Summary:
In his novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain portrays the title character as a mischievious boy who nonetheless has a strong moral conscience and a good heart. In describing Tom's actions, both those of mischief and those of responsibility, Twain espouses a value system to the reader. In this system, even a mischievious boy should be able to make mature, responsible decisions; and all our deeds have consequences, whether they take the form of punishment or of praise.
Tom Sawyer is a boy who is always finding himself in some kind of mischief, yet he somehow manages to keep himself from being punished, and rather seem like a hero. He is always in and out of trouble, but despite his mischief, Tom is a boy with a strong moral conscience and a good heart.
One example of Tom having a good heart is where Tom takes the blame for Becky when she tore Mr. Dobbin's book. It is not right to lie about something or keep quite when you know who the sinner is, but Tom was noble enough to take punishment for Becky, because he liked her so much, and that made Tom a hero, Becky's hero.
In the beginning of the novel, Tom wishes that he could have the lifestyle that "Huckleberry Finn" has. Huckleberry has loads of freedom and no one to tell him what to do. Tom does not like school or Sunday school, but is forced to go because his Aunt Polly forces him to go. Tom does not like to take responsibility for "things" like going to school or church, but as the novel progresses, Tom begins to take the responsibility of being a leader amongst his school friends, more seriously.
In the first chapter of the book, Tom tries to keep himself from being punished for eating the jam, by tricking Aunt Polly to look behind her while he runs away. Later he volunteers to be punished for the book that Becky tore, which shows that Tom was trying to take responsibility for some things he did wrong in the past.
In this novel Mark Twain conveys the message that even a mischievous boy like Tom Sawyer, should be able to make mature, responsible decisions some time in his life.
One of these mature and responsible decisions was when he testified at Muff Potter's trial and told everyone that the real murderer was Injun Joe. "Tom was a glittering hero once more."
Near the end of the novel it is Tom again who pursued Becky to come along to Widow Douglas's instead of staying with Mrs. Harper as her mother told her to do. Tom and Becky wondered into the cave and got lost, but surprise, surprise, yet again Tom is the town's hero when he navigates Becky and himself out of the cave.
Tom also convinces Huckleberry Finn to stay with Widow Douglas, which urges "Huck" to take some responsibility by going to Sunday school and learning table manners. "Huck" becomes a character who is no longer disobedient, instead he takes on responsibility.
In the end of the novel Tom embraces social customs and sacrifices some of the freedoms of childhood.
The value system that I think Mark Twain is trying to espouse to the reader is the fact that all your deeds have consequences, some consequences are punishment, and others are praise or even heroism. The difference in the consequences depends on the situation.
When all is done in the spirit of good, harmless fun, why punish a child by spanking him or her. And I think that is the main reason why Tom is never punished really badly, because he never meant to harm anyone by his actions. He is only an adventurous boy, looking for a challenge and adventure.
When something is done which is meant to harm someone, for example Injun Joe killing the Doctor, the punishment can be severe...
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