I agree with Jenny’s post in regards to her statement that Tom Sawyer supports Benjamin Franklin’s belief in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, that “a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself, to keep his friends in countenance” (Franklin 9).  Franklin states that striving towards perfection isn’t always a positive thing to achieve.  He learned from this because in his novel, he listed thirteen virtues to achieve moral perfection. Although he talks about the thirteen virtues, Franklin states that we do not have to achieve all of these virtues in order to be content. One particular quote Jenny stated that I found to be meaningful was when she said that happiness is sometimes embedded within one’s flaws. I agree with this and in the novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Sawyer lacks moral perfection but manages to live a joyous life anyways.

I agree with Jenny’s example of how Sawyer enjoys life despite not having moral perfection when she discusses about how Sawyer lied to Mary. He didn’t want to bathe for Sunday school and attempted to fool Mary into thinking that he had bathed. Furthermore, another example that I think would fit is when Tom, Huck, and Tom’s friend Joe Harper run away to an island to become pirates. While “frolicking around and enjoying their freedom,” (Franklin 236) the boys become aware that the community was extremely worried about them. This instance shows how Sawyer lacks moral compassion because he was selfish and wanted to play around, without wondering how worried the community would be about his disappearance.  Sawyer stated, “All the long afternoon the village seemed empty and dead. Many women visited Aunt Polly and Mrs. Thatcher and tried to comfort them. They cried with them, too, and that was still better than words” (235). However, all is well because his return brought happiness amongst the community and he was admired as well as envied by all of his friends.