The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain
Introduction
Background
Discussion Starters
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Introduction
Tom Sawyer just wants to have fun.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Introduction
He isn’t interested in what he’s supposed to do:
go to school, study the Bible, or do chores.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Introduction
He is interested in
• tricking his friends into doing his chores
• playing that he is a pirate
• sneaking into the cemetery to perform
secret spells
• exploring caves
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Introduction
Tom is often joined on his adventures by
Huckleberry Finn, the son of the town’s drunkard,
and by Joe Harper, Tom’s best friend.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Introduction
Tom also spends a lot of time trying to win the
affections of Becky Thatcher, the new girl in
town.
Sometimes he
accidentally
involves her in his
adventures.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Introduction
And sometimes Tom’s
fun turns dangerous,
such as when he and
Huck witness a
murder.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Introduction
Can Tom find a way to do the right thing while
still having his fun and games?
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Background
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was written by
Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel
Clemens.
Clemens grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which
he later used as the inspiration for St.
Petersburg, where Tom and his friends live.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Background
The real town of
Hannibal and the
fictional town of St.
Petersburg are located
on the banks of the
Mississippi River.
Both are near islands
and caves, which
provide adventurous
children with lots of
places to play.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Background
The action in the book
takes place in the
1840s.
In some ways the United
States was growing and
prospering during this
time, but in other ways it
was still old-fashioned and
impoverished.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Background
On top of that, slavery
still existed in America.
In the book Jim, who
occasionally crosses
paths with Tom and
his friends, is a slave.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Background
The characters in the book speak very differently
from the way most Americans do today.
Although Twain’s characters speak English, they
speak in a distinctive dialect. They shorten some
words to one syllable and sometimes combine
several words into one.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Background
Tom and his friends
also hold many beliefs
that seem superstitious
to modern readers.
For example, Tom and
Huck discuss the best
ways to cure warts—
none of which involve
medicine or doctors!
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Background
In the 1840s, medicine was primitive in
comparison with techniques used today.
Doctors and medical students had a hard time
learning about human anatomy because there
were legal restrictions on the use of bodies to
dissect for study.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
Background
So some people
became body
snatchers, stealing
freshly buried bodies
and selling them to
doctors and medical
establishments.
When Tom and Huck
sneak into the
cemetery, they come
across some body
snatchers.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Discussion
Starters
Discuss (1)
From the title you know that the book is about
a boy’s adventures.
• What kinds of adventures did you have as a
child?
• How do you think they will compare with
Tom’s?
• Do you think American children have more or
fewer chances for adventures now than they
did in the 1840s? Why?
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Discussion
Starters
Discuss (2)
• Tom is often able to persuade his friends to do
things for him. Are you more like Tom, or like
the friends he tricks? How so?
• Tom and his friends are very superstitious. What
are you or your friends superstitious about?