What is the main conflict of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"?

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, including Aunt Polly, school, and more studious boys like Sid.

Tom is torn between extremes. He most admires and feels a yearning for the freedom of the social outcast Huck Finn, yet he keeps this friendship largely under wraps because he knows it's not socially acceptable. He chafes against the constraints imposed by Aunt Polly and school, but, like the trickster he is, works within their confines. His conflict throughout the novel is navigating his relationship with a restrictive adult society that wants to rub away his rough edges. He struggles to be who he is against a system that demands he conform.

Tom shows his boisterous personality, trickster spirit, and ability to adapt when he is able to turn his punishment—whitewashing a fence outside his house—into an enviable game, luring other boys into paying him with gifts for the privilege of doing an unwanted chore.

He does his best to avoid school, a place where he is forced to sit still when he would prefer active engagement with life. His exuberance pulls him into adventure, such as when the desire to find a buried treasure causes he and Huck to enter a graveyard at night, where they stumble across Injun Joe committing a murder.

Tom is part of an American tradition that includes such red-blooded trickster figures as Washington Irving's Brom Bones in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." These robust males reject book learning and a feminized civilization which conflicts with their desire for physical activity, freedom, and adventure.

Tom Sawyer's main conflict is his conflict between his self-interests and what is the right thing to do. 

In his afterword to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a novel about a young boy who "overflows" with the exuberance of life, ignorance of responsibility, and mischievousness, Geoffrey Sanborn writes that Mark Twain composed a tribute to "the free, unscarred, unsmitten nature" of childhood. In fact, Sanborn points out, Twain himself admitted that he was captivated by youthful pleasures. Sanborn states that when he published his book, Twain wrote in his epilogue that his novel was "strictly the history of a boy."

Tom's boyish adventures are delightful. He is mischievous and plays tricks on the other children; for instance, he fools the neighborhood boys into whitewashing the fence for him, and he trades for tickets while at Sunday school so that he can have enough to win a Bible, whose verses he does not even know. However, as the narrative progresses, Tom's adventures become less frivolous. In Chapter 10, for example, after Tom and Huck Finn witness the murder of Dr. Robinson by Injun Joe, they vow to be silent. Unaware that Injun Joe plans for Muff Potter to be blamed for his crime since Potter's knife is in the body of the doctor, Tom and Huck make a blood oath not to reveal what they saw out of fear for their own lives. But, when Tom learns that Potter is arrested for the murder of Dr. Robinson, his conscience torments him for not having reported the truth about the murder. It is at this point that Tom faces a conflict of his own selfish interests against what is right. Because of this guilt, Tom sneaks off to Potter's jail cell in order to bring the man small gifts.

In Chapter 13 Tom joins Huck and Joe Harper on a raft, and they pole their way to Jackson's Island. After trading tales and eating, the boys lie down to sleep.

Then at once they reached and hovered upon the imminent verge of sleep--but an intruder came, now, that would not "down." It was conscience. They began to feel a vague fear that they had been doing wrong to run away; and next they thought of the stolen meat, and then the real torture came. They tried to argue it away by reminding conscience that they had purloined sweetmeats and apples scores of times, but conscience was not to be appeased by such thin possibilities. (Ch.13)

As a consequence of this "intruder," the boys resolve that “their piracy should not again be sullied with the crime of stealing.” It is at this point, therefore, that Tom starts to develop his moral conscience and begins to mature. Nevertheless, Joe, Tom, and Huck do not return as they should. So, when their raft is found, the townspeople naturally assume that the boys have died. After learning what has occurred, Tom convinces the other boys to all appear at their funeral. When they do so, they are met with much rejoicing, and the boys delight in the attention. Later, at the trial of Muff Potter, Tom testifies that he witnessed Injun Joe commit the murder of Dr. Robinson. This testimony demonstrates Tom Sawyer's maturation as he has done the right thing.

There is a proverb in Arabic which, roughly translated, means "I against my brother, My brother and I against my cousin, My cousin, my brother and I against the world." This is an apposite description of the conflict in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

There is conflict between Tom and the other children—for instance when they mock him for having to whitewash Aunt Polly's fence and he ends up tricking them into doing it for him and paying for the privilege. There is also obvious conflict in his troubled relationship with Becky Thatcher.

However, there is a much larger conflict between the children and the adults of St. Petersburg. Aunt Polly, the Widow Douglas, and their ilk try to civilize the children—to make them wear uncomfortable clothes and learn their lessons. Most of the novel's conflict (and much of its comedy) stems from Tom and Huck's refusal to conform to the adult stereotype of the good boy.

However, when the community is threatened by the outsider, Injun Joe, Tom breaks his oath of silence and sides with the adult community of St. Petersburg against the murderer.

There are many conflicts in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but among the most important is the tension that exists between the children of the novel and the adult world which surrounds them. Although Tom Sawyer does not deal with themes that are as heavy as those of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (like slavery), it does occasionally move from a tone of playfulness to one of adult seriousness.

For instance, although Tom and his friends's pirate adventure starts as simply playful, it quickly evolves into something more serious and more adult. Because the boys have disappeared, the adults assume them to be dead and thus have a funeral service on their behalf. The boys take this chance to pull what they believe to be a hilarious stunt and show up at their own funeral, revealing themselves to be alive.

While the boys find this to simply be a matter of good fun, the adults in the community are deeply traumatized by what has happened. This scene demonstrates that the boys do not yet understand adult emotions or the serious, adult concept of death that they are merely toying with. The boys are too young for death to be real to them, but presumably, the mature reader will understand and empathize with the reaction of the adults.

There are a number of the different types of conflicts in the novel.

Man vs. Man:

Tom has adversarial relationships with a number of different characters throughout the novel. The big man vs. man conflict of the novel is between Tom and Injun Joe, since Tom knows about Injun Joe's role in the murder and testifies against him. However, Tom can also be at odds with Becky and Aunt Polly at times in the novel, such as when he and Becky are trying to make each other jealous or when Aunt Polly is punishing him for one of his many exploits. 

Man vs. Nature:

As a kid who roams free through nature during a lot of his childhood, it is to be expected that nature sometimes causes conflict. A major example of this is when Tom is trapped in the caves. Another is the storm on Jackson Island, when a tree is knock right into the boys' camp. 

Man vs. Society:

This conflict is common for Tom, who often scorns what he needs to do to be "respectable," such as wearing shoes and going to church. The conflict is even more important for Huck, though, whom the Widow Douglas attempts to civilize at the end of the book. This is torment for Huck, who is accustomed to living in a wild and free way that makes him an outcast. Though he doesn't like being mistreated, he struggles to act in a way that society can accept.  

What is the main conflict in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

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 various people in the book. I would say that the conflict with a standard "bad guy" archetype occurs between Tom and Injun Joe. Tom is in man versus man conflict with Becky and Aunt Polly at various times in the novel as well. His conflicts with Aunt Polly are some of my favorites because of how she is always punishing him for his various acts of mischief.

A man versus nature conflict occurs when Tom is trapped in the caves and when the storm hits Jackson Island. Finally, man versus self is an important conflict type that exists in this book as well. Tom is constantly in a struggle to do what he wants to do instead of what he knows is the right thing to do. We see this conflict in a major way when Tom struggles with whether or not to report the truth about Dr. Robinson's murder.

The primary conflict in the novel is the individual versus society, which is played out in Tom's childish rebellions against Aunt Polly, school, and local approval. The novel tells the story of Tom's efforts to live out his individual dreams and preferences regardless of what Aunt Polly and the rest of polite society have to say about it.

What is the conflict and resolution in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

There are many minor conflicts within the story, but the main conflict is between Tom, Huck, and Injun Joe. Tom and Huck spend most of the book either trying to get the treasure from Injun Joe or deciding whether or not to disclose what they know about Injun Joe's crime—murdering Dr. Robinson. This resolves when Injun Joe dies because of one of Tom's escapades. Tom and his girlfriend, Becky, get lost in the same cave that Injun Joe is hiding in. Then, when Tom and Becky are saved, the cave becomes sealed off. This traps Injun Joe, and eventually he starves to death. This resolves that conflict. Then Tom and Huck are given some of Injun Joe's treasure after they find it.

Consider the three levels of conflict and then identify the correlating conflicts in the novel's story line:

man vs man: 1) Huck's introduction and his lack of "belongingness" in the local community; 2) Tom's inability also to conform to the expectations of adults; 3) The boys' witness of Dr. Robinson's murder and their fear to tell (considering Injun Joe's eventual reprisal); 4) Huck's refusal to be adopted by the Widow Douglas since he prefers his freedom. 5) The inevitable separation of best friends through circumstances although their friendship remains intact.

man vs nature: Tom and Becky getting lost in the cave while looking for treasure. 

man vs himself: 1) The boys' guilty conscience for not having defended Muff, falsely accused of the doctor's murder;  2) Tom's feelings for Becky and adolescent "growing pains"; 3) Tom's relinquishment of childhood dreams. Deep down he knows he will never enjoy buccaneering days with Huck although he maintains this illusion.

Other conflicts may be found, but these are the primary ones.

The story line is very tightly woven so that the resolution of one conflict leads to that of others. Tom and Huck confront Injun Joe, tell the truth, and justice is finally rendered. (Huck even gets some of the reward money and thus gains a little more personal independence; then Tom and he go their separate ways.)

What is a form of conflict in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

An external conflict found in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the character vs. character conflict between Tom and his Aunt Polly.

Conflict is a struggle between opposing forces.  An external conflict is a struggle between a character and an outside force, such as another character.

Aunt Polly wants to raise Tom right, but she has a hard time keeping control of him.  Tom spends most of his time avoiding Aunt Polly, or trying not to get caught or punished.  Aunt Polly loves Tom, and finds his antics funny.

“Hang the boy, can't I never learn anything? Ain't he played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time? But old fools is the biggest fools there is. Can't learn an old dog new tricks, as the saying is. (ch 1)

Of course, each time Tom runs away when she is about to hit him or lies to her, she gets upset but only until he makes her laugh.  Thus while the two are in constant conflict, it is a friendly one.  Even when Tom is punished for cutting school and lying about it, he manages to get out of his punishment—painting the fence—by tricking other boys into doing it.

What is the main conflict in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

One of the main conflicts in the novel is Tom's desire to follow his own desires and fantasies at the same time that he wants to win admiration and acceptance from the adult world and from Becky Thatcher. At the beginning of the novel, Tom devotes himself to escaping from responsibility and to using his cleverness to trick others (for example, when he convinces other boys to whitewash the fence for him). Later, he has the chance to prove himself a capable young man by helping to rescue Becky from a cave in which they are trapped and by finding stolen gold. He eventually proves himself able to win respect from the adult world and from Becky. The poster you make might portray Tom as divided between the world of adventures that he wants to follow with Huck (for example, hiding out on an island) and the real world in which he must rescue Becky, find a killer (Injun Joe), and discover the gold Injun Joe had stolen. 

    Although the first few chapters of Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, deal with humorous episodes that introduce the principal characters, the main conflict of the story picks up later on and deals with Tom's "life-threatening entanglement" with Injun Joe. Tom and Huck's witnessing of the murder of Dr. Robinson eventually comes out at the murder trial of Muff Potter, and Injun Joe escapes. The boys' worries about Injun Joe seeking revenge upon them become a focal point for most of the rest of the story, and the various treasure hunts and adventures in the cave all revolve around Injun Joe in some way. If I were creating a poster, I would probably focus on all or part of these characters--Tom, Huck, Becky Thatcher and Injun Joe--in the cave.

I think you could look at the main conflict in two ways.

First, you could look at what the boys see as the main conflict.  If you look at it this way, the main conflict is between the boys and Injun Joe.  They spend much of the book worrying about Injun Joe taking his revenge on them.

A second way to look at it is more philosophical.  During the entire story, we see Tom in conflict with the rules of the adult world.  We see him cheat to win the Bible, cheat to get out of whitewashing the fence, etc.