The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an astounding novel written by Mark Twain, the founding father of American literature. In the story, the plot is humorous yet serious, filled with jokes and laughs on the surface with deeper meaning on the bottom. The book follows a young boy named Tom Sawyer, who lives during the 1840s in a town called St. Petersburg. Tom is often getting into trouble, and the story even starts with Tom hiding in the closet from Aunt Polly, his guardian, with a stolen jar of jam. One day, he meets Becky, to whom he expresses his love interest to. He also plans to visit the graveyard with Huck Finn and Joe Harper, and they witness a murdering by Injun Joe, who blames it on Muff Potter. The three boys get the notion of becoming pirates and run away to an island in the Mississippi River. Later on, Tom and Becky's family goes on a picnic. While this happens, Huck keeps watch of a tavern in which they believe that Injun Joe hid his treasure. It turns out that it is not there. Becky and Tom get lost in the cave for several days, in which they see Injun Joe. After they make it out, the police go investigate the cave, and find the dead body of Injun Joe. The boys retrieve the treasure, and then they become rich. This novel, an outstanding and model piece of American literature, expresses themes of social norms and maturity, human nature, and superstitions as well as fantasies. Mark Twain, in this novel, writes a tale full of laughter with the depth needed to make it reach into the reader’s heart.
Humans are a living thing. And every living thing has instincts. It just depends on whether those instincts are helpful, or detrimental. Every animal, including bears and foxes and rabbits and humans, plus all others, have natural-born instincts. Sometimes, however, these instincts can lead people into a trap. A trap that then hoists them to somewhere dangerous. A terrific example of this in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is in one of the most memorable scenes: When Tom, or rather the other boys in the village, whitewash the fence. This task was given by Aunt Polly to Tom as a punishment. However, Tom being himself, obviously doesn’t not want to whitewash a fence when he knows that every other boy in the village would be playing. And, to Tom’s ‘rescue’ comes Ben Rogers. At first, Ben Roger scorns Tom for having to work. He tells Tom about how he is going to go for a swim. He is also eating an apple. Tom, already wanting to play, after hearing about swimming and seeing the apple, which are things he both wants and wants to do, makes him more driven to get out of work. This is the first example of human nature. If you are sad, and you see someone sad, you will become happier. Tom ropes Ben into his trap, making Ben become more and more curious. When Tom mentions that he might be the only boy in town who knows how to do the job correctly, Ben isn’t just curious anymore. He is desperate to try whitewashing the fence, because he wants to prove himself. This is the second example. When someone says you are bad, it is an instinct to want to prove them wrong. Throughout the books, Tom also acts on his toes, not always thinking something thoroughly before acting it out. The smart people are the people who set the traps for someone to fall into. The genius people are the ones that know to avoid it and turn the trap around. There is an old saying that goes something like this: Think before you act. It applies almost everywhere, because most times, you don’t want to act like you did.
Rules are made, yet nobody can actually force you to follow them. However, the people who follow the rules are the only ones that are mature, because they are the only ones that know that the rules are also for their own good. Rules. At school, at the park, maybe even at home. They aren’t there without a reason. And a very good test of maturity is to see if you can follow rules with meaning. In the book, Tom Sawyer and his friends, Joe Harper and Huck Finn are all very childish and hate following the town rules. As a religious community, the entire town is expected to attend church on Sundays. However, Tom hates to go and always gets bored, trying to find distractions that sometimes affect the entire church. The point of the church time is so that the entire town can collaborate and live on the same set of moral values and religious beliefs. Tom gets into trouble often in the story, even if it is just small incidents, like going for a swim when he wasn’t supposed to, and stealing jam from the cupboard. Tom’s shenanigans, even though small, still represent boyhood and rebellion. As the story concludes, however, it is shown that Tom has matured more, and is more willing to conform to social norms. He cares for others, and even tries to persuade Huck to stay in the village with Widow Douglas. Even though Huck doesn’t want to, Tom still convinces him for his own good, demonstrating the fact that Tom has matured and is starting to do things out of practicality and what matters most, not just what he wants to do, which is basically playing all day long. He is finally realizing how to balance the life of just playing versus actually living. When you finally realize how important it is to follow rules for your own good, it is a point in life to celebrate, maybe just a tiny bit. Everybody matures, and as they mature, they either use the process to learn something in life, or to waste it completely.
Imagination is normal. Natural and healthy. But, it is still fiction. And life is non-fiction. Yes, imagination and creativity is healthy for everybody, to boost their innovative thinking and to be able to create their own masterpieces. However, nobody should be relying on imagination that much, because in the end, it is what’s real that actually matters. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom is a boy that often has many superstitions and fantasies. He believes in fairy tales, and is often imagining new adventures of games for his friends and him to act out. Truly, Tom Sawyer has an admirable imaginative trait. For example, Tom once managed to convince his friends to sail to an island in the middle of the Mississippi River to pretend that they are living the life of pirates. There, Tom and Huck and Joe pretend to play, and Huck even teaches them how to smoke. Tom, drawn to his imagination, just barely wants to return home. In the entire story, there are also a lot of superstitions. He collects many discarded everyday objects that he just ‘rebuilds’ and then says that they are his lucky tokens and that he must not lose them, or he will have unluckiness dumped on him by Jesus. Both the fantasies are becoming pirates and the superstitions of luck and unluck demonstrate the childhood in Tom’s life, and how he has stretched it to the extent of his lively and vivid imagination. When you have nothing to do, use your brain to cook something up. But, when you are in real life, do not resort to your imagination to finish tasks. Imagination always needs balance. And balance means that you are splitting up something evenly, not oddly.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer truly is an amazing book that is also a famous icon of English literature. This book exports many themes, such as superstitions, maturity and rules, and that concept of human nature and acting on instinct. This book is a great example of the imaginative childhood that many kids have versus the practicality of adulthood that many adults either wade or float through. This book is also a great example of superstitions. Tom, the rebellious troublemaker, also has many superstitions that he uses to get through many difficult situations, believing that his lucky token will bestow luck on him. Rules and maturity and social norms are also crucial in this book, as Tom is moving from an ‘innocent’ young boy to a responsible teenager or young adult. As Tom matures through the novel, he is also sure to bring his friends up with him, an act that symbolizes loyalty. The literary devices, such as the foreshadowing and irony in the book used by Mark Twain really makes many scenes and characters and dialogues pop throughout the novel. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is truly a book that sends a message out into the world for people to learn from.
Comments