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Coming Of Age Of Tom Sawyer

Decent Essays

As time passes, the morality and maturity of society evolve. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a coming of age story written by one of the most influential individual in America’s history: Mark Twain. The novel surrounds the life of Tom Sawyer, a boy of youth who lives in a world of fun and games, always facing the consequences that come with the exertion of trying to get all that he pleases. But Tom Sawyer also becomes involved in matters which leave him to take responsibility and grow as an individual. Throughout the novel, several characteristics can be sought within the youthful and exuberant Tom Sawyer, but only three adjectives describe him the best: mischievous, cunning, and compassionate. As any other young and wild boy, Tom Sawyer …show more content…

An example of his cunnings occurs in the second chapter titled, “Strong Temptations-Strategic Movements-The Innocents Beguiled,” which was when Tom was caught sneaking out of the house and his punishment was to white-wash the fence that surrounds his aunt’s home and so when a boy of Tom’s age- Ben Rogers- came, he tricked him and so many other fellow classmates into painting the fence by saying, ‘“What do you call work?,’ and ‘Like it? Well,, I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it. Does a boy get to whitewash a fence every day? (Ch.2, Pgs.19-20).”’ Tom did not white-wash the fence and there were boys coming to and fro to do the one occupation Tom did not wish to waste his “valuable” time on, giving up their various and random objects as a barter to Tom for the chance to paint the fence. Aunt Polly did not find out, believing Tom painted the whole fence, so besides all the knick-knacks he got from the boys; he got an apple as a reward from Aunt Polly. Another time where Tom puts his sly moves into action was in Chapter 5, which is when he goes to Sunday school and trades all of the spoils he gained from his whitewash scam and trades them for blue tickets the other schoolboys had. The blue tickets were rewards for students who remembers a verse in the Bible; when they accumulate to a certain amount of blue tickets, the students are awarded with a show of honor in …show more content…

Tom Sawyer is characterized by many unvalued traits, but however, as the reader gets deeper into the book, Tom is found to be a caring individual towards his Aunt Polly, his crush Becky Thatcher, and his dear friend Huckleberry Finn. An example of his responsibility and compassion for others is found when Tom and Huck were in the graveyard one night only to find the drunk Muff Potter and thug Injun Joe with a well-respected Dr. Robinson is found looting from a corpse and Injun Joe then uses Muff Potter’s knife to kill the doctor (Ch.9, Pgs. 68-70). Tom and Huck swear to not tell anyone of their witnessing the crime, but when the trial comes and Tom is called to the stand, Tom did not want to send innocent Muff to face execution, and so he told the truth of that night, gaining respect and given the title of hero (Ch.10, Pg.71-73 & Ch.19). Another example of Tom Sawyer’s caring thoughts is in Chapter 20, where Becky is found in Mr. Dobbins secret drawer looking at his anatomy book and when Tom crept up on Becky, she was startled and accidentally ripped one of the pages. When Mr. Dobbins finds his anatomy book with a ripped page, he starts calling out student’s name to find out who did this “crime.” Right at the moment he called out Becky Thatcher’s name, Tom boldly shouted, “I done it!,” (Ch.20, Pg.132). Tom Sawyer then faces what was supposed to be Becky’s whipping, but his whipping resulted to Becky

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