Tag Archives: Tom Sawyer

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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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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Tom sawyer

 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer paints a picture of a young boy who is indeed adventurous. Despite his wild, reckless side he is also very calculating and manipulative. Another side that I found interesting is the very dramatic part of his persona. When his aunt Polly mistakenly  “belts” him for dropping the sugar bowl in Chapter 3, Tom takes great pleasure in the fact that his aunt is visibly remorseful. He starts to think about how it would be if he were “lying sick unto his death” and his aunt would be trying to seek forgiveness but he would turn his face away from her. Then he takes it a step further, envisioning himself dead and his aunt throwing herself on top of his lifeless body begging God for forgiveness for abusing him. I found this humorous because he has such an overactive imagination. I love this character because he is 100% authentic, there are no pretenses with Tom. He is everything that he wants to be without anything or anyone holding him back. It can be considered self-centered but it’s fun to read about since most people try to abide by rules. Tom is keenly perceptive and is a bit of a social scientist, conducting experiments on anyone he comes in contact with and trying to figure out how to get what he wants.

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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.

 

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

I was looking forward to reading “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” in this class. I have read “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” before. While that book is about Tom’s friend Huckleberry, Tom still plays a role in the beginning and the end of the story. I knew Tom was the protagonist in the original story, but I didn’t know much about him, other than what I learned from Huckleberry Finn. Already having a basic idea about his character will make it very interesting to get to learn even more about him.

I knew that Tom was a troublemaker and as soon as the book started, it confirmed my beliefs. The book starts with Aunt Polly searching for him, while he is eating the jam. When she catches him he plays a trick on her to get away. Tom is a mischievous young boy in both books. I was also excited to see characters I met in the second book show up right away. Tom speaks to Jim about his stories, and Jim is a main character in Huck’s adventures. Also, we meet Sid, Tom’s half-brother who Huck pretends to be. Being able to make these connections as I read has made the story much more enjoyable.

 

 

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Tom Sawyer’s Mischief

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.

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Tom Sawyer’s Cunning Ways

First, I would like to say that this book was somewhat hard to read because of the language, but that’s besides the point. After reading some of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, it felt like an enjoyable book. There were funny moments Tom had playing hooky, always trying to get out of trouble with his aunt, and hanging out with the neighborhood kids. Then I realized that even though Tom likes to play hooky, he’s actually pretty smart! Street smart, that is. There was a point in the story where he got other kids to do his work for him. They even gave him objects to do it for him. And it was all because he changed his way of thinking. At first he felt like painting the fence was the worst job ever. But then when Ben came over, he figured that making it seem like a very important job would make others want to do it. To Tom, it was still work. But to everyone else, he made it seem like it was a special job only he could do. In the end, he tricked all of them into doing his hard work for him, and  he received rewards in return. It’s something I would not have expected him to think of. It also happened again when he traded objects for tickets before Sunday School and handed them in for the prize Bible. Of course that plan backfired on him, which was kind of like karma for his past trickery.

From those events, the book reveals morals about not tricking people. Otherwise, there might be consequences (such as the embarrassment Tom experienced). I would recommend this book to children. It seems enjoyable to read so far!