The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Group

Question:

letin87
letin87
Student
College - Junior

Analyze the character of Aunt Polly and her relationship to Tom in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".

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Posted by letin87 on Sunday April 12, 2009 at 8:31 PM and tagged with aunt polly, characters, relationship, the adventures of tom sawyer, tom.

Answers:

  1. mbomengen
    mrsmonica Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Tom and Sid's mother has died and Aunt Polly (their mother's sister) brought them into her home to raise them. Aunt Polly is loving and sweet, but apparently she has difficulties raising two boys. Aunt Polly tries hard to steer Tom in the right direction, giving him advice on how to behave and administering punishment when he steps out of line, such as making him whitewash the fence.

    Aunt Polly unwittingly plays into the rivalry between Tom and Sid, holding Sid up as a model "good boy" when she chastises Tom. Her well-meaning efforts to mold Tom's behavior only serve to intensify the problem between the two boys.

    Aunt Polly also knows that Tom is prone to do the wrong thing, and she tries to set traps to be able to catch him, such as stitching his shirt collar with a particular color thread in case he ditches school to go swimming. Of course, Tom is usually one step ahead and always can figure out how to get out of a punishment.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/tom-sawyer/other-characters
    http://www.enotes.com/tom-sawyer/summary

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    Posted by mrsmonica on Monday April 13, 2009 at 6:06 AM