The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The main theme of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the joys of childhood when the world is full of wonders and children are free of the heavy responsibilities of adulthood. Mark Twain was writing...

There are many words that describe Tom Sawyer. So, my list will have to be selective. Here are three words and quotes to back them up. First, Tom is crafty or mischievous. He can make others do...

In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, superstitions are important because people feel that with these beliefs they have control over certain situations. The children feel empowered by superstitions,...

In chapter 6, Huckleberry asserts that dead cats cure warts. However, Tom insists that spunk-water (the rain-water collected in an old rotten stump) is better at curing warts. He even proves it...

Aunt Polly finds out that Tom had been out swimming when Sid alerts her to the thread on Tom's collar. Instead of the original white thread she used to sew on Tom's collar, the thread is now black....

In Chapter Two of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom is forced to whitewash a fence. The fence is thirty yards long and made of boards nine feet high. Since it is a Saturday, all the other boys...

In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom's energetic consciousness collides with adult civilization. Tom is presented against the backdrop of individuals and institutions that try to contain him,...

The important events that happen in Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain are as follows: 1.Tom uses reverse psychology to trick the other boys into white washing the fence for him. 2.Tom receive his bible and...

At the end of chapter 1 in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom is caught by his Aunt Polly sneaking into the house through the window late at night. When she sees that his clothes are a mess, she...

In the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the main antagonist, Injun Joe, who is half Native American and half white, seeks revenge on the Widow Douglas because he is physically punished and...

Tom wishes he were sick when he wakes up on a Monday morning and contemplates a whole five days of sitting still in school ahead of him: Monday morning found Tom Sawyer miserable. Monday morning...

Tom has been ordered to whitewash the garden fence by Aunt Polly as punishment for his bad behaviour, and finds this a very hard and boring task. However, he manages to coax first Ben Rogers and...

Setting refers to the time and place in which the events of a narrative occur. Mark Twain's classic novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, published in 1876, is set in the fictional small town of St....

Tom and Huck overhear Injun Joe and his accomplice discussing the treasure. Tom is obsessed with pirates and treasure, as most boys are. However, one day he overhears two conmen, Injun Joe and his...

Aunt Polly finds Tom very difficult to deal with and frequently complains about the trouble he puts her through, but she clearly loves him and worries about his wellbeing. Because she loves him so...

Sid is a great foil for Tom in the book. Unlike Tom, Sid is quiet and mindful of his manners. The text tells us that he has no "adventurous, trouble-some ways." In short, Sid is the total opposite...

Just before chapter 13 begins, Becky Thatcher finally returns to school. Tom is happy and begins showing off in front of her. Unfortunately, Becky isn't at all pleased with Tom's antics. She...

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is Mark Twain’s classic story of a young boy with a free spirit for adventure along the Mississippi River in the mid-nineteenth century. Although protagonist Tom is a...

At the beginning of the story, the author paints Tom as a cocky yet likable boy whom his aunt has to constantly discipline to keep in check. He steals jam, skips school, and gets into fights. Even...

Ah, Aunt Polly: tenderhearted, loving, but usually misguided Aunt Polly. She is the caretaker of Tom Sawyer (after Polly's sister, Tom's mother, died) and is always desperate to understand Tom....

Some of Tom Sawyer's negative traits are his mischievousness, ability to manipulate others, and his selfishness. For example, in the famous whitewashing scene, Tom manipulates the other boys into...

The start of Tom Sawyer opens with Aunt Polly looking all over the house and yard for Tom. The first word of the book is her shouting, "TOM!" (ch. 1). She looks around the room, checks under a bed...

The brass knob is one of Tom Sawyer's most treasured possessions. It's also a sign of how serious he is about Becky Thatcher that he's prepared to give her this special gift. Unfortunately for Tom,...

The section of the book that you are talking about is a hilarious section. Huck and Tom sound like a couple of old men sitting on a porch having a ridiculously silly argument over nothing. The...

Near the beginning of the novel, Tom is punished by Aunt Polly by being forced to whitewash the fence in front of his house on a Saturday morning. With a thirty-by-nine-yard fence in front of him,...

In chapter 2 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Aunt Polly punishes Tom for his mischief by giving him the task of whitewashing whole of their fence. Of course, Tom wouldn’t want to do...

Tom Sawyer is the archetypal adventurous boy. Mark Twain is a master of character description, creating some of the most iconic American characters—like Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Tom is, first...

There are actually quite a few main events that can be picked from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Here are a few of them: Tom Sawyer and his friend Huck Finn visit a graveyard and witness the murder...

What the last sentence in this chapter means is that Tom Sawyer's heart is broken. Finding the brass andiron knob lying there was the last straw. It was the thing that (when added to all the...

Aunt Polly punishes Tom by having him whitewash a fence on a beautiful Saturday morning when he is longing to be free to play. Tom is upset that the day of idleness and fun he'd planned is ruined...

The old lady was wearing her beautiful, fancy glasses that she wore just to look great. The problem was that she couldn't actually see anything through them (she might as well have been looking...

There are several instances throughout the novel where Aunt Polly punishes Tom for his behavior. Her most common form of punishment is beating Tom. In chapter 1, Aunt Polly attempts to beat him for...

Aunt Polly is Tom Sawyer's kind-hearted guardian. She is the sister to the late mother of Tom and Sid. Aunt Polly wants to raise Tom right, but the high-energy boy is always into some sort of...

In chapter 6 of Tom Sawyer, the titular Tom comes across the town ne’er-do-well, Huckleberry Finn. Huck is carrying a dead cat with him on the way to the graveyard. The superstition is that dead...

Tom loathes going to school and dreads Monday mornings, even to the point of wishing on Mondays that there had been no holiday at the weekend, "it made the going into captivity and fetters again so...

While Ben was whitewashing the fence, Tom was relaxing, eating, and planning how to fool more kids. In chapter 2, Tom is whitewashing the fence, and he is not enjoying it; however, Tom isn't about...

Chapter 4 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer centers around a Sunday-school competition that exchanges tickets for correctly recited Bible verses. If students collect enough tickets, they win a Bible....

Aunt Polly's ambivalence about Tom is clear from the very beginning of the book: she is infuriated and concerned by his misbehavior, but at the same time she feels very tenderly toward him. We see...

Aunt Polly loves Tom and does her best to provide him love and support even though he is sometimes difficult. Tom is a very spirited boy. He does not fit well into the boundaries of society. He...

After Tom and Becky get lost in the riverside cave at the picnic, terror ensues. Becky and Tom's guardians are frightened by their absence, and Becky and Tom themselves must face an uncertain end...

"Strong Temptations" is the chapter 2 title from the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Interestingly, not all editions of the book include this chapter title. Some editions don't title the...

Aunt Polly is loving and patient with her mischievous nephew Tom. Aunt Polly is pretty much in over her head with her nephew Tom Sawyer. Tom is not only mischievous but clever, constantly coming...

As far as the reason for writing the book is concerned, Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) makes it clear in the preface of the first edition where he says: "Although my book is intended mainly for...

As with most stories, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer has multiple conflicts. Man versus man is definitely one of the conflict types that exists in this great book; however, Tom is in conflict with...

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is in some ways a coming-of-age story about an intelligent boy who has always been able to manipulate others for his own purposes. He changes as a result...

It's a beautiful hot, sunny day in St. Petersburg; certainly not the kind of day you'd want to spend in school. Mind you, Tom Sawyer never wants to spend any day in school, whatever the weather....