In Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the story opens with Tom Sawyer’s Aunt Polly yelling his name “TOM!” over and over again. Aunt Polly threatens Tom “Well, I lay if I get hold of you I’ll-.” This opening to the story lets the audience know that Tom is a troublemaker and that Aunt Polly is the disciplinary figure in his life. However, I think that despite Aunt Polly’s threats, she does not feel happy about having to punish Tom. Tom’s aunt, I can tell is actually really fond of her nephew, for example she says “my old heart most breaks,” in reference to having to hit him. This quote shows the audience that Aunt Polly does not really want to hurt Tom at all, but has to in order to assert her authority and show Tom that he can not keep misbehaving. She even “broke into a gentle laugh” when she witnessed Tom trying to escape from her. This shows even further how much Aunt Polly seems to adore her nephew.

Since Aunt Polly seems to be softhearted in her treatment of Tom, it can explain why Tom has such a large degree of autonomy. Tom seems to not be too worried by the threats of his aunt. This is shown when despite getting discipled by Aunt Polly, Tom still resorts to more mischief soon enough. For example, he engages in a verbal banter of insults with another neighborhood boy and even starts wrestling with him. When Tom returns home and Aunt Polly notices his appearance, she punishes him by ordering him to whitewash the fence. Tom then convinces any boy that passes by his fence, to do the whitewashing for him, in turn leading him to not have to do any work at all. Tom does this by convincing the boys that whitewashing is something enjoyable. Tom is so convincing to the boys that they even end up giving Tom one of their belongings, in turn for him letting them whitewash his fence for him. Tom’s ability to convince other boys to do his work for him establishes him as a leader and mastermind. He has a knack for talking his way through his problems and finding ways to escape his punishment.

I found it very relatable when Aunt Polly was trying to discipline Tom, but admitting that it broke her heart to have to do so. For example, when my younger cousin was small, I had to scold her for doing something bad, but I felt bad for having to do so. Tom’s continuous misbehavior is probably encouraged by the fact that he is usually successful in his endeavors. When he is punished by his aunt, he still finds ways to escape her wrath and lie his way through. Even when he is caught in his lies, he still manages to find a way to escape his punishment, such as convincing others to do his work for him.