The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

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Tom Sawyer is a mischievous young man that undermines adult authority. Tom always wants to go on new adventures and explore new things. Tom did play hookey, and he had a very good time (Twain 3). Huckleberry Finn is the son of the town drunk. Huck is a free sprite, he does as he pleases and no one in the town makes him do anything he does not want to do. Samuel Clemens writes about many experiences throughout Tom and Huck’s adventures that were actually real life adventures of his.
Tom Sawyer is the main character in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Tom is a very adventurous young man. Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual -- he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, and therefore belongs to the composite order of architecture (Twain 1). Throughout the book, Tom takes his friends on adventures that get them in a lot of trouble. Tom’s friends include Huckleberry Finn, Huck’s friend Joe Harper, and his romantic interest Becky Thatcher. Tom lives in St. Petersburg, Missouri that is located along the Mississippi river. He lives with his Aunt Polly (Sandock). Tom’s half-brother Sid, Cousin Mary, and Jim also live with him. Tom's younger brother (or rather half-brother) Sid was already through with his part of the work (picking up chips), for he was a quiet boy, and had no adventurous, troublesome ways (Twain 3). Jim is Aunt Polly’s young slave. Tom’s father is never mentioned in the book. No one knows anything about Tom’s father. Aunt Polly’s deceased sister is Tom and Sid’s mother. Tom is always trying to impress his girlfriend Becky. Tom eventually persuades Becky to be engaged at a young age (Gussow). Sometime after Becky learns that Tom had already been engaged before, h...

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...erican Literature. Ed. Jim Kamp. 3rd ed. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.
Sloane, David E. E. "Huck Acts, an Escape from Sivilization." Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: American Comic Vision. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988. 50-60. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 161. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with illustrations by Paul Geiger ; afterword by Bernard DeVoto.. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader's Digest Association, 1985. Print.
Valkeakari, Tuire. "Huck, Twain, and the Freedman's Shackles: Struggling with Huckleberry Finn Today." Atlantis, revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos 28.2 (2006): 29+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 May 2014.
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