Home > The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Summary & Study Guide > The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Group > Question and Answer

Question:

Answers:

1. 
   linda-allen Teacher
   High School - 10th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a bildungsroman, or a coming of age story. Twain is telling the story of how Tom grows from a young, naive boy into a worldly wise young man. By the end of the story, Tom is entering adulthood. He and Huck have discovered the treasure, and it has been invested for them. Also, the Widow Douglas announces that she plans to adopt Huck. To make "civilized" life more appealing to Huck, Tom promises that they'll have more adventures in the future as robbers, but they have to become respectable first (so they won't be suspected?).

   Twain answers your question himself in the conclusion:

   SO endeth this chronicle. It being strictly a history of a BOY, it must stop here; the story could not go much further without becoming the history of a MAN. When one writes a novel about grown people, he knows exactly where to stop--that is, with a marriage; but when he writes of juveniles, he must stop where he best can.

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/tom-sawyer-text/conclusion

   http://www.enotes.com/tom-sawyer/critical-overview

   http://www.enotes.com/tom-sawyer/summary

   Rate answer:

   • Flag as inappropriate

   Posted by linda-allen on Wednesday April 16, 2008 at 8:03 AM