Tom Sawyer Passage Analysis

The excerpt above from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer truly concludes the novel’s message and gives insight into Twain’s thought process in the works of writing such praised work. To understand the further message of the slected quote, it is important to know the events circulating at the time of the novel and in history. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is set in antebellum America in a small town where slavery is legal and accepted and is written in the years following the end of the Civil War. This era was full of immense wealth and an uneven distribution of it. In fact, inequality was a common appearance in this era of American history -- the treatment of African Americans and economically disadvantaged individuals versus White and …show more content…
It is very reflective of what Twain’s mind held regarding his experiences and witness of historical events. The excerpt is taken from a conversation between the novel’s and American literature’s heroes Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Both boys view the world immensely different, coming from completely opposite backgrounds. Tom Sawyer lives the life of an average American schoolboy -- he lives in a sturdy and highly religiously affiliated home with his aunt, step-brother and loving cousin, Mary, he attends Sunday school, he is educated, tends to his chores, and notably owns a slave, Jim. On the other hand, Huck Finn is the son of the small town’s drunkard and has unlimited freedom; he does not conform to society and does not participate in activities that other local kids do -- school, church, bathing, chores -- instead he spends his time away from home and off in the woods usually smoking cigars or stealing. Following a variety of events throughout the novel, Huck Finn is given the chance of living a normal life at last! Yet, his reaction to such “nonsense” sparks outrage. He is certainly a child at heart, and he has not changed a bit since he was …show more content…
To Huck, the adult world seems boring and in a sense, materialistic. Huck represents innocence and his introduction to conformism is really a child being dragged out of his own world and forced to accept the norms of an otherwise unknown community. A child innocent and ignorant of his surroundings is Huck Finn. We are all Huck Finn at a time of our lives, the world is good and everything is good. We don 't see color or evil or prejudice or anything like that -- we pick up what we hear and see but are ignorant as to what it truly means. Twain may have left the use of both characters however as a more complex and extended metaphor for his own life experiences. Many scholars have recognized traits of Twain in some of his characters - one being Tom Sawyer. As we develop, we become Tom Sawyer. A child who knows his right from his wrong, though perhaps this knowledge of good and evil removes the title of child and instead commences the stages of adolescence and adulthood. The way Tom consoles Huck shows stages of maturity past the phase of sneaking out of the house and playing in the