How Did Tom Sawyer Change Throughout The Book

At the onset of the book, Young Tom has just been released from prison and is interested in making up for lost time and enjoying himself. He is a strong family support during the journey but is among the first to begin reaching out to a larger family. At the end he has focused on the plight and abuse of all the homeless farmers and recognizes that they must

Tom Sawyer had stayed true to himself till the end of the novel and exhibited changes in his identity and values. In the middle of the book, Tom began to display his maturity. Right before halfway through the book Tom never stood up for anyone. Becky had ripped a page in the Anatomy book and when class begun Tom at first hesitated to tell on Becky but eventually took the liberty to take the blame. Another example of Coming of Age was when Tom and Becky got lost in McDougal's cave. Most children Tom’s age would either be paralyzed in fear to be lost in a dark, enormous cave or would explore. Instead, Tom not only searched the cave but he rationed his wedding cake and the candles with Becky. He also comforted her when he needed comfort himself.

Tom Joad lives his life with the “one foot before the other” type of attitude. The future does not concern him in the beginning of the novel. He does not think about the next day until the next day is there. He does this because he does not want to worry himself. He is afraid that if he becomes worried about his future, then he will become obsessed with it and will eventually be driven to insanity. As the novel went on, Tom realized that it was he that held his family together and provided the determination and support to keep going on. He possesses the skills and knowledge to make money on his own, but he decides to stay with his family and help them move along. The Joad family encounters many dilemmas where Tom has to make crucial decisions. Tom starts to realize what is best for his family’s future.

Tom Sawyer was an immature, selfish, troublemaker. He tries to get his way and while others should do work for him. Until he saw the pain of others due to his actions. His mindset had changed and his judgement, which helped him get through the situation where he was lost in a cave with Becky, but luckily he decided to continue to look around instead of staying put and crying. He eventually finds a way out. Twain made a point that in everyone’s childhood they experience an event that creates a different perspective, concerning others as well. He finishes the novel off saying that the Adventures of Tom Sawyer is “ It being strictly a history of a boy, it must stop here; the story not go further without becoming the history of a man”(Twain, 260). The lesson are figured as a child, where we develop in order to become an

As the novel progresses, Tom transforms from this selfish nature to become a caring person. Several examples of this transformation are seen throughout various chapters. When the Joads are traveling west to California with the Wilson’s, Tom offers to help them when their car breaks down. “Tom said nervously, ‘Look Al. I done my time, an’ now it’s done… Let’s jus’ try an’ get a con-rod an’ the hell with the res’ of it.’” Tom is showing a little more care for other people’s problems, however, he still has a selfish side because he still does not regret killing a man. He knew he had to pay for it by going to prison, but he still believes he did nothing wrong by taking a man’s life. By offering to help out with the Wilson’s’ car, he is on his way to becoming a less selfish person. As the book draws to a close, Tom stumbles upon Jim Casy again, who is murdered in front of his own eyes. As a result, he is thrown into a silent rage and kills another man which causes him to hide in the forest. He realizes that he is a danger to his family, so he sacrifices his safety in order for his family to be safe. ‘“Ya can’t do that, Ma. I tell you I’m jus’ a danger to ya,”’ (391). There is a clear transition from Tom acting selfish at the beginning of the book to him acting completely selfless at the end. This selflessness also contributed to him being a figure committed to bettering the

Tom is an immoral character. He is very unlikeable because of his uncivilized attitude. He is a very arrogant, dominating and boorish man who doesn’t cares about anyone focusing only on what he wants and looks down on poor, helpless people. Not only this, but he is also racist and a complete hypocrite.

Tom Sawyer is a complex character that represents the journey from childhood to adulthood that we all have experienced. The character development that Tom goes through during The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is long and sometimes inconsistent due to the episodic nature of the novel, but his character traits remain along with the overall message. Throughout the story, Tom Sawyer's main characteristics/traits become apparent within the first few chapters. Tom Sawyer is mischievous, envious, and adventurous.

In the first five chapters we can see that Tom is a young boy who liked to play with his friends and cannot stand working, even if his friends are working. In the second chapter, Tom deceived his friends to put whitewash

We see this for example on how he brought back money to the town and helped create businesses yet he ended up destroying these businesses by robbing the people. We also see how Tom notices his mistakes and starts going to church and carrying a pocket bible,etc. to protect himself. We see this when “the devil” comes at the end for Tom, Tom is looking for his pocket bible that he forgot. This shows how he, knows it was wrong, and how he went “corrupted” his

Tom Sawyer was an adventurous little boy who was always looking for attention. Throughout the chapters that we read I could understand that Tom had an enormous imagination and that he would do basically anything to receive some attention in return. Tom acted the way that he did so that he could receive some of the attention that he was missing with being an orphan.

Tom had the opportunity to get all the fame ans riches he wished. He gets the opportunity to live an amazing lifestyle, but he would need to be selfish. This was no problem for Tom as he didn't care much about people.

In the middle of reading Out of Nowhere, it became clearer and easier to be imagine Tom in reality as an actual person. For instance in the passages, it was emphasized that soccer as an important part of his life and matters a ton in

Although Tom is the protagonist of the novel, our first impressions of him are rather misleading. He seemed to be a rather manipulative individual at first due to the fact that he was guilt tripping the truck driver in the beginning of the novel. He also acts as if he does not care about anything like when he casually mentions, “‘Homicide … That’s a big word--means I killed a guy’” (Steinbeck). First impression-wise, the protagonist seemed to be incapable of compassion. This is definitely not whom Tom ends up becoming. In fact, he becomes a crucial member of the family that allows them to make the trip to California without fail. Although he is unable to make sure that everyone arrives safely, he is only human and he is hurt every time someone leaves. Noah’s decision to leave the family and live on the river has affected Tom in that Tom is unable to keep the family all together, but at the same time he respects Noah’s decision. When Tom tried to convince Noah to stay by saying, “How bout the fam’ly? How ‘bout Ma?”, Tom appealed to the idea of family and how they should stay as one. This contrasts early behaviors of Tom as in the beginning, he did not particularly care if his parents mailed him or not in jail. He talks about how they care about him, but he never revealed his own feelings towards them. He seems to be a stranger to his own family. To furthermore complete this newfound idea of family in Tom, he makes the ultimate sacrifice to leave the family. He knows that by staying, he will endanger the family and as much as he would want to stay with the family, he puts the family’s safety before his own. Tom had shown continued growth as a human throughout the novel and yet despite all of the sacrifices he has had to make, Tom still continued to