The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

BOOK REPORT

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer tells the story of Tom, an imaginative and mischievous young boy who never passes up a chance for an adventure in mid-nineteenth century St. Petersburg, Missouri. The novel has several themes, among which are love, imagination, rebellion and superstition.

One of the major themes that the author portrays in the book is childhood love. We can clearly see the associated emotions overcoming the boy when he first notices Becky Thatcher, as stated: "He worshiped this new angel with furtive eye, till he saw that she had discovered him; then he pretended he did not know she was present, and began to "show-off" in all sorts of absurd boyish ways, in order to win her admiration." (p.17) Soon after, he proposes to Becky with a doorknob and out of excitement, accidentally mentions his former love, Amy Lawrence, causing the engagement to fall apart. To illustrate the pain of a broken heart, the author chooses carefully his words in order to show us the power of love. The statement: "So she (Becky) sat down to cry again and upbraid herself; and by this time the scholars began to gather again, and she had to hide her grief and still her broken heart and take up the cross of a long, dreary, aching afternoon, with none among the strangers about her to exchange sorrows with." (p.52) explains the previous fact. As an end of the year celebration, Tom's whole class goes on a cave exploration outside of town. When Tom and Becky realize that they are lost in the caves, he constantly tires to comfort her and ignite some hope for their escape. The passage on page 187, "He sat down by her and put his arms around her; she buried her face in his bosom, she clung to him, she poured out her terrors, her unavailing regrets, and the far echoes turned them all to jeering laughter." reminds us of an existing love between the two children. Apart from his love for Becky, Tom experiences a type of motherly love for his aunt Polly, a simple, kind-hearted women, who becomes a substitute parental figure. Even though Tom uses every trick in his book to manipulate or deceive his aunt, he doesn't mean to cause any harm. When aunt Polly accuses Tom of lying about his dream, he agrees but...