THE ADVENTURES OF
TOM SAWYER
By
Mark Twain
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
1867
1907
Twainism
•“Never try to teach a pig to sing. It
wastes your time and annoys the pig.”
Historical Happenings
• Westward Expansion
• Change
• Pushing back boundaries
• Great population growth
• Economic depression
• Revolt against slavery
• Communications expanded
• Newly-improved postal service
• Telegraph
• Transportation revolution
• Establishment of railroads, canals, steamboats, steamships
• Explosion of Irish and German immigrant populations
• Events created tension, but they also opened up new and exciting
opportunities
Twain- The Philosopher
• Humorist, realist, cynic, satirist, commentator
• Characters were often motivated by
• spite, self-importance, greed
• Other characters (Huck and Jim) demonstrate how Twain was attuned
to the caring
• Twain’s attitude toward society was a WARY one
• detested the hypocrisy of the world
• detested the insistence on the importance of conventional manners while
inner corruption was ignored
• For Twain, the dictates of conscience took precedence over dictates of
society (reflected in the way Tom ignores church/community
expectations)
• Twain’s views of society’s imperfections led him to glorify the
individual who escapes contamination of society
• He saw the peak of NOBILITY in youth- Huck Finn is ideal
representative
What is Behind His Books?
• 1870s American literary style was shifting from romanticism to realism
• REALISM attempted to create believable characters with complete
personalities
• wrote about people from many walks of life and captured slang/dialect
people used
• examined current social problems- squarely faced them
• romanticism was an escape from miseries of industrialism and urbanization
• Twain was called the first American realist
• Tom Sawyer displays this transition from romanticism to realism
• Twain adds an element of romantic nostalgia
• He also used exaggerated humor of the American frontier
• Another tool used is satire- sometimes gentle and sometimes harsh
The Novel – On Many Levels
• Level 1- humorous and exciting children’s story- the hero and main
characters are children- adventures are those that children can
relate to
• Level 2- nostalgic look at childhood in the preindustrial, pre Civil
War days of a sleepy town on the Mississippi River
• Level 3- appeals to the social historian- novel is a realistic record of
the folklore, superstitions, myths, beliefs, customs, and manners of
19th century village America
• Level 4- gentle satire on the pride, pretense, and petty vanities of
the adult world AND on the customs and institutions of American
society
• Finally…offers insight into the process of growing up
Voices in the Novel
• Lyric (poetry)
• Sardonic (humorous in a grim/sarcastic way)
• Mix of elevated diction and vernacular expression (everyday
speech)
• 3rd person limited omniscient
• Divulges all; reader allowed not only to see all the activity within the novel but we
are allowed within the thoughts of the characters
• Twain’s viewpoint is present, but the characters do their own
talking
Literary Devices
• Bildungsroman- follows from childhood to adolescence to
adult
• Idyllic- a remembrance of simple, peaceful, and innocent
country life
• Picaresque- flows from one adventure to another
• Satire- human vices are made fun of through irony, wit,
sarcasm
• Juxtaposition- Tom’s relationship with the adults
Introducing the Novel
• Mark Twain, as did most Americans, felt a longing for a simpler time
• Fictional town of St. Petersburg is drawn from memory of a
boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri (it always seemed to be summer)
• St. Peter tends the gates of heaven
• Mark Twain did not remember only the pleasant parts of Hannibal
• St. Petersburg is divided into strict social classes
• One purpose was to make fun of “model” boy books
• Romanticizes childhood
• Twain admires imagination
• Novel features “oddball” characters, imaginative adventures, vivid
colloquial/frontier speech
Themes, Motifs, and Symbols
• Themes: Moral and Social Maturation, Society’s
Hypocrisy, Freedom through Social Exclusion (Huck
as an outcast), Superstition
• Motifs: Crime, Trading, Death, Showing Off
• Symbols: the Cave, the Storm, the Treasure, The
Village
Fence in Hannibal where Mark Twain grew up &
modeled the fence in the scene in Ch 2…..
Steamer Missouri – Ben Rogers was imitating.
Laura Hawkins -Mark Twains “favorite girl” and was
identified as the model for the character of Becky
Thatcher
Tom Plays, Fights, and Hides (Ch.1)
• Hook
• Allusions
• Capitalized “Model Boy”
• Apostrophe
• Similes
• Idioms
• Relationships between Tom and Sid ; Tom and Aunt Polly
• Tom’s character analysis throughout ch.1 (beginning, middle, end)
The Glorious Whitewasher (Ch. 2)
• Description of Hannibal, Missouri
• Metaphors
• The book is a study of the boy’s mind (boy’s view point/mind)
• Children’s imagination
• Examples?
• Apostrophe
• Work vs. Play
• Point of View
• Why is this important in the book?
• Relationships
• Motifs:
• trading
Busy at War and Love (Ch.3)
• Revenge
• Motifs:
• Showing off
• Death
• Simile
• Poke at Society? Hypocrisy?
• Foreshadowing
• Tom’s character analysis
• ** Think: This chapter in comparison to the two others**
• What does this tell us about Tom?
• Relationships
Showing Off in Sunday School (Ch.4)
• Teacher Discuss: Economy
• Satire
• Economy
• Hard work/knowledge VS goods/services
• Allusion
• Relationship b/w Tom and Mary
• Apostrophe
• Metaphor / Similes / idiom / Parallelism
• Tom’s desire for attention, love, acceptance
• Motifs:
• Trading
• Showing off (Thought: Who else is participating in this?)
The Pinchbug and His Prey (Ch. 5)
• Teacher Discuss: Church is central to town
• Teacher Discuss: Dichotomy (division into 2)
• Between serious and playful ; moral and mischievous
• Parallel’s Tom’s struggle between adventure and “being good”
• Satire
• “Model Boy”
• Simile / Metaphor / apostrophe
• Response to Church – Tom’s and the other patrons
• When does Tom actually pay attention to the message?
Tom Meets Becky (Ch.6)
• Personification
• Characterization: Huckleberry Finn
• Symbolizes?
• Motifs:
• Trading
• Superstition
• Meeting Becky
Tick-Running and A Heartbreak (Ch.7)
• Personification
• Simile
• Tom’s view of school/education
• “Frontier ideal”
• Engaged
A Pirate Bold To Be (Ch.8)
• Superstition
• Death
• Revenge, not suicidal thoughts
• Motif
• Robin Hood
Tragedy in the Graveyard (Ch.9)
• Turning point in the novel
• Setting the tone/mood
• Sounds of the night
• Silence (when is the silence broken?)
• What feelings are evoked by the mood?
• Superstition
• Prayer
• Who is in the graveyard?
• What happens in the graveyard?
• How does the murder change everything?
• What do we learn about human nature?
Dire Prophecy of the Howling Dog (CH. 10)
• Blood oath
• Motif:
• Superstition
• Foreshadowing
• Relationships
• Tom and Huck’s silence
• Idiom
Conscience Racks Tom (CH.11)
• Men create their own truths
• Darker side of humans
• Motif:
• Superstition
• The human conscience
• Outlet to ease Tom’s guilty conscience
• Injun Joe vs. Muff Potter
• 3 crimes/villians
• Juxtaposition
The Cat and the Painkiller (Ch. 12)
The Pirate Crew Set Sail (Ch.13)
• Tom’s view on running away
• Partner’s in life of Crime
• Joe Harper & Huck Finn
• Personification
• Conscience
• Stealing
• Motif
• River