The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Mark Twain's American Classic

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Publication and Narrative Core. One of Twain's best-known and best-loved works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer captures the idyllic world of childhood imagination and adventure. Although Tom and his band of friends live in the relatively calm world of the small, close-knit river community of St. Petersburg, Tom's schemes transport the boys beyond the town, the classroom, and the prim expectations of Aunt Polly. His rascality prompts him to take chances and push the limits of fantasy with his imaginative plots as he, Becky Thatcher, and Huck Finn find themselves in a series of misadventures and encounters with the fearsome Injun Joe.

Although the narrative reads relatively easily, Twain had trouble writing his first novel-length fiction. Charles Norton's study of the book, Writing Tom Sawyer, outlines the struggles Twain endured during the writing process. Not only was his writing interrupted by projects in his more familiar and comfortable vein—Roughing It, a travel narrative published in 1872, and a witty social commentary, The Gilded Age (1873), cowritten with Charles Dudley Warner—but finding the right words to portray the rambunctious Tom Sawyer and his cohorts eluded Twain for at least half a decade (2). Perseverance paid off. With the appearance of the illustrated American edition of Tom Sawyer on December 8, 1876, Mark Twain reached newfound heights of fame.

His tongue-in-cheek nonfiction may have drawn a growing number of readers, but his seemingly simple fictional tale of Tom Sawyer represented his most dramatic popular success and guaranteed Twain's arrival as a major figure in American letters. Although it is impossible to tell whether or not Twain anticipated the lasting impression this impish boy would make when he first put pen to paper, the impact of this novel, and its more popular brother, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is immeasurable. Norton's catalog of the novel's popularity only begins to outline the reach of Tom Sawyer's charismatic grin and simple tale:

"[Tom Sawyer] would remain in print and continue to sell throughout [Twain's] lifetime, ... when the Bicentennial Celebrations would occur a hundred years hence, it would be ranked by many as his second best book, ranked by some critics as his 'best constructed' novel, and ... Tom Sawyer would become one of the most widely recognized characters in American literature. (37)"

Essentially, then, Tom Sawyer marks not only a turning point in Twain's career, but a turning point in American letters.

Narrative Accessibility and Universal Appeal. So what is so special about a narrative written from a young boy's perspective? How does a novel that combines children's risky adventures with over-the-top exaggeration and a small dose of reality become canonical? What is it about Twain's use of a simple dialect that endears the words of the novel's cast of characters to generations of readers?

An obvious answer is the simple readability of Twain's plot. The basic premises of the tale have been retold to many readers. Girls and boys have always created adventurous tales about "monsters" like Injun Joe to scare each other around campfires in woods.

Men, like the childish Tom, have always bragged about their ability, cunning, and nobility. Women, like Becky and Aunt Polly, have always focused on purity of self and the domestic needs of hearth and home in order to glorify their own efforts despite their limited social status. While such a division of interests by age and gender is "politically incorrect" in today's world, Twain's ability to target all of these audiences at once ensured his novel's popularity during its time and has continued to speak to readers across time. Although modern readers may not share the same social values as the characters of Twain's St. Petersburg, the inclusion of adult and child, female and male voices encourages readers to find parallel characters in their own life experiences.

Tom Sawyer as the All-American Boy. And despite his exuberant cheekiness, or perhaps partly because of it, Tom Sawyer is the all-American boy. His ingenuity, first revealed in the now-famous fence-painting scene that opens the novel, emphasizes his shrewd intelligence, an intelligence that saves him from work and makes him money. His sense of adventure, epitomized in his spinning of stories to keep Huck pirating, embraces the American quest to conquer the unknown and win the respect and admiration of others. His self-sacrifice to save Becky Thatcher from punishment is rewarded not only by the adoration of the young girl his action saves, but also in the realization that some things really are more important than pride and pure profit. In essence, Tom becomes an American hero not because he disobeys and disregards the rules of society, but because he learns when to challenge and when to accept social expectations.

At his core, Tom is a good boy with good morals who recognizes that some rules—like those against hurting others or stealing from others—are cardinal rules that should never be broken even if accepting those rules precludes a new adventure.

Huck Finn and the Conflict with Civilization. His sidekick, Huck Finn, is similarly developed. Huck may have had a rougher life than Tom, but they share similar characteristics. Like Tom, Huck is ingenious in tracking the robbers who stole from the Widow Douglas, but his ingenuity does not necessarily save him work or make him money. Although it is Tom's imagination that pulls Huck into the adventures, Huck is more than willing to participate in most of Tom's schemes.

Twain goes to great lengths to differentiate Huck from Tom in the last chapters in order to explain why Tom wins the heart of Becky while Huck never can. The great difference that divides these two friends is their understanding of civilized society. Tom recognizes that as the two boys mature into adulthood, they will have to give up part of their dreams to be pirates and robbers and instead become respectable citizens. For Huck, making that transition to respectability is much more difficult.

Despite the Widow Douglas's efforts and apparent care for Huck's well-being, he, unlike Tom, turns his back on all that she and St. Petersburg can offer. The list of the horrors the Widow Douglas forces Huck to endure seems rather ludicrous:

"Huck Finn's wealth and the fact that he was now under the Widow Douglas's protection introduced him into society—no, dragged him into it, hurled him into it—and his sufferings were almost more than he could bear. The widow's servants kept him clean and neat, combed and brushed, and they bedded him nightly in unsympathetic sheets that had not one little spot or stain which he could press to his heart and know for a friend. He had to eat with a knife and fork; he had to use napkin, cup, and plate; he had to learn his book, he had to go to church; he had to talk so properly that speech was become insipid in his mouth; whithersoever he turned, the bars and shackles of civilization shut him in and bound him hand and foot."

For Huck these social expectations are too much to bear. Not only has Twain set up his next great novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with a closing chapter to Tom Sawyer, but he has also established the significant difference between his two young heroes. It is up to the reader to decide whether Tom's acceptance of his future in society or Huck's continued rebellion against society is the more honorable path.

Thematic Motifs and Moral Development. Of course, any interpretation of the final scene between Huck and Tom must consider the hierarchy of rebellion. Tom's reasoning may seem purely manipulative, as his reasoning is often meant to make others act in a desired way. However, a sense of propriety distinguishes Tom's band of robbers, with their stash of weapons, from his pirates and their search for treasure along the Mississippi River. Such a self-imposed hierarchy reflects Tom's changing understanding of fundamental differences between the socially isolated, island-hopping pirates and the socially connected, community-based brethren of the caves.

Tom's experiences have changed him. Realizing the pain he has caused his family when they think he has died, Tom feels remorse that has visible repercussions on his subsequent actions. His guilt after allowing Muff Potter to be accused for the murder of Dr. Robinson when Tom had actually witnessed Injun Joe's killing him festers until he is induced to come clean. His bravery at facing Injun Joe, not only in the courtroom but also in McDougal's Cave, shows a true strength and integrity in his character.

Subtly included in the narrative are themes and motifs that enrich the dialogue—and the plot—of the novel. Superstitions abound as both Tom and Huck base their actions on fantastic rules that govern their life and spur the plot's development. If they had not been in the graveyard in search of a wart cure, they would not have witnessed the central crime of the novel. If they had not witnessed the crime, then they would not have become blood brothers sworn to hold each other's secrets.

The theme of romantic criminality similarly recurs. Tom's pirates and his band of robbers play with the romantic ideal of crime without committing any real crimes against others, while the true criminal of the novel, Injun Joe, represents the reality of crime and its actual impact on the community.

Enduring Value and Reader Response. Such an overview is merely an introduction to this American classic. The real value of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is what each generation of readers can add to the novel with their reading. The adventures of Tom, Huck, and Becky are not adventures of the past; nor are they merely the adventures Twain captured in his novel. Instead, they are adventures we each travel every time we read their narrative of St. Petersburg.

For Discussion or Writing.
1. Compare and contrast the development of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in their novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Pay particular attention to the way each novel ends.

2. Tom Sawyer has two alliances, one with Huck Finn and another with Becky Thatcher. How does each alliance draw out different strengths and weaknesses in Tom's character? How does Twain use setting to help develop his characters and track their growth during the course of the novel?

3. Despite the novel's relatively happy ending, Twain includes portrayals of society's less than positive elements. Drunkenness, stealing, lying, among other negative characteristics, are all portrayed openly. How do such elements shape the development of the narrative? Do they make Twain's novel more or less realistic?

4. Although the novel focuses on a child's perspective of the world, the adults of St. Petersburg are still a pervasive presence in the novel. Judge Thatcher, Aunt Polly, the Widow Douglas, and even Injun Joe are all integral to its development. Choose one of the adult characters and trace his or her impact on Tom, Huck, or Becky's development.

5. Twain's novels often included specially selected illustrations. For the American edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Twain used illustrations by True W. Williams. Compare and contrast Williams's illustrations to Twain's prose. Does Williams capture the essential elements of Tom Sawyer's adventure? What would a reader miss if he or she only saw the illustrations and did not read the prose?

6. Louis B. Salomon's introduction to the Great Illustrated Classics edition of Tom Sawyer claims that "the reader of this novel will find himself transported to the almost amoral world of the child, where the only questions the protagonists have to answer for themselves are What and How, the Why is left to the unfathomable discretion of grown-ups who have somehow lost the secret of having a good time anyhow." Is such a claim an accurate overview of the novel? Refer to specific scenes to support your position.

7. Critics have argued whether Tom Sawyer is a child's story, an adolescent novel of growing maturity, or a tale meant for adults. How can each group of critics be right? What evidence is provided in Twain's prose to support all three readings simultaneously? Which do you think is right? Why?

8. Twain intended to recreate the novel as a play. Choose an important scene from the novel and develop it into a theatrical scene, including stage directions and dialogue, to highlight its role in the development of the novel's central theme.