Tag Archives: adventure

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Tom Sawyer

The adventures of Tom Sawyer is more like Tom Sawyer, the troublemaker. In the beginning of the book, the reader can already see how much of a trouble maker he is. He easily persuades his friends to do his punishment. I feel as though Tom Sawyer is a mischievous kid who simply likes adventure and doing his own thing. This can relate to many children who read this story since many children like the idea of going on an adventure and being a rebel at one point in their childhood.

Something that struck me as interesting is the fact that Tom grew up with this Aunt Polly, so it makes me think that if he grew up with both his mother and father, would his actions and behavior be different. Is it because he has no father figure that he is the way he is? How would things be different if he had both parents?

Although Tom is a mischievous kid who doesn’t like following the rule, it seems as though he gets away with a lot of things simply because of the saying, “boys will be boys.” This means that boys are allowed to do such things because that’s just what boys do. What if a girl is mischievous, then why is it not allowed for her to be this way. I feel like back in the day, girls are seem to be proper and to just stay home to play with dolls so if a girl acts the way that Tom did, then it would be a bigger problem.

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Little Annie’s Ramble

Little Annie’s Ramble, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story to me that seems one way yet as you continue to read it, it shed light on such a darker tone. In a way, this story can give off two different vibes, an innocent on as well as a darker one. With the darker version, the reader can get a perverse feeling towards that man who is so infatuated with Annie. While going through the streets, the man mentions that “there are a few grown ladies that could entice me from the side of little Annie,” which in a way sounds extremely creepy due to the fact that it seems as though the man in more interested in a little girl. The man is too infatuated with the little girl that even grown women seems to show no interest for him. Does this man know what he is doing and is he doing this on purpose?

For a more innocent approach, one can read this story as a man simply enjoying the company of a young child just so he can enjoy his childhood once again or perhaps the feeling of having a daughter. He takes her off to an adventure just like how any dad would take his daughter out to spoil her. But then again, why didn’t he tell her mother of the adventure?

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“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and Gendered Mischievousness

In Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” little Tom is conniving and sinful, but is ultimately characterized as harmless and far from the trope of the evil or demonic child. Tom uses his cunning to avoid punishment from Aunt Polly and avoid doing work such as when he conned boys from St. Petersburg to whitewash his fence. Because Tom is just a mischievous child and not evil, his schemes are seen as playful, rambunctious and prompts the reader to shrug and say “boys will be boys.” This saying has and still does act as an excuse for boys to act rowdy and sometimes violent in accordance to how contemporary American society genders males. The classic adventure story for a boy requires physicality often in the forms of destructiveness, violence, and dominion over his environment. The classic adventure story for a girl could not be more different which means even from a young age, children are given expectations of what kind of adventures they should have and what is appropriate for the gender from literature.

Boys are allowed to be mischievous and troublesome and it is seen as an integral part of their character. Boys learn how to control their environment from an early age when they’re encouraged to go out and play outside. Since gender roles characterize men as dominant, industrious, and in control, literature fosters these ideas when they portray young boys like Tom Sawyer being dirty, active, and rowdy. However, young girls are given a PLETHORA of love stories and tales revolving around the home. This teaches girls from a young age that the most important thing in life is to find someone to love us so we can stay at home and be obedient and pleasant. Usually in literature, young girls are not portrayed as mischievous or at least, certainly not in the way that boys are. Male mischievous is healthy and good for them; female mischievous suggests sexual deviancy.