Mark Twain’s, The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, is a story told from the eyes of
the young Tom Sawyer. The story takes place in the small rustic town of St.
Petersburg Missouri. Tom Sawyer is the main character of the book. Tom is an
imaginative young man who always seems to be getting into trouble. Tom is very
adventurous, he never passes up a chance to play pirates, robbers, or soldiers.
This book has multiple themes but the most important is knowing when its right
to talk and tell the truth and when its better to be quiet or lie. At the
beginning of the story Tom is introduced by climbing in his window after a long
night of cavorting with his friends. Soon after the start of the story Tom meets
Huckleberry Fin. Huck is a local outcast of society who likes to live by his own
terms. Tom and Huck become good friends. One night the two boys go to the grave
yard. While they are there they witness the murder of the town doctor, Mr.
Robinson. The boys watched as Injun Joe kills the doctor and frames a drunk by
the name of Muff Potter who just happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong
time. The boys swear never to speak of this again. Soon after this Tom falls in
love with his new neighbor, Becky Thatcher. Eventually the two become engaged
but the engagement falls through when Tom accidentally mentions his former love
while talking with Becky. The two fued and do not speak. Meanwhile, the whole
town is gossiping of the murder of Dr. Robinson and the prosecution of Muff
Potter. A trail quickly forms and Muff is put on the stand. Tom knows he can not
let the innocent Muff go to jail so as the trial comes to a close Tom testifies,
proving Injun Joe guilty. This is the climax of the story. After the trial ends,
the man hunt for Injun Joe begins. Tom is treated like a hero, but feels bad
knowing that he broke Huck’s oath. Becky and Tom soon become friends again
after Tom takes Becky’s punishment at school for being careless with the
teachers things. Becky finds Tom to be very noble. Summer is coming near. Injun
Joe is still at large and Tom and Huck are searching for treasure. While
searching near an old ghost house one night the two boys over hear Injun Joe
talking about some loot that he hid. The boys are determined to find it . As an
end of the year celebration, Tom’s whole class goes on a picnic and on a cave
exploration near the wood outside of town. While in the caves Tom and Becky get
lost. The whole town searches for them but they are not found. also in the caves
Tom sees Injun Joe snooping around. This inspires him to find a way out, which
he does. After Tom and Becky are home the caves are sealed, leaving Injun Joe
and his treasure locked inside. Injun Joe dies of starvation at the gated
entrance of the cave and his treasure is discovered buy Tom and Huck who had
found a secret way into the cave. The boys become the richest men in town. Huck
decides to break away from the outcast life and moves in with a respectable
widow in town. Tom and Huck are happy and rich and they promise to always stay
together. The main character of the book is Tom Sawyer. Tom is an imaginative
young man. Whenever Tom plays he pretends to be a pirate or Robin Hood and his
friends would be his merry men. “Just here the blast of a toy tin trumpet came
faintly Tom flung off his shirt using it as a belt sticking in it a rude bow and
arrow and a wooden sword. “Hold on me merry men! keep hid till I blow.”
(page 59) Tom is also very adventurous and loves to go hunting for treasure with
Huck. “There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy’s life when he
has a ragging desire to go somewhere and dig for buried treasure.” (page 151)
This feeling suddenly came upon Tom one day. Tom got Huck and the went to search
for treasure by the old abandoned ghost house. Tom often uses his creative
imagination to get out of punishment from his Aunt Polly. Tom could make up lies
like nobody else. He was very slick. Tom would use his adventures to escape the
havoc of daily life. When Tom had a hard day at school or a problem with Sid, he
would go on a treasure hunt , or go play Robin Hood in the woods. This book is
known to have multiple themes but I tried to connect all of them into one. The
presence of truth is the cornerstone of my theme. I believe it can best be
summed up by a quote from Alexander Jablokov. “The road to truth is long, and
lined the whole way with annoying bastards.” Tom has many important decisions
to make throughout the book. It is his truth that saves the life of Muff Potter
during his trial and actually his lie that saves Becky Thatcher from being
whipped(page 134). Tom is made out to be this wild conniving little cheater at
the beginning of the book, but as the story proceeds Tom begins to mature, tell
the truth, show signs of nobility and charisma, and not be such a naughty little
boy. Tom goes from boy to man in this book. His view of the importance of truth
changes and he understands that in order to do what is right it wont be easy and
that there may be some hardships along the way.