Human Nature In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

The restrictions of church and school make Tom and his friends slightly more inventive outside of school, but they become very clever while in church and school. They are bored by church and school, and so with their limited materials, they invent ways to entertain themselves. One example is when Tom released the pinchbug in church rather than listening to the sermon. However, they do not always get away with it when they become caught up in their little games. A demonstration of this forgetfulness is when Tom and Jim were playing with the tick, and began arguing loudly, so consequently the teacher noticed. This sloppy forgetfulness may suggest that they are not as clever as one might initially think, but humans are prone to distraction. They are still children and so this especially applies to them. They might not think their little games are as fun if they were constantly on guard for an observant teacher or strict aunt passing by. This suggests that they are willing to sacrifice safety from consequences for more …show more content…
Tom and his friends are astoundingly ignorant of the horrifying violation of human rights and morality surrounding them. Tom is not a hateful boy based on the narrative so far, yet he does not oppose slavery, or the rampant sexism, of his time. He and his friends might not be fully aware of what slavery actually is, or the harm gender roles do to society. That is still no excuse. The context that it is set in provides even more contrast. As Tom tries to find a way to skip school, others long for the right of education and to have all fields of work available to them. While Tom whines and complains about having to paint a fence, his family has a slave who has to suffer through much worse every day. Tom just accepts this with no empathy or consideration for him. Raising children this way just promotes soullessness towards all others, regardless of race or