuades his friends to do his bidding. Under his
command, they become fence painters, soldiers, and English knights.
Tom's leadership ability stems in part from his wide reading of
romantic literature, which makes him an "expert" on such childhood
pleasures as treasure-hunting, pirating, and the lore of Sherwood
Forest. Tom also succeeds by trickery. He makes fence-painting seem
like so much fun that boys pay him for the right to do it.
Tom is not without qualms, however. His Presbyterian upbringing
and his superstitious nature often give him bad dreams and feelings of
guilt.
Tom is basically a good boy, in spite of his continual warfare
with adults. He apologizes to Polly for embarrassing her. To protect
Becky, he takes the blame for the page she tore. He loves his aunt and
tells her so- although tardily.
Do you feel, as some readers do, that Tom matures as the novel
progresses? Or do you think he simply joins the society whose ways
he tested throughout the novel? Perhaps both views are valid- that is,
as Tom matures, he realizes how senseless it is to remain, like
Huck, at odds with "civilized" society. The novel gives you abundant
evidence to support all three views.
Curiously ageless, for most readers Tom stands as a symbol of
boyhood on the threshold of the adult world.
BECKY THATCHER
The novel's heroine, Becky Thatcher, is as complex a figure as
Tom. Like Tom, her age is not clear- anywhere from nine to thirteen.
She has blue eves and blond hair. As the book begins, she is a
new-comer in town, on an extended visit to her uncle. As the book
ends, it appears- Twain is unclear on this point- that her family
has settled in St. Petersburg. Her father is a judge, well off and
highly respected by all citizens. Twain modeled Becky after his
first sweetheart, Laura Hawkins.
Becky reflects her upbringing. She is polite, respectful of her
elders, and so well-behaved that she has never been whipped in school.
Yet in some ways she is no more a "model girl" than Tom is a "model
boy." She can be cruel. She feigns interest in Alfred Temple when it
enables her to taunt Tom. She can be vindictive. She doesn't stand
up for Tom when he's accused of spilling ink on his spelling book
because she wants him punished. She can be disobedient. Behind her
mother's back, she agrees to Tom's plan to visit Mrs. Douglas'
house. She can be a pest. She "teased" her mother to win her consent
for the picnic. She has a quick temper, as Tom discovers several
times.
to study.
MR. JONES
The Welshman who lives with his sons on Cardiff Hill, he rushes to
the widow's aid when Huck alerts him. He promises Huck he won't tell
who alerted him and remains true to his word. After Injun Joe is found
dead, however, he reveals Huck's part in the episode. He is thought to
be based on John Davies, a bookseller in Hannibal.
MR. DOBBINS
The schoolmaster, frustrated in his attempt to become a doctor, is
not a happy man. He vents his unhappiness on his students, who
avenge themselves on "Examination Night" by having a cat pull off
his wig in front of the audience. The schoolmaster in Twain's time was
J. B. Dawson, whose son, Theodore, was Hannibal's "model boy."
ALFRED TEMPLE
A newcomer from St. Louis, Temple is a snob who wears shoes on
weekdays, while all the other boys go barefoot. He is briefly Tom's
rival for Becky's affections. Spurned, he turns into a sneak and pours
ink on Tom's spelling book.
JOE HARPER
Tom's best friend, Joe accompanies Tom and Huck to Jackson's Island.
He is the first of the three to admit to homesickness.
SETTING
-
OTHER ELEMENTS
SETTING
(TTOMSETT)
THEMES
(TTOMTHEM)
SOCIETY
Tom buys temporary success in Sunday school, wins a Bible, and
gets to stand near the great Judge Thatcher. After finding the
treasure, he and Huck- an outcast for most of the novel- become
celebrities and full-fledged members of St. Petersburg society. Some
readers even believe that Tom becomes that society's apologist (a
person who speaks or writes in defense of a cause).
5. CHILDREN AND ADULTS ARE NATURALLY AT ODDS
Tension between adults and children is a recurrent theme that runs
through the novel from its first sentences to its last. Adults aim
to "civilize" children- something that children, being free spirits,
often find intolerable and rebel against. Tom and the adults in his
world are in a constant state of war- one in which he tends to win
most of the battles. Viewed from an adult perspective, Tom and
especially Huck are outlaws for refusing to accept the code of
civilized behavior. In their fantasies- as Robin Hood, pirates, and
robbers- and in the wilderness of Jackson's Island, they flourish
and are happiest.
In the end, however, Tom seems to join the enemy. He takes it upon
himself to civilize Huck, the last holdout against the bondage of
those values- cleanliness, regularity, scholarship, religious
devotion- that society deems desirable.
6. SOCIETY ENCOURAGES AND EVEN REWARDS INSINCERITY
Twain exposes insincerity many times in the novel. At the boys'
funeral, the minister, with the complicity of the congregation,
turns the boys' faults into praiseworthy deeds. On "Examination
Night," young ladies demonstrate that they have learned how to tack
sermons of "glaring insincerity" onto their compositions.
7. "BAD BOYS" CAN TRIUMPH
Tom is the type of person that many children's books used to warn
children not to be. Twain turns the message of those books on its head
here, creating a hero, rather than a villain, who lies, steals,
cheats, and disobeys his elders, yet still ends up healthy, wealthy,
and wise.
STYLE
-
STYLE
(TTOMSTYL)
In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Twain uses language that is, for
the most part, simple, direct, and unpretentious. In most of his
sentences, every word has a job. "The old lady pulled her spectacles
down and looked over them, about the room," he writes in Chapter 1;
"then she put them up and looked out under them." A typical Twain
sentence, it describes a comic action- Aunt Polly's glasses were
useless- with precision and not a word more than needed. No wonder his
spare (lean) style influenced so many writers who followed him,
including Ernest Hemingway, who once said that all American literature
begins with Mark Twain.
Twain's style in this novel is not consistently spare, however. In
places, his style becomes indirect, wordy, and unnecessarily
"fancy." Sulking in Chapter 3, Tom "wandered far from the accustomed
haunts of boys, and sought desolate places that were in harmony with
his spirit. A log raft in the river invited him, and he seated himself
on its outer edge and contemplated the dreary vastness of the
stream...."
This is one of the many passages that Twain might have simplified
but didn't. He probably wanted to mock Tom's romantic posturing by
using the type of overblown prose that writers such as James
Fenimore Cooper used. However, no such reasoning can explain
complicating his prose with such words as "ambuscade" and
"adamantine"- both found in one sentence at the end of Chapter 1.
Compared with the simple words Twain uses most of the time, these
words seem phony, an attempt to sound "literary."
Twain himself preaches against "fine language" and "prized words" in
Chapter 21. In general, he heeds his own advice and sticks to simple
words and sentences.
Twain's imagery- mostly visual, sometimes auditory and tactile
(pertaining to touch)- is never flashy. It is most evident when his
attention turns to nature, as on Jackson's Island in Chapter 14. Tom
awakens to a "cool gray dawn" (tactile and visual) and observes
"beaded dew-drops" (visual) on the leaves. "A white layer of ashes
covered the fire, and a thin blue breath of smoke rose straight into
the air" (visual). The birds awaken, and "presently [Tom hears] the
hammering of a woodpecker" (auditory).
There's nothing forced about such images. They are as simple and
as natural as Twain's informal language. Yet there's a beauty to their
simplicity that gives them power. It might be useful to jot down the
first ten images that make an impression on you and ask yourself why
they are memorable.
Much of the book's humor comes from the several dialects (variations
of local speech) that Twain's characters speak. "Hang the boy, can't I
never learn anything?" Polly asks herself in Chapter 1. "Ain't he
played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him
by this time? But old fools is the biggest fools there is."
By recording the way people actually talked on the Missouri
frontier, Twain makes his characters both believable and funny. He
points up the humor in everyday situations. Such a writer is called
a "comic realist"- someone who portrays life humorously but
faithfully.
Twain faces the everyday world as a frontier humorist, a writer
(or lecturer) who masks his sophistication behind an unassuming
"aw-shucks" demeanor. This air of innocence enables Twain to deliver
social criticism in an offhanded, almost unintentional way. "A
robber is more high-toned than what a pirate is- as a general
thing," Tom tells Huck in Chapter 33. "In most countries they're
[robbers are] awful high up in the nobility- dukes and such." With a
seemingly innocent remark, Twain pokes fun at society's upper crust by
suggesting that it is made up of thieves. This aspect of his humor can
be seen as, ultimately, subversive.
Twain can evoke terror as well as laughter with his descriptions.
You will notice that much of the power of Chapter 31, in which Tom and
Becky are lost in the cave, comes from Twain's ability to direct
your attention to key details. "Under the roof," he writes, "vast
knots of bats had packed themselves together, thousands in a bunch;
the lights disturbed the creatures and they came flocking down by
hundreds, squeaking and darting furiously at the candles." Twain's
simple descriptive style is a flexible tool, and he uses it
masterfully to tell his story and guide your reactions to it.
POINT_OF_VIEW
POINT OF VIEW
(TTOMVIEW)
(TTOMFORM)
they all end somewhat predictably- two with resurrections, one with
a narrow escape from the gallows, and one with a villain's death and
the capture of his treasure. Finally, all four stories have the same
hero- Tom Sawyer- an orphan who raises himself from near rags to
near riches on the strength of his courage and imagination.
DEDICATION
-
THE STORY
(TTOMSTOR)
DEDICATION
Twain adored his wife, Olivia Langdon Clemens, whom he had married
only two years before beginning work on Tom Sawyer. She read his books
before they were published and often suggested changes.
When Twain finished Tom Sawyer, he felt that he had written a book
for adults. Olivia and Twain's friend, the novelist and editor William
Dean Howells, convinced him otherwise. "Mrs. Clemens decides with
you that the book should issue as a book for boys, pure and simpleand so do I," he wrote Howells. "It is surely the correct idea."
PREFACE
PREFACE
Like the conclusion that Twain tacks onto the end, the preface is an
integral part of the novel. Don't skip it. Its three short
paragraphs suggest Twain's aim of creating a realistic portrait of
small-town life "thirty or forty years ago." Since the novel was
published in 1876, this places the action in the 1840s.
The 1840s were idyllic times for Hannibal, the model for St.
Petersburg. The little river town of more than a thousand people in
the mid-1840s was thriving. The question of allowing Missouri to enter
the Union as a slave state had been fiercely debated two decades
earlier, with Missouri entering the Union as a slave state in 1821.
The upheaval of the Civil War was still a long way off.
Twain says that "most of the adventures recorded in this book really
occurred." This statement is largely true, although Twain
embellished his adventures with material gleaned from his wide
reading, as has been noted in "The Author and His Times" section.
Twain also refers to the superstitions "prevalent in the West"
(the Midwest, today) when he was a boy. These superstitions- part of
the folklore of his times- fascinated him. He had begun taking notes
on them more than ten years before he wrote Tom Sawyer.
Finally, Twain tells you exactly for whom the book was written.
Always on the lookout for ways to enlarge his readership, Twain
describes the book's audience in the broadest terms. It is a book
for boys and girls, he says. But, he hopes adults will read it, too,
as a reminder of "what they once were themselves, and of how they felt
and thought and talked...."
CHAPTER_1
-
CHAPTER 1
Approach this chapter as you would another world- one that existed
nearly a century and a half before you were born. Try to imagine the
people who live there. You meet two of the book's major characters:
Tom Sawyer and his Aunt Polly. You also meet two minor characters
who act as Tom's "foils"- people who make him look better. One is Sid,
CHAPTER 2
This chapter takes the story of Tom's Saturday from late afternoon
to bedtime. Its episodic structure- seven episodes strung togetherreflects the structure of the entire novel. A close look at the way
the episodic pattern works in this chapter will help you understand
the way the novel is structured.
EPISODE 1: Tom reports "his" fence-painting success to Aunt Polly,
who examines the work to make sure he's telling the truth. When she
discovers the job done, she turns a compliment into a lesson: "You can
work when you're a mind to, Tom." She even delivers his reward- an
apple- with a quote from the Bible. This lesson misses its mark,
too. As she talks about the value of getting something "without sin
through virtuous effort," Tom steals a doughnut.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: POLLY'S HOUSE Twain's description of Polly's house is a
clue that he is thinking of the house he lived in as a boy in
Hannibal. The Clemens house still exists and can be visited, as can
the house across the street, which belonged to Elijah Hawkins. The
Hawkins house is mentioned later in this chapter as the Thatcher
house.
--------------------------------------------------------------------EPISODE 2: Outside, Tom settles a score with Sid by clobbering him
with clods of dirt. Polly rescues Sid, and Tom leaps the fence, in too
much of a hurry to use the gate.
EPISODE 3: Tom and his friend Joe Harper lead opposing "armies" of
boys in a mock battle in the village square. Tom's army wins a
"great victory."
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: TOM'S GENERALSHIP Whenever Tom is with other boys, he takes a
leadership role. Often, as here, the role is a romantic one. What does
this tell you about Tom's character? Does he have a need to manipulate
others? Or does his love of being in the spotlight as a heroic
figure prompt him to devise ways to gain attention?
--------------------------------------------------------------------EPISODE 4: Tom passes Jeff Thatcher's house and spots a "lovely
little blue-eyed creature with yellow hair." She is Becky Thatcher,
although Twain doesn't reveal her name here. Tom is so taken by this
pretty stranger that he forgets his former love, Amy Lawrence, and
begins showing off in front of Becky. Playing her part in this
courting ritual, Becky tosses a pansy to Tom as she disappears into
the house. Tom remains in front of her house until nightfall, still
showing off.
EPISODE 5: Tom's spirits are so high at supper that his aunt's
scolding doesn't faze him. Sid accidentally breaks the sugar bowl, and
Tom can't wait to see his good brother punished. Polly assumes Tom
broke the bowl, however, and knocks him down.
She is conscience-struck when she realizes she hit the wrong person.
Yet as a figure of authority, she can't bring herself to admit she was
wrong. Tom, in a sulk, refuses to allow her to make up to him. He
fantasizes revenge: lying on his deathbed, he refuses to forgive
her; drowned, he does not come to life when Polly begs God to "give
her back her boy." These fantasies foreshadow the adventures that will
CHAPTER 4
This chapter concerns Sunday school and the preparations for it. The
first chapter in which adults play an extensive role, it gives you a
chance to compare the children and their elders- and perhaps to
discover some resemblances.
Sunday morning begins with breakfast and family worship. The worship
consists largely of biblical quotations and "a grim chapter of the
Mosaic Law"- codes of conduct, including the Ten Commandments,
handed down mainly in the Old Testament by Moses.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: THE NOVEL AS IDYLL Many readers describe Tom Sawyer as an
idyll- a composition in poetry or prose that paints a scene or
episode, especially of country life, as one of tranquil happiness. The
opening paragraph of this chapter defines such a scene. So does the
first sentence of the chapter, when it evokes the "tranquil world"
of a "peaceful village" on a Sunday morning. But what follows- Tom's
escapades in Sunday school- may seem far from idyllic. Yet, his pranks
are essentially harmless and playful, as are all activities that are
ordinarily memorialized in idylls.
--------------------------------------------------------------------Before Sunday school, Tom focuses his energies on learning by
heart five verses from the Bible. In Sunday school, the children
earn a small blue ticket for every two verses they recite
accurately. Once they have memorized 2000 verses, they can cash in
their tickets for 40-cent Bibles. Mary earned two Bibles this way, and
a boy "of German parentage" won four or five.
To get Tom to learn his verses, selected from Jesus' Sermon on the
Mount (Matthew 5-7), Mary offers him another prize. This turns out
CHAPTER 5
The church service gives the townspeople and their minister, Mr.
Sprague, ample chance to show off. It also allows Twain to continue to
describe Hannibal's cast of characters and routine happenings.
Twain finds a great deal to mock in the procession of townspeople
down the church aisle. The "unnecessary" mayor, the young girls
dressed in fancy linen ("lawn-clad"), and their "oiled and simpering
admirers." To Tom, the "Model Boy, Willie Mufferson" stands out as
particularly noxious. The boys hate Willie, who has been held up by
their parents as an example of proper behavior.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: TWAIN'S ASIDES Twain steps into his narrative a couple of
times in this chapter to comment on the action. In one instance, he
adds an aside about "ill-bred" church choirs. In another, he
comments on the "queer custom" of ministers' reeling off
announcements. Some readers see these asides as awkward intrusions.
Others view them as a fitting part of Twain's unique storytelling
style, which he developed while touring as a lecturer. How do the
asides affect you?
--------------------------------------------------------------------The Reverend Mr. Sprague is an impressive speaker- to his ears and
those of other adults, at least. To Tom, he is a bore. During the
prayer, Tom focuses on a fly; during the sermon, he counts the pages
that Sprague reads from.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: "PREDESTINED ELECT" To understand one of this chapter's
best jokes, you have to know something about the beliefs of the
Presbyterian Church. The "predestined elect" are those chosen by God
before their deaths to enter Heaven and join God in everlasting joy.
Apparently, Sprague has made this designated elite group seem so small
that they appear insignificant to Tom, who wonders why such a tiny
group should be worth God's notice at all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------Tom perks up when the minister describes the millennium- the
thousand years of righteousness and happiness that the Bible
predicts are coming. According to one prophecy (Isaiah 11:6),
animals that were once foes will become friends, with a little child
to lead them. This idea appeals to Tom, who would like to be that
child- and the center of the world's attention.
Almost accidentally, Tom converts the church service into play, as
he does most everything else. Playing with a beetle he has brought
to church, he drops it on the aisle, out of his reach. A dog plays
with the beetle and gets pinched by it, to the delight of the
congregation.
CHAPTER_6
-
CHAPTER 6
--------------------------------------------------------------------CHAPTER_7
CHAPTER 7
Twain divides this chapter into two episodes. In the first, you meet
Tom's best friend, Joe Harper. The second episode continues the tale
of Tom's courtship of Becky Thatcher.
Bored with school, Tom begins to play with the tick that Huck traded
him. He devises a game with Joe Harper, who is as intrigued with the
bug as Tom is. When the boys argue over the tick, the schoolmaster
gets wind of their diversion and whacks them.
During the noon recess, Becky and Tom sneak back into the school.
Tom proposes marriage to Becky, who likes the idea of being
"engaged" to him. But Tom makes a slip, and Becky realizes that he has
been "engaged" before, to Amy Lawrence. Becky refuses to be
consoled. Hurt, Tom leaves the school.
CHAPTER_8
-
CHAPTER 8
Tom's mood jumps from gloom to delight in this chapter. Note how
fantasy and play help him rebound from the sadness caused by a
real-world disappointment.
Reacting to Becky's rejection, Tom runs through the woods for a half
hour. He finds his way to a familiar spot and thinks how liberating
death would be- "if he could only die temporarily!" This wish
foreshadows the events in Chapter 17, when he attends his own funeral.
He fantasizes becoming a soldier, an Indian chief, and a pirate.
What's the point of these fantasies? Are they a kind of revenge- a way
of showing "his companions," especially Becky, how dashing a figure
they had as a friend? Or is it that projecting himself into romantic
situations makes him feel better about himself?
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: BURLESQUE OF ROMANTIC LITERATURE The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
is in many ways a burlesque- a takeoff on a literary work or type of
work. As already noted, it makes fun of the type of book that shows
how good boys (or model boys) prosper. In this chapter's opening
paragraph, Tom's brooding appears to many readers as a burlesque of
the nineteenth-century convention, in Romantic novels, of the
melancholy forest scene. However, Twain uses Tom's imitation of a
Romantic hero in another way. Tom's brooding ends with a joke, "if
he could only die temporarily!" Here, instead of mocking a literary
convention, Twain mocks Tom as well. A good part of the novel's
humor comes from this gentle indulgence on the part of the narrator.
--------------------------------------------------------------------Tom's decision to run away and become a pirate energizes him. He
tests a superstition about recovering lost marbles and finds it
doesn't work. Yet he refuses to lose faith in superstitions. He
convinces himself that a witch made his test fail.
The blast of a toy trumpet announces the start of another episode.
Joe Harper appears, pretending to be Guy of Guisborne, and Tom
transforms himself into Robin Hood for a series of adventures played
"by the book."
-
CHAPTER 9
The novel's major plot line- the framing of Muff Potter in Dr.
Robinson's murder- begins in this chapter. The chapter also
indicates that St. Petersburg has a dark side.
As Tom lies in bed awaiting Huck's appearance, he is frightened by
the sound of a beetle (a "death-watch") ticking in the wall. He
believes the superstition that its sound- a watch's ticking- means
that someone is about to die. The events that follow won't
contradict this belief.
Huck arrives as promised, carrying his dead cat and sounding like
a live one. They walk to a graveyard about a mile and a half outside
of town.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: TWAIN'S LANGUAGE Twain once said, "The difference between the
right word and the wrong word is the difference between the
lightning and the lightning bug." Watch how carefully Twain chooses
his words especially adjectives and verbs- as he sets his spooky scene
here. The fence is "crazy." Grass and weeds grow "rank" (excessive).
Old graves are "sunken." "Worm-eaten" boards "staggered" over the
graves while a "faint" wind "moaned." Watch for other examples of
Twain's suggestive imagery.
--------------------------------------------------------------------The "solemnity and silence" of the graveyard keep the boys quiet
while they hide a few feet from Hoss Williams' fresh grave. The
sound of people approaching terrifies them. For a moment Huck thinks a
lantern is "devil-fire"- the burning of gases released by decaying
matter. Soon they realize that they are in the presence not of
devils but of three men they know: Muff Potter, a good-for-nothing;
Injun Joe, a "half-breed"; and Dr. Robinson, a young physician from
the town. Dr. Robinson has hired the others to dig up Hoss Williams'
body so that he can experiment on it. (Because of legal
restrictions, there was always a shortage of cadavers for doctors
and medical students to study, and the practice of grave robbing, or
body snatching, was not uncommon.)
When Hoss Williams' body has been dug up and tied to a
wheelbarrow, Potter and Injun Joe demand more money. The men fight.
Robinson knocks out Potter, and Injun Joe murders Robinson with
Potter's knife. Tom and Huck, caught up in a real adventure and not
a fantasy, leap up and flee.
The narrator lingers behind to report the murder's aftermath.
Injun Joe robs Robinson's body and places the murder weapon in
Potter's hand. When Potter comes to, Joe convinces him that he
(Potter) murdered the doctor; Potter trots off, leaving his knife
behind.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: INJUN JOE'S VENGEFULNESS Twain goes to some length to provide
Injun Joe with a motive for killing Robinson. Injun Joe feels he was
mistreated five years earlier when the Robinsons refused him food
and had him jailed as a vagrant. Injun Joe's vengefulness is a key
to his character- one that will explain his later actions and
terrify Tom and Huck into silence.
--------------------------------------------------------------------CHAPTER_10
-
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER_11
CHAPTER 11
This chapter adds weight to the opinion that St. Petersburg is not
an entirely idyllic place. Mixed with the nostalgia are corpses,
citizens ready to condemn the innocent before trial, and haunting
nightmares.
The discovery of Dr. Robinson's body electrifies the town. The
schoolmaster gives the students the afternoon off, and the townspeople
flock to the graveyard.
The murder weapon has been found and identified as Muff Potter's.
So, when he turns up- seeking his knife- the sheriff confronts him
with the evidence. Broken, he tells Injun Joe, who is in the crowd, to
explain what happened. Huck and Tom stand dumbfounded as they listen
to the real murderer pin the crime on Potter.
When Injun Joe helps put Robinson's corpse in a wagon, the body
seems to bleed a little. According to superstition- a corpse bleeds
when its murderer is near. But since Muff Potter is only three feet
away at the time, no one in the superstitious crowd except Huck and
Tom thinks to suspect Injun Joe.
Tom has begun crying out in his sleep, so tormented is he by his
secret knowledge. Sid is eager to crack the mystery, and Tom is just
as eager to hide it. Tom pretends he has a toothache so that he can
tie his jaw closed at night to keep himself from talking.
In time, Tom is haunted less and less by nightmares. To ease his
conscience, he smuggles "small comforts" to Potter, who has been
jailed in "a little brick den" on the side of the village.
The boys aren't the only people in town who are afraid of Injun Joe.
Some want to tar-and-feather him for his part in the body-snatching,
but no one has the courage to do it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: PARALLELS WITH TWAIN'S CHILDHOOD When Twain was eighteen,
in 1853, he gave some matches to a drunken tramp who had been put in
Hannibal's jail- an unguarded place very much like the one Potter is
held in here. That night the tramp accidentally set fire to his cell
and burned to death. Twain recalled years later that the tramp "lay
upon my conscience a hundred nights afterwards and filled them with
hideous dreams." How might his feelings about the tramp have helped
Twain understand Tom's guilt over Potter?
--------------------------------------------------------------------CHAPTER_12
-
CHAPTER 12
Twain offers you some comic relief in this chapter. The episode
serves as a bridge between two story lines: the murder and its
aftermath, and Tom's running away to Jackson's Island in Chapter 13.
The chapter uses another plot line- Tom's courtship of Becky
Thatcher- as a springboard. Becky is sick, and her absence from school
takes all the joy out of Tom's life. It seems that Becky's sickness is
one thing that Tom can't transform into play.
Yet Aunt Polly manages to turn Tom's woe into a form of play for
herself. She loves to experiment with patent (non-prescription)
medicines, and Tom's depression provides a challenge to her
inventiveness.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: MODEL FOR POLLY'S QUACKERY As early as 1866, when Twain was
on a steamer headed for Hawaii, he jotted down memories that would
become part of Tom Sawyer. Some of those notes described his
mother's attempts to make him swallow a patent medicine called
Pain-Killer (spelled, incorrectly, Painkiller in some editions). The
medicine was supposed to be used externally to soothe aching muscles
and bruises. But his mother, an avid reader of the "quack periodicals"
Twain criticizes here, thought that Pain-Killer might have internal
uses, as well. Twain, in turn, gave a dose of the medicine to his catwith the consequences he elaborates on in this chapter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------Tom can't hide from Polly's "persecution." But, despite his
gloominess, he finds a defense, once more, in a game from which he
will emerge victorious. He pretends to want her Pain-Killer so much
that she finally allows him to serve himself, and Tom pours doses of
the vile liquid through a crack in the floor. While he is doing
this, Peter, the cat, begs for a taste. Tom gives him one, and Peter
leaps around the room in pain. "Cats always act so when they're having
a good time," he tells Polly.
He continues speaking ironically- saying one thing and meaning
another- even after Polly discovers what has happened. "I done it
out of pity for him- because he hadn't any aunt." Tom now has Polly
where he wants her- feeling remorseful. "What was cruelty to a cat
might be cruelty to a boy, too," she allows. Tom has won his game.
But the chapter ends in defeat for him. He sets off to school
early and hangs around the schoolyard gate hoping to see Becky
Thatcher. She shows up, and Tom is suddenly beside himself with
happiness. But his showing off only brings a reproach from Becky,
crushing him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: TOM'S BEHAVIOR Some readers aren't amused by Tom's
strenuous efforts to gain attention. "Adults might think such antics
are cute," Robert Keith Miller writes in his book, Mark Twain. "But
they're not the ones being knocked over or having their hat
snatched. The actual victims of his aggression probably welcomed the
days on which Tom chose to stay away from school." What do you think
Tom's classmates feel about him? Could Twain's nostalgia for his
boyhood lead him to overlook the fact that Tom might be a nuisance? Or
are such speculations beside the point?
--------------------------------------------------------------------CHAPTER_13
-
CHAPTER 13
A third story line- Tom's running away with Joe Harper and Huckbegins with this chapter. This story will be the focus of the novel
for five chapters
Driven away by the two girls he loves- Polly and Becky- Tom sulks.
He convinces himself that he has been forced to "lead a life of
crime." The school bell rings as he walks away from it, and he sobs.
Tom meets Joe Harper, who also plans to run away. Tom persuades him to
become a pirate. Once more, Tom's fantasies, gleaned from books,
overpower a comrade.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: "TWO SOULS," ETC. Twain calls Joe and Tom "two souls with but
a single thought." This is a reference to the last two lines of
Ingomar the Barbarian, a play by Von Munch Bellinghausen that Twain
saw in Virginia City, Nevada, in 1863. The play ends, "Two souls
with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one." Evidently,
Twain believed that his readers would recognize the quote.
--------------------------------------------------------------------The boys decide to run away to Jackson's Island- Twain's fictional
name for Glasscock's Island, opposite Hannibal. They get Huckleberry
Finn to join them. The three boys steal provisions and meet at
midnight two miles above the village.
They are clearly enacting an adventure- one right out of
storybooks that Tom has read. Note the gallant names: Tom, "the
Black Avenger"; Huck Finn "the Red-Handed"; and Joe "the Terror of the
Seas." Ned Buntline's Black Avenger, noted earlier, is the source of
Tom's nickname. Buntline's 1847 book, The Last Days of Callao, may
be the source of Huck's nickname. In that book, a pirate ship hoists a
white flag emblazoned with "a blood-red hand."
They steal a raft and head out into the Mississippi. Tom, naturally,
is in charge- after all, it's his fantasy. His companions man the
oars.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: TWAIN'S STYLE Twain's use of words, especially in descriptive
passages about nature, can be quite beautiful. Take a moment to
savor his description of the boys' nighttime view of St. Petersburg,
"peacefully sleeping, beyond the vague vast sweep of star-gemmed
water...." You might want to note poetic passages like this and
write about them later in a consideration of Twain's style.
--------------------------------------------------------------------The raft drifts downstream five miles and comes to rest on the north
end of Jackson's Island, where they make camp.
Afterwards, they have a discussion that accentuates the
differences between Huck and the other two boys. Tom and Joe are
thrilled to think that their classmates would envy them. Huck
doesn't care what others think. Nor is he happy, as Tom is, not to
have to "go to school, and wash"- things Huck never does anyway.
Huck is content to be eating well and to be out of range of St.
Petersburg's respectable citizens, who badger ("bully-rag") him.
Huck lights a pipe and smokes it- something the other boys have
never done. He's ashamed of his clothes. "I ain't dressed fitten for a
pirate," he concludes. Yet he sleeps easily. The other boys, more
accustomed to telling right from wrong, feel guilty and have trouble
falling asleep.
CHAPTER_14
-
CHAPTER 14
This chapter describes the boys' first full day on Jackson's Island.
It is a day of roller-coaster mood swings, especially for Joe and Tom.
Notice how plot twists shape the boys' moods and how the moods, in
turn, shape the story.
The chapter opens with a long description of the island's animal
life "shaking off sleep and going to work." The boys spend most of the
CHAPTER 15
This chapter explains Tom's secrecy and sets the stage for the
next two chapters. It also gives you a glimpse of Tom as a genuinely
loving nephew.
Tom wades, then swims to the Illinois shore, where he hides in a
rowboat tied to the stern of the ferry and is towed back to
Missouri. In St. Petersburg, he sneaks into Polly's house and crawls
under her bed in the sitting room. Sid, Polly, Mary, and Joe
Harper's mother are at the table, bemoaning the lost children. Their
words give Tom a nobler opinion of himself than ever before."
Tom's earlier hope of dying- temporarily- has come true. He hears
his former tormentors grieve over him and he's overwhelmed, partly
with pride, partly with love for his aunt. He learns that the boys'
funerals will be held Sunday morning- four days away.
After Mrs. Harper leaves, Polly goes to bed. Her prayer for Tom is
so moving, it makes him cry. She falls asleep, and Tom creeps over
to the table, where the candle still burns, and leaves the note he
wrote for her. But a thought makes him change his mind. He pockets the
note, kisses his sleeping aunt, and exits. He rows back to the
Illinois shore and, after sunrise, swims back to Jackson's Island.
After recounting his adventures, he sleeps until noon while Huck and
Joe play.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: TOM'S CRAFTINESS Skillful storytellers build suspense by
withholding enough of their stories to keep readers turning pages.
Twain does this here, raising questions about Tom's goals, revealing
them by describing his journey home, then creating another mystery
by having Tom pocket the note he has written to Polly.
Interestingly, Twain's narrative method parallels Tom's method as a
strategist. Tom keeps his goals a secret from his family and friends
until he can reveal them with a final dramatic flourish. In Chapter
12, he plotted a game designed to stop Polly from persecuting him with
Pain-Killer, and he never revealed his goal until he had Polly
cornered. Similarly, he doesn't let his friends know the purpose of
his trip home. Can you guess why he is so slow to show his hand?
--------------------------------------------------------------------CHAPTER_16
CHAPTER 16
later of six, after the Tuscaroras joined them around 1722. These
tribes dominated the western part of what is today New York State.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: UNDERSTANDING TWAIN'S ALLUSIONS Why is it worth your while to
track down these allusions, or passing references, such as the mention
of the Six Nations and the phrase from the Book of Jude? For one
thing, the effort gives you a deeper appreciation of The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer as literature and as a historical document. It leads you to
a deeper understanding of the text- of Twain's meaning and the way
he expresses it. In addition, the references are clues to the way
Twain's contemporaries thought, and to what they thought about. For
example, Indians were much on Americans' minds in the 1870s.
(General George Custer made his famous "last stand" against the
Sioux in 1876, the year Tom Sawyer was published.) Also, it was a rare
American family that didn't own a Bible and refer to it regularly.
Biblical stories and teachings shaped the way Americans thought, and
biblical phrases cropped up in conversation the way lines from popular
songs do now.
--------------------------------------------------------------------CHAPTER_17
-
CHAPTER 17
Twain reveals Tom's secret in this short chapter, which provides the
climax of the Jackson's Island adventure. As you read, note how subtly
Twain uses irony to bring out the underlying humor of this elaborate
practical joke.
On Saturday, while the boys are playing Indians on Jackson's Island,
the town of St. Petersburg is shrouded with grief. Becky, in tears,
wishes she had kept the brass andiron knob "to remember [Tom] by."
Elsewhere, children envy those among them who were the last to see the
boys alive.
On Sunday, the boys' funerals take the place of the regular church
service. The minister's "text,"- the New Testament passage that
introduces the subject of his sermon- is John 11:25-26. In this
passage, common at funerals, Jesus promises life after death to people
who believe Him to be the resurrection and the life"- the giver of
eternal life. Would the boys qualify as believers? For evidence, you
might reread Tom and Huck's exchange inside the tannery in Chapter 10.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: USE OF IRONY Twain shows himself a master of irony- saying
one thing while suggesting another- in this chapter. Note especially
how he describes the minister's "pictures of the graces, the winning
ways and the rare promise of the lost lads." Of course, few peopleprobably including the minister- ever saw anything but "faults and
flaws" in the boys. The funeral sermon is a literary convention (a
generally accepted form) that regularly transforms sinners into
saints, and Twain gently mocks that convention here.
Note that though he may be stretching the truth, the minister is not
speaking ironically. He wants his listeners to believe he is
sincere. It's Twain who is being ironic. He presents alternative
interpretations of the boys' characters and pranks to suggest that the
minister's view of the boys' "sweet, generous natures" may be
inaccurate. Inaccurate, perhaps, but convincing. At the end, even
the minister is in tears!
CHAPTER 18
With this chapter, Twain begins to discard the plot line that
described the escapade on Jackson's Island. He returns Tom to "the
world of the living"- and to Tom's difficult courtship of Becky
Thatcher.
Twain opens with a paragraph that ties up loose ends about the boys'
return to St. Petersburg. Then he moves on to breakfast before
school Monday morning. Polly can't understand how Tom let her
believe he was dead.
To make her feel better, he says, "I dreamed about you, anyway.
That's something, ain't it?" At Polly's urging, he tells her about his
"dream," a detailed description of the activities he witnessed from
beneath Polly's bed. Polly is amazed at this clairvoyance- the ability
to see things that one does not witness in person- and rewards him
with an apple.
At school, Tom and Joe are heroes. They embellish their adventures
with imaginary "material" and dazzle their friends with their new
skill- smoking.
Tom decides to play hard-to-get with Becky. While she tries to
gain his attention, he carries on an animated conversation with Amy
Lawrence. Becky vows to get even. At recess, she sits with Alfred
Temple, the new boy from St. Louis with whom Tom fought in Chapter
1. Tom, incensed, suddenly finds Amy's chirping "intolerable."
Tom goes home at noon, beside himself with jealousy. Once Tom is
gone, Becky loses interest in Alfred Temple and dismisses him. Smart
enough to realize why, he slips into the deserted schoolhouse and
spills ink on Tom's spelling book. Although Becky sees Alfred do this,
she is so angry with Tom that she decides to let him be punished for
something he didn't do.
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
--------------------------------------------------------------------CHAPTER_21
-
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
This chapter, along with the last one, acts as a bridge between plot
lines. Two chapters back, Twain took a break from the story of Tom's
courtship of Becky. Now Tom marks time during the first weeks of
summer until Twain, in Chapter 23, picks up the threads of the
murder story with Muff Potter's trial. Twain, however, doesn't waste
your time here. He presents an entertaining review of small-town
life before movies, TV, and radio provided the distractions they do
today.
Tom is attracted to the temperance movement not by any urge to stamp
out drinking and smoking but by the chance to wear a showy uniform.
Just as Huck Finn became an irresistible companion when parents
forbade their children to play with him, Tom is now tormented by an
urge to drink and swear- two things he promised not to do when he
joined the Cadets of Temperance.
CHAPTER 23
The plot line that concerns Dr. Robinson's murder ends with Muff
Potter's trial and Tom's testimony, which provides the climax of the
story (and, some readers feel, of the novel itself). As the murder
story is resolved, a fourth story begins, involving the fate of
Injun Joe.
Muff Potter's trial for murder brings the sleepy town to life. Tom
and Huck wrestle with their consciences. But they won't come forth and
tell what they know about the murder for fear Injun Joe will kill
them.
During the first two days of the trial, the boys hang around outside
the courthouse and learn that things are going poorly for Potter.
Tom stays out late the night of the second day, although Twain doesn't
explain why. Tom's "tremendous state of excitement" keeps him awake
for several hours. Can you imagine where he has been?
The courthouse is packed on the third day of the trial. Tom takes
the stand as a surprise witness.
He glances at Injun Joe and is at first speechless. Yet he finds his
voice and explains that he and someone else (Potter's lawyer
counsels him not to reveal Huck's name yet) saw Muff Potter knocked
out and Dr. Robinson murdered by Injun Joe.
At these words, Injun Joe leaps through the window and disappears.
Thus ends the story of Dr. Robinson's murder. But its resolution
creates another mystery and a fourth plot line. What will happen to
Injun Joe? Will he try to kill Tom and Huck, as the boys feared?
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: TOM'S MATURATION Does Tom's bravery surprise you? It
shouldn't, because Twain has carefully prepared you for it with a
parallel episode, where Tom took the blame for Becky after she tore
Mr. Dobbins' anatomy book. He seems to have reached a stage in his
moral development where he is not merely able to tell the difference
between right and wrong but also to act what he believes is right.
How does he differ from Huck in this regard? Why didn't Huck step
forward with Tom, or instead of Tom? Some readers feel that, as a
child of the streets, Huck lives by a code that puts his own
survival first. Others explain the difference between the two boys
CHAPTER 24
The next ten chapters largely concern Injun Joe's fate. This chapter
describes the aftermath of Tom's testimony and builds suspense by
reminding you several times that the murderer is still at large.
Tom is a genuine hero. His celebrity, though delicious to him,
does little to calm his fears. His nights are "seasons of horror,"
terrorized by dreams of Injun Joe.
Huck is terrified that Injun Joe might hear that he witnessed the
murder, too. Potter's lawyer has promised to tell no one. But Huck has
lost faith in such promises, now that Tom has broken the blood oath
between them.
Tom fears that he will never be safe until he has seen Injun Joe's
corpse. Remember this statement. It foreshadows the resolution of this
plot line by setting- in Tom's eyes- the only acceptable terms for a
successful outcome.
A big-city detective from St. Louis arrives to investigate the case.
He finds a clue (Twain spelled it "clew")- hardly a substitute for
Injun Joe's corpse.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: OUTSIDERS The citizens of St. Petersburg are in awe of
outsiders such as the detective from St. Louis and Judge Thatcher,
whose "very eyes had looked upon the county court house," twelve miles
away in Constantinople. By citing the townspeople's exalted view of
outsiders, Twain demonstrates that St. Petersburg is small and
isolated enough to give its residents an inferiority complex. However,
the narrator's ironic tone lets you know he is even more sophisticated
than the outsiders. He calls the detective "one of those omniscient
and awe-inspiring marvels" in a tone that indicates that the man is
anything but awesome. One of the novel's minor villains- in Tom's
eyes, at least- is Alfred Temple, another outsider from St. Louis.
What Temple has in common with the two adults is that he seems like an
adult, dressing like a dandy and wearing shoes. Only one outsider,
Becky Thatcher, comes off well. Can you suggest why?
--------------------------------------------------------------------CHAPTER_25
-
CHAPTER 25
Twain sets the stage for further adventures with this chapter, in
which Tom and Huck hunt for buried treasure. The chapter gives you a
wonderful chance to note the many differences between the boys.
Tom can't find anyone to hunt treasure with until he bumps into
Huck. Huck goes along, because Tom's proposal promises to be
entertaining and free. Huck, you're told, has a "superabundance of
that sort of time which is not money." Tom is once again the leader of
an adventure he designed. Huck regards him as an expert on
treasure-hunting, and Tom is happy to live up to Huck's
expectations. He explains where treasure is likely to be hidden, who
hides it, and why. Huck, whose mind is very practical, can't
understand why anyone would hide money. "I'd spend it and have a
good time." So would Tom, but he knows from books that "robbers
don't do it that way."
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: "STILL-HOUSE BRANCH" Tom says there may be treasure in the
old haunted house "up the Still-House branch." This refers to an
actual stream (branch) in Hannibal where one of the town's three
distilleries was located.
--------------------------------------------------------------------While digging beneath a dead tree limb, the boys discuss how they'll
spend their treasure. Tom surprises Huck by saying he'll use some of
his money to get married. Huck remembers his parents' fights. "The
girl I'm going to marry won't fight," Tom says. Is he deceiving
himself? How much time have he and Becky spent together without
fighting?
The boys haven't dropped their superstitions, as their discussion of
witches and ghosts illustrates. Folk wisdom, perhaps gleaned from a
book, tells Tom that they can best locate the site of buried
treasure at midnight. So the boys return at night- an indication
that Tom's fear of Injun Joe has abated. They measure the shadow of
a dead limb and start digging. When they find no treasure, they decide
they must have measured the shadow at the wrong time.
CHAPTER_26
-
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
This brief chapter allows the boys to assess their situation and
plot a future course. It also establishes, perhaps more clearly than
ever, the differences between Tom, the visionary leader, and Huck, the
more down-to-earth follower.
Tom dreams of possessing the treasure but awakens knowing it has
eluded his grasp. Thinking how unreal Saturday's adventure seems, he
concludes that it might all have been a dream. He rushes out to
compare notes with Huck, who assures him that their adventure was
painfully real.
Huck is cursing their luck that they failed to get the money.
Furthermore, he sees no hope of ever obtaining it, since he believes
that a person has "only one chance for such a pile- and that one's
lost."
Tom, being more imaginative, is still hopeful. He persuades Huck
that they must find Injun Joe and "track the money." Both boys are
afraid of confronting Joe, but the lure of money enables them to
overcome their fears. Tom guesses that Number Two refers to a room
in one of the village's two taverns. In a half hour, he has discovered
that room No. 2 in the less expensive tavern is a mystery. The
tavern-keeper's son told him it was kept locked all the time and
that people use it only at night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: TOM'S VIEW OF HUCK Notice that Tom investigates the taverns
alone because he doesn't "care to have Huck's company in public
places." Why do you think he feels this way about Huck? Is Tom a snob?
Might he fear getting in trouble by associating with Huck? How might
Tom's discomfort with Huck in public show that the residents of St.
Petersburg are divided along class lines, and that Tom is very much
aware of the class to which he belongs?
--------------------------------------------------------------------The boys agree that the mysterious tavern room is the Number Two
they're looking for. The room has an outside entrance whose door Tom
hopes he can find a key to. He tells Huck to "get hold of all the
door-keys you can find, and I'll nip all of Auntie's." The first
dark night, they'll try the keys on the door.
Meanwhile, Tom wants Huck to watch for Injun Joe and follow him if
he appears. Huck's not eager to take on this dangerous assignment. But
he agrees to do so after Tom reminds him that Joe might pass up a
chance to avenge himself and go straight for the money.
Tom turns the meeting into a pep rally at the end. "Don't ever
weaken, Huck, and I won't," he says. Is this mere bravado on Tom's
part? Or is it an attempt to manipulate Huck- to get him to do
something that Tom would rather not do, Just as he got his friends
to paint his aunt's fence in Chapter 2?
CHAPTER_28
-
CHAPTER 28
Tom penetrates room No. 2 and uncovers some secrets not only about
Injun Joe but about the hypocrisy of some of St. Petersburg
citizens, as well. The chapter gives you another opportunity to
study Twain's method of storytelling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: "THAT NIGHT" Twain seems to have lost track of time here.
Because the episode at the haunted house took place on a Saturday,
Chapter 28 must have occurred on a Sunday. Thus, "that night" should
mean Sunday night. However, it probably means Monday night. Had he
realized the action in Chapter 27 took place on a Sunday, he almost
certainly would have mentioned church and perhaps a Bible reading at
home after breakfast.
Twain sometimes broke off work on a novel for months or even years
before returning to it. Losing track of time is not a major flaw here,
unless it confuses you. Nor is it terribly harmful that the summer
he describes seems to last at least a month longer than most
summers. Still, Twain's carelessness about time is a reminder that
when he wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer he was a novice in the
art of novel-writing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------The boys keep watch outside the tavern for three nights. On a
moonless Thursday night, with thunder rumbling in the distance, Huck
stands guard outside the tavern. Tom heads toward the door of No. 2
with his lantern, which he has "blindfolded" with a towel.
Twain doesn't let you follow Tom. Instead, he tries to make you feel
Huck's "season of waiting anxiety." How does this approach add to
the chapter's suspense?
Suddenly Tom rushes by with his lantern bared and tells Huck to
run for his life. The two reach a deserted slaughterhouse just as a
storm bursts. There, Tom tells what happened. The door to No. 2 was
unlocked. Tom pushed it open and spotted Injun Joe, who was lying dead
drunk on the floor. Tom realizes, however, that the room is haunted
with spirits other than ghosts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: TEMPERANCE TAVERNS Twain takes a second dig at the temperance
movement here. During the 1840s, Hannibal had three whiskey
distilleries and at least six bars, or "groggeries" as they were
called. A temperance tavern was a place where men could assemble
without drinking whiskey or beer. Twain is suggesting that even
these high-minded places weren't above selling spirits on the sly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------The boys decide it's too risky to return to No. 2 and hunt for the
box. Tom figures that the best course is to wait for Injun Joe to
leave some night. Huck proves himself less brave than Tom. He offers
to do the watching if Tom will do the snatching of the treasure, and
Tom agrees. Huck will wake him up if he sees Joe leave.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: "GOOD AS WHEAT" The phrase Huck uses to emphasize his
agreement is a comment on their plan. To indicate that the plan is
"great," he calls it "good as wheat." The phrase dates back to
colonial times, when wheat, a valuable staple food source, was used as
a medium of exchange. Something "good as wheat," like something
"good as gold," was of solid value.
--------------------------------------------------------------------As the boys leave the slaughterhouse, Huck says he's going to
sleep in Ben Rogers' hayloft. This is okay with the Rogers' slave,
Uncle Jake, who often shares his food with Huck. Huck and Jake get
along because Huck doesn't look down on him.
How might Huck's attitude toward Jake reflect his own situation as
an outcast? Why do you think Huck is embarrassed about eating with a
slave? What does Huck's embarrassment tell you about his understanding
of acceptable behavior between whites and blacks in a slave state?
CHAPTER_29
-
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
readers think this is being ironic. They argue that his own
experience, living during a period of lynchings and civil war,
taught him that whites are as capable of mutilating tortures as
members of any other race. Why might Twain want to show that a
generally decent man like the Welshman harbored warped views of
Indians? On the other hand, might Twain, as a member of his society,
be capable of sharing the Welshman's views?
--------------------------------------------------------------------Twain shifts the scene to church, where Aunt Polly and Mrs. Thatcher
are horrified to learn that their children might be lost in the
cave. Might they have learned this earlier if Twain hadn't made Sid
and Mary stay home, and if he hadn't had Becky's mother ask Becky to
stay with the Harpers?
Within five minutes, alarm bells are ringing, and the men of the
village are swarming toward the cave. The Cardiff Hill episode is
suddenly forgotten. The villagers search the cave for three days and
nights and discover only two traces of Becky and Tom: their names
written on a wall with candle smoke, and one of Becky's ribbons.
Meanwhile, Huck takes sick and is nursed by the Widow Douglas.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: HUCK'S ILLNESS Does Huck's illness come on too suddenly for
you? It does for many readers, who are reminded that Twain used this
device once before, in Chapter 22, when he kept Tom ill for five weeks
before the trial began. This time, Twain seems to have a similar
problem. He has to keep Huck occupied while you turn your attention to
the hunts for Becky and Tom and Injun Joe. What might Twain have had
Huck do instead of falling sick?
--------------------------------------------------------------------CHAPTER_31
-
CHAPTER 31
suspense by making you aware of a new danger. How might this episode
be different if Twain had listed the cave's many dangers in a single
paragraph early in the chapter?
--------------------------------------------------------------------While avoiding the bats, the children become totally lost. Tom
pretends to be confident, but his assurances sound hollow and frighten
Becky. Tom's shout returns to him as "a ripple of mocking laughter."
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: TOM'S MATURITY Despite moments of despair, Tom manages to
keep a cool head throughout this episode and to demonstrate
continued emotional growth. He takes the blame for their
predicament, then feigns confidence so as not to frighten Becky. He is
level-headed enough to seek out a spring and stop there. Watch for
more signs of Tom's maturity throughout the chapter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------The children share a piece of cake that Becky saved from the picnic.
Becky, who yields to her fears more readily than Tom, checks an
impulse to call the cake their last meal. They watch their last candle
flicker out.
They fall asleep, and when they awaken, Tom figures it must be
Tuesday- three days after they entered the cave. Unraveling a kite
string as he walks, Tom leads Becky down a corridor and is so startled
to see Injun Joe that he shouts. Tom tells Becky, who didn't see Injun
Joe, that he shouted only "for luck."
A long while later, back at the spring, Becky gives Tom permission
to go exploring alone. She is sure they are doomed and makes him
promise to hold her hand when the time comes to die. He kisses her
and, with a show of confidence he really doesn't feel, he crawls
away on his hands and knees, unraveling the kite line as he goes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: A MOCK MARRIAGE? Becky and Tom will never be closer than they
are here. Their closeness leads some readers to think that in the
final part of this chapter, Twain intends to suggest that the children
are newlyweds. Becky sets the idea in motion when she speaks of "our
wedding cake." The children eat and sleep, then promise to die
together- a reminder of the final words of traditional wedding vows:
"till death do us part." Finally, Tom shows a protectiveness toward
Becky that, at least in literature, is often associated with husbands.
--------------------------------------------------------------------CHAPTER_32
-
CHAPTER 32
This chapter provides the climax to the story of Becky and Tom's
courtship. Also, Twain begins to resolve many of the novel's remaining
questions here.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the scene shifts from the cave to the
town. The children are still lost, and the villagers are heartsick.
Becky's mother is delirious with grief.
At night, the villagers are aroused from their beds by a "wild peal"
of bells- a signal that Becky and Tom have been found. It's the climax
of this plot line. The children are paraded through town in an open
carriage pulled not by horses but by St. Petersburg citizens. On the
"greatest night the little town had ever seen," no one returns to bed.
After the parade, a procession of townspeople passes through Becky's
house to congratulate and hug the children.
Lying on the couch, Tom fills in the villagers- and you- on the
details of their rescue. He followed three corridors the length of his
kite line, finally glimpsing a speck of daylight at the end of the
third corridor. The exit led to a bluff (cliff overlooking the
Mississippi River. He returned for Becky, who was hard to budge
because she had prepared herself mentally for death. Outside, after
crying "for gladness," they hailed a rowboat and learned from the
two men in it that they were five miles south of the cave entrance.
The men rowed them to a house, fed them, and made them rest. After
dark, they returned to St. Petersburg.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: FICTION vs. REALITY Twain may have combined three true
stories here. In his youth, he and a girl became lost in Hannibal's
cave, A search party found them just before their last candle went
out. Hannibal's Injun Joe got lost in the cave, too. He managed to
survive by eating bats. A town drunk named "General" Gaines was lost
in the cave for a week. He "finally pushed his handkerchief out of a
hole in a hilltop near Saverton, several miles down the river from the
cave's mouth," Twain writes in his Autobiography, "and somebody saw it
and dug him out."
--------------------------------------------------------------------Some townspeople bring Judge Thatcher the good news in the cave,
where he and a handful of diehard searchers have been seeking the
children. The children are exhausted from their ordeal. Tom stays in
bed until Friday; Becky doesn't leave hers until Sunday.
Tom tries to visit Huck on Friday, but his friend is too sick to see
him until Monday. Widow Douglas won't let Tom talk about his adventure
for fear that it might excite Huck. Tom hears about the Cardiff Hill
adventure at home and learns that Injun Joe's sidekick, the "ragged
man," was found drowned in the river, where he apparently fell while
trying to escape.
Two weeks after his escape from the cave, Tom learns that Judge
Thatcher has had the cave sealed with an iron door. Tom is shocked.
"Injun Joe's in the cave!" he blurts out.
--------------------------------------------------------------------NOTE: TOM'S REACTION What does Tom's reaction to the news of the
iron door reveal about his character? Although he is frightened to
death of the murderer, he seems genuinely upset. The second
paragraph of Chapter 33 should give you an insight into Tom's
reaction.
--------------------------------------------------------------------CHAPTER_33
-
CHAPTER 33
This chapter has two parts: the discovery and disposition of Injun
Joe's body and the recovery of the treasure by Huck and Tom. In each
part, Twain addresses the story's remaining questions.
Rescuers head for the cave in twelve rowboats, followed by
spectators aboard the ferry. What do you make of the fact that Tom
rides alongside Judge Thatcher in a rowboat? Has saving Becky's life
Deep inside the cave, the boys come to the corner where Tom had seen
Injun Joe. He points out a cross marked on a big rock with candle
smoke. The boys explore around the rock and locate the box of gold
coins.
Tom and Huck carry the money out of the cave in bags, and Tom rows
them back to St. Petersburg. There they decide to hide the money in
the Widow Douglas' woodshed. They "borrow" a child's wagon to haul
their treasure up Cardiff Hill where they meet Mr. Jones, the
Welshman. Mr. Jones tells them that people are waiting for them at the
Widow Douglas'. He doesn't say why as he helps them pull the wagon,
which he thinks holds scrap metal.
At Mrs. Douglas', he pushes the boys into the drawing room. All of
the village's important people are there: the minister, the editor,
the Thatchers, and Aunt Polly, among others. The boys are filthy. Mrs.
Douglas takes them into a bedroom and gives them new clothes to put
on.
What's the purpose of the gathering? Twain doesn't tell you, in
order to entice you to turn the page.
CHAPTER_34
-
CHAPTER 34
Huck is welcomed into the fold of St. Petersburg societysomething he's not quite ready for. Twain draws a further contrast
between the two boys, showing once more how Huck and Tom differ.
Tom and Huck are dressing as the chapter opens. Huck can think
only of escape- of "sloping" (slipping away) by letting themselves
down to the ground with a rope. Tom, who wants to stay, won't hear
of it.
Sid enters the room and explains that the party is to thank the
Welshman and his sons for protecting the widow. Sid also knows that
the Welshman plans to surprise the gathering by revealing Huck's
part in protecting the widow. Yet Sid has spoiled the plan by giving
away the secret beforehand. Angry that Sid would sink so low, Tom
kicks him out of the room and dares him to tattle.
At supper downstairs, Mr. Jones makes his announcement about Huck,
and the guests pretend to be surprised. Huck shrinks from the
attention, which makes him want to crawl under a rock. Why do you
think he responds to praise so differently than Tom?
Tom sees his chance to jump into the spotlight when the widow says
she'll house and educate Huck and someday give him money to start a
business. "Huck don't need it," Tom says. "Huck's rich!" The guests
think he's making a joke. Tom rushes outside and returns with the
sacks of coins, which he spills on the table. When it's counted, it
amounts to more than $12,000- a sum larger than anyone his ever seen
at one time.
CHAPTER_35
-
CHAPTER 35
The book's final chapter gives you a glimpse of Tom and Huck's
life after they've achieved "success." As you read, watch how their
characters remain consistent to the end.
Tom and Huck's newfound wealth has changed not just their lives
but the lives of everyone in the village. Even "grave, unromantic men"
are ransacking abandoned houses, board by board, in hopes of finding
stashed treasure.
Twain ends The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with two paragraphs that
make a joke out of stopping the story. He claims that he ended the
novel to keep it from becoming the story of a man. Moreover, he
indicates that ending novels about juveniles is an uncertain procedure
for which there are few guidelines. Novelists who write about adults
have an easier time, he suggests, because their stories invariably end
with marriages.
The second paragraph continues to promote the idea, mentioned in the
Preface, that the novel is largely factual. "Most of the characters
that perform in this book still live," Twain says. He states that he
might tell the story of their adult lives later.
Twain uses the word "perform" to describe what the book's characters
do. How might this word be a key to understanding the characters and
their perceptions of themselves as actors on public display?
TESTS_AND_ANSWERS
A STEP BEYOND
TESTS AND ANSWERS
-
TESTS
TEST 1
_____
(TTOMTEST)
B. show off
C. plan the week's events
-
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
-
_____
_____
_____
lies, cheats, shows off, fights, and steals. But the narrator's
tolerant attitude- boys, after all, will be boys- places these acts in
a neutral moral zone. Despite the violence and the genuinely
terrifying moments in the cave, all ends happily, with the town in
peace- surely an idyllic ending.
12. Though Twain doesn't focus on it, a class system does exist in
St. Petersburg, and it determines the villagers' attitudes toward
one another. At the top of the social ladder are such notables as Mrs.
Douglas and Judge Thatcher. At the bottom are the outcasts: Injun Joe,
the half-breed; Jim and Uncle Jake, slaves, and Muff Potter and
Huckleberry Finn, who sleep and eat wherever they can. Tom Sawyer, who
has two sets of clothes, is somewhere in between: a member of St.
Petersburg's poor but respectable middle class.
Class determines attitude in St. Petersburg. Respectable parents
forbid their children to associate with Huck Finn. Most, like Polly
and Mrs. Douglas, keep slaves. Injun Joe is scorned and turned away
from Dr. Robinson's door. In Chapter 27, Tom admits he "does not
care to have Huck's company in public places."
There's a hierarchy even among the outcasts. The slaves are at the
bottom of the bottom. Huck is embarrassed to say he ate with Uncle
Jake. Joe is irate that he was whipped "like a nigger."
It is possible to move from rung to rung on St. Petersburg's
social ladder. Through courage and imagination, Tom raises himself
to the top, winning Becky's heart and her parents' approval. Huck's
share of the treasure raises him a couple of notches, against his
will. In St. Petersburg, money and celebrity bring status, and in
the end, the boys have a great deal of all three.
13. Tom is educated, romantic, and imaginative. Huck is uneducated
and matter-of-fact, and although he enjoys playing pirate and
robber- romantic pursuits to a boy- he is not imaginative enough to
think these games up by himself. When Tom and Joe invite Huck to
become a pirate, "he joined them promptly, for all careers were one to
him; he was indifferent."
Huck defers to Tom's superior knowledge of piracy, treasure-hunting,
and robbers. In this he is Tom's foil, reminding you of the distance
between the two in social class and education. In Chapter 10, Huck
is "filled with admiration" for Tom's writing ability. In Chapter
35, he falls for Tom's ploy about the need for Huck to be
respectable if he is to join Tom Sawyer's gang.
Tom is the leader, Huck the follower. Each acts as a foil for the
other, showing, by contrast, the ways each boy's character differs
from the other's. These contrasts extend to their maturity. In some
ways, Huck is more "worldly," and experienced than the civilized
Tom. Huck teaches Tom to smoke making him sick. In addition, Huck's
independence is a reminder, to you and to Tom, of just how constrained
by civilization the rest of St. Petersburg's citizens are.
14. Tom moves from childishness to maturity in each of the four
story lines. He begins his courtship of Becky by showing off "in all
sorts of absurd boyish ways in order to win her admiration" (Chapter
3). Later, he takes her whipping (Chapter 20) and rescues her from the
cave (Chapter 32). The Muff Potter episode begins with a superstitious
trip to the graveyard (Chapter 9) and ends with Tom's courageous
appearance in court (Chapter 23). The Jackson's Island story begins
with Tom's feeling sorry for himself (Chapter 13); it ends with his
apology to Polly for his "mean and shabby" joke (Chapter 19). Tom
and Huck's aimless digging for treasure (Chapter 25) starts them on
the way to solving the mystery of Injun Joe's disappearance. By the
end of that story (Chapter 35), Tom has become a spokesman, to Huck,
for the ways of civilization.
TEST 2
1. B
2. C
3. C
4. A
5. B
6. A
7. C
8. A
9. A
10. B
11. Twain pokes fun at people's lust for power and money
throughout the novel. Some readers see the whitewashing episode in
Chapter 2 as a satire on the society's acquisitiveness. Tom wheels and
deals, manipulating others for his own gain. But all Tom's
capitalistic enterprise is essentially futile. His "wealth" is a
laughable collection of odds and ends. He trades these items for
tickets that earn him a cheap Bible. But he doesn't want the Bible; he
wants the glory that comes from winning the Bible. Some readers
believe this is Twain's sly way of poking fun at the urge to own
"things"- which turn out, in the end, not to be worth owning at all.
In Chapter 35, Twain mocks the "grave, unromantic men" who turn into
children, seeking treasure in every haunted house in the county.
Huck's disappointment with "being rich all the time" makes their quest
look doubly ridiculous. Finally, Tom deflates the notion that people
of money and stature are necessarily better than anyone else, when
he tells Huck that in many countries robbers are part of the nobility.
In similar ways, Twain cuts the people of power in Tom's world
down to size. Judge Thatcher is revered because "he had traveled,
and seen the world"- Constantinople, twelve miles away. Mr. Dobbins, a
visiting detective, the superintendent of the Sunday school, and the
Rev. Mr. Sprague- all are made less than impressive by Twain's
portraits of them. Twain seems to be saying that the powerful are no
better than the rest of us, and probably worse.
12. Tom has a wonderful knack for turning nearly everything into
play- and for getting others to play with him. You can find examples
of this knack in nearly every episode. Work becomes play- for
himself and his chums- in the whitewashing scene (Chapter 3); church
becomes play- for himself and other churchgoers- in Chapter 5; medical
treatment becomes "play"- for himself and a cat- in Chapter 12; his
self-pity becomes an adventure on Jackson's Island; and his "death"
becomes an entertainment for the entire town (Chapter 17). You can add
innumerable examples to this list.
13. The major targets of Twain's burlesques are juvenile
literature which claims that only virtue and industry are rewarded;
prayers, sermons, and eulogies; literary compositions encouraged by
schools; and adult courtship. The entire novel turns the good-boy
stories on their heads, showing that bad (i.e., mischievous) boys
can become rich, famous, and respected. Tom is the exact opposite of
the model boy. While it's hard to demonstrate that he owes his success
to his mischievousness, it's certainly true that he succeeds in
spite of it.
Twain burlesques church services in Chapter 5 and pokes fun at the
insincerity of eulogies in Chapter 17. In Chapter 5, Twain skewers
everything from the minister's reading of notices to the
irrelevantly detailed prayer and the absurd sermon that "thinned the
predestined elect down to a company so small as to be hardly worth the
saving." The minister's eulogy at the funeral paints pictures of
boys that the villagers never knew- and yet everyone accepts his
"whitewashing" of the boys' misdeeds as the true interpretation.
Twain mocks the "petted melancholy," the "fine language," and the
phony sermonizing of school compositions in Chapter 21. Reread that
chapter for examples.
He makes gentle fun of the conventions of courtship by having
children "act out" the ups and downs of adult relationships. Tom and
Becky flirt, show off, quarrel, sulk, and demonstrate just how
childish many of the elements of adult courtship are.
14. Religion plays an important role in the lives of the villagers
and as a device for moving the novel's action forward. The church is a
focus of village social life- a form of entertainment. (See Chapters
4, 5, 17, and 30.) But it is also a powerful tool of social control.
Religion preached in St. Petersburg holds out the prospect of "fire
and brimstone," or hell, to sinners. This prospect makes Tom, Polly,
and many others painfully aware of their shortcomings. Note Joe Harper
and Tom at the end of Chapter 13, saying their prayers "lest they
might call down a sudden and special thunderbolt from Heaven." Because
the Bible teaches them not to steal, they feel guilty about having
stolen the provisions they brought to the island, and their guilt
won't let them sleep.
Polly also looks to religion as a guide to disciplining Tom. She
thinks that the Bible says, "Spare the rod and spoil the child" (it
doesn't). To keep her conscience from rebelling- and to follow what
she thinks is a religious injunction- she punishes Tom by making him
whitewash the fence. In this way, her fear of God plays a role in
moving the story forward.
Tom's "harassed conscience," also attributable to his religious
beliefs, forces him to the witness stand in Muff Potter's defense. His
testimony ends one story line while triggering the start of anotherthat of Injun Joe's fate and the treasure.
TERM_PAPER_IDEAS
TERM PAPER IDEAS AND OTHER TOPICS FOR WRITING
(TTOMTERM)
CHARACTERS
1. Choose any four of Tom's adventures and show how they express his
character- for example, his inventiveness, his romantic nature, his
drive to be the center of attention.
2. Show how the different backgrounds of Tom and Huck might have
contributed to their contrasting characters.
3. Explain how Becky Thatcher's behavior makes her no more of a
"model girl" than Tom is a "model boy."
4. How might Injun Joe's actions be explained as the result of
racial injustice?
SETTING
1. In what ways is Tom Sawyer a portrait of a small-town society?
THE CRITICS
(TTOMCRIT)
TOM'S IMMATURITY
...If Tom is "hampered" as well as harassed, it is because he is
incapable of learning from experience. He may be successful at the end
of his adventures- in terms of fortune and social status. But he is
not a whit the wiser. Although some critics hold that The Adventures
of Tom Sawyer chronicles Tom's progress from childhood to maturity,
the evidence suggests otherwise. One might expect his experience at
Muff Potter's trial to have been at least a little sobering, but
afterward Tom still likes to play at being a robber. He is later given
much credit for leading Becky out of the cave, but it should be
remembered that he is responsible for getting them lost in the first
place. After making it back to safety, he reveals that his juvenile
ADVISORY BOARD
(TTOMADVB)
(TTOMBIBL)
FURTHER READING
CRITICAL WORKS
Blair, Walter. Mark Twain & Huck Finn. Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1960. Fine study of the sources of
Twain's characters and art.
-
_____. "On the Structure of Tom Sawyer," Modern Philology 37, No.
1 (August 1939). Key analysis.
Cox, James M. Mark Twain: The Fate of Humor. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1966. Explores Twain's contribution to American
humor.
DeVoto, Bernard. Mark Twain at Work. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1942. Explains Twain's method of
composition.
Elliott, George P. "Afterword," The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. New
York: Signet/New American Library, 1959. A view by a critic who
finds the novel lightweight.
Geismar, Maxwell. Mark Twain: An American Prophet. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1970. An admiring critical portrait of Twain as a
revolutionary spirit.
Kaplan, Justin. Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography. New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1966. Explores the way Twain fashioned a "second
identity" from his thirties until his death.
Kazin, Alfred. "Afterword," The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. New
York: Bantam, 1981. Discusses the way Twain's memories of boyhood were
"touched with dread."
Miller, Robert Keith. Mark Twain. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1983.
Excellent introduction to Twain's life and work, synthesizes most
recent Twain scholarship.
Rogers, Franklin R. Mark Twain's Burlesque Patterns. Dallas:
Southern Methodist University Press, 1960. A study of Twain's takeoffs
on literary conventions.
Stone, Albert E., Jr. The Innocent Eye. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1961. Twain's use of "innocent" narrators and protagonists as a
means of exposing folly.
Wecter, Dixon. Sam Clemens of Hannibal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1952. A study of Twain's roots.
Wiggins, Robert A. Mark Twain, Jackleg Novelist. Seattle: University
of Washington Press, 1964. Twain and the frontier tradition.
AUTHOR'S OTHER WORKS
NOVELS
1873 The Gilded Age (with Charles Dudley Warner)
1882 The Prince and the Pauper
1884 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1889 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
1892 The American Claimant (with William Dean Howells)
1894 The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and the Comedy of Those
Extraordinary Twins
1896 Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
1894
1896
1916
NONFICTION
1869
1872
1880
1883
1897
1897
1906
1907
1907
1959
1875
1876
1882
1891
1893
1899
1902
1902
-
CONTENTS
SECTION.......................... SEARCH ON
THE AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES................. TWALAUTH
THE BOOK
Synopsis.................................
Other Elements
Setting.............................
Themes..............................
Style...............................
Point of View.......................
Form and Structure..................
THE NARRATIVE............................
A STEP BEYOND
Tests and Answers........................
Term Paper Ideas.........................
Glossary.................................
The Critics..............................
TWALSYNO
TWALSETT
TWALTHEM
TWALSTYL
TWALVIEW
TWALFORM
TWALNARR
TWALTEST
TWALTERM
TWALGLOS
TWALCRIT
(TWALAUTH)
knowing that his brother had proposed and been turned down, Henry
proposed to her himself the next fall. By this time Ellen's father had
developed an unfavorable opinion of the Thoreau family. He was
convinced that they were too liberal for his liking, and he would
not allow Ellen to marry Henry.
A year and a half later, Henry suffered a much greater loss: the
death of his brother. John cut himself one day while sharpening a
razor. He developed tetanus (at that time more commonly called
"lockjaw") and ten days later he was dead.
From our position in the late twentieth century, surrounded as we
are by synthetics and machines, it's easy to understand a person's
desire to "get back to nature." A return to things that are natural,
especially foods and fabrics, is fashionable today. But you may wonder
why someone felt it necessary to live this way almost 150 years ago,
when life was simpler, and people lived in closer harmony with nature.
The railroad had just come to Concord when Thoreau went to live at
Walden. In Thoreau's world, the railroad was a symbol of commerce
and of the Industrial Revolution. With the growth of industry came
factory work with its poor conditions, low pay, and division of
labor (each person doing only part of a job). Paralleling the rise
of industry was a philosophy of materialism this country had not
seen before. The Civil War had not yet been fought and slavery in
the United States was still permitted. When Thoreau moved to Walden
Pond he was reacting both against the problems and to the issues of
his times.
Among the controversial issues of his time was the Transcendentalist
movement. Ralph Waldo Emerson, with whom Thoreau lived and worked, had
since the 1820s been a mouthpiece of the movement along with Thoreau's
other Concord neighbors, Orestes Brownson and Bronson Alcott. (Thoreau
was one of their disciples.)
In its beginnings Transcendentalism was a religious protest. Young
clergymen in the Boston area were speaking out against the Unitarian
Church. They objected to the Unitarian's view of man, which was
influenced by John Locke who believed that man is born a blank slate
and receives impressions through his senses. Through his senses,
--------------------------------------------------------Electronically Enhanced Text (C) Copyright 1991 - 1993 World Library, Inc.