Tom Sawyer Summary 622i5l

ABOUT THE BOOK….. FULL TITLE

AUTHOR

GENRE

· The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

· Samuel Clemens, usually known by his pen name, Mark Twain · Concerned with Tom’s personal growth and quest for identity, The

Adventures of Tom Sawyer incorporates several different genres. It resembles a bildungsroman, a novel that follows the development of a hero from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. The novel also resembles novels of the picaresque genre, in that Tom moves from one adventurous episode to another. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer also fits the genres of satire, frontier literature, folk narrative, and comedy. D A TE O F F I R S T P U B L I C A TI O N

· The novel appeared in England in June1 8 7 6 ,

and six months later in the United States.

About the author…. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humourist. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker. His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers. He was lauded as the "greatest American humourist of his age", and William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature".

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Summary The Adventures of Tom Sawyer revolves around the youthful adventures of the novel's schoolboy protagonist, Thomas Sawyer, whose reputation precedes him for causing mischief and strife. Tom lives with his Aunt Polly, half-brother Sid, and Cousin Mary in the quaint town of St. Petersburg, just off the shore of the Mississippi River. St. Petersburg is described as a

familiarity typical small-town atmosphere where the Christian faith is predominant, the social network is close-knit, and resides. Unlike his brother Sid, Tom receives "lickings" from his Aunt Polly; ever the mischief-maker, would rather play hooky than attend school The story starts with Aunt Polly searching and screaming for Tom Sawyer: she wants to confront her nephew about some missing jam. Tom, however, is able to outwit his aunt and slips away. But Aunt Polly loves him so much she cannot be too harsh with him. She is concerned that he will play hooky that afternoon, and sure enough he does. After playing hooky from school on Friday and dirtying his clothes in a fight, Tom is made to whitewash the fence as punishment on Saturday. At first, Tom is disappointed by having to forfeit his day off. However, he soon cleverly persuades his friends to trade him small treasures for the privilege of doing his work. This was a very humorous incident. After the fence is painted, Tom heads for the square and, on the way, stops to watch a very pretty young girl, names Becky Thatcher who is moving into a house down the street. He shows off for her, and she pretends to ignore him. He meets a boy called Huckleberry Finn, the son of the town drunk and they soon become friends. At midnight, Tom accompanies Huckleberry Fin and they go to the cemetery where they come upon Dr. Robinson, Injun Joe, and Muff Potter who are digging up a recently buried corpse. There is an argument, Muff is knocked unconscious, and Injun Joe murders the doctor and places the murder weapon next to Muff. The horrified boys flee and take a blood oath never to reveal what they have seen. The next day, the town is in an uproar (school is dismissed), and Injun Joe identifies Muff Potter as the murderer. Tom is fearful that Injun Joe will discover that he was a witness. At school, Becky snubs Tom by paying no heed to his boyish antics. Hurt and angry, Tom assembles a "gang" of pirates: himself, Joe Harper, and Huck. The three boys decide that they have had enough of normal society and run away to Jackson Island, in the middle of the Mississippi River. When the boys are missing, the whole town assumes that they have drowned in the river and villagers drag the river for their bodies. In the darkness of the night, Tom sneaks off the island to return home and leave a note for Aunt Polly informing her that he is not dead. Instead, he overhears Polly and Mrs. Harper making plans for their funerals. The boys then wait until the morning of their own funeral, sneak back into town and attend their own funerals before revealing to the congregation that they are alive! Back in school, Tom gets himself in Becky’s favour after he nobly accepts the blame for a book that she has ripped. He wins her love and attention.

Soon Muff Potter’s trial begins, and Tom, overcome by guilt, testifies against Injun Joe. Potter is acquitted, but Injun Joe flees the courtroom through a window. Meanwhile, Tom is afraid that Injun Joe will attempt to seek revenge on him for being a witness, and Huck holds similar fears. One day, Huck and Tom decide to dig for buried treasure at the old haunted house on Cardiff Hill. As they begin their search, the entrance of two strange men surprises the boys. In hiding, Tom and Huck realize that one of the men is Injun Joe in disguise as a deaf-and-dumb Spaniard. The two villains are planning to hide a bag of six-hundred dollars in the haunted house and meet back there. Obsessed with obtaining the treasure, Tom and Huck make plans to follow Injun Joe and find out where the treasure is buried. Becky, who has been out-of-town, returns to St. Petersburg and holds a picnic for all of her friends. As part of the picnic festivities, the children go exploring in MacDougal's cave: a large cave with secret underground ageways. Tom and Becky wander away from the others in search of privacy and become hopelessly lost

Huck begins to shadow Injun Joe every night, watching for an opportunity to nab the gold. Meanwhile, Tom goes on a picnic to McDougal’s Cave with Becky and their classmates. That same night, Huck sees Injun Joe and his partner making off with a box. He follows and overhears their plans to attack the Widow Douglas, a kind resident of St. Petersburg Huck hastens to inform Mr. Jones of the plot, and the Welshman and his sons drive off the vicious Injun Joe and his cohort.

The word of Widow Douglas's near attack is circulated around town. But news of the missing children breaks out, and for the moment, the entire town concentrates on praying and searching for Tom and Becky. Deep within the cave, Tom and Becky have lost all sense of direction. With the last of their candle burnt out and no food to eat, the two are aware that they may starve to death. Winding down one ageway, Tom sees a man and shouts to him; to his surprise, the figure belongs to Injun Joe! Frightened by Tom's shouts (and not recognizing the boy's voice), Injun Joe runs away. Tom never tells Becky of this incident, for fear that we would cause her even more worries. Shortly after, Tom figures out how to get out of the cave with Becky. With the safe return of Becky and Tom, the town of St. Petersburg rejoices.Tom discovers that Judge Thatcher has had the second exit to the cave completely sealed off. Tom reveals that Injun Joe was in the cave. In spite of Injun Joe's evil, Tom cannot let any human face the ordeal of starving that he and Becky just endured. The men go back to the cave and discover Injun Joe's body just inside the cave where he had futilely tried to dig his way out with a knife.

Later, Tom and Huck return to the cave and search for Injun Joe's treasure. After many false starts and using various clues, they recover approximately $12,000 worth of gold coins. This money is invested for them, and they are rich. The Widow Douglas takes Huck into her home to

educate him and train him in the ways of civilization. Huck finds schooling, not cussing, and all other things connected with civilization to be completely intolerable, and he runs away. He eventually agrees to give civilized living another try if he can Tom's band of robbers. To conclude, to novel ends with Huck and Tom discussing their future plans of becoming world-class robbers.

My opinion I liked the book Adventures of Tom Sawyer a lot. The is a great book to read for anyone who loves classic stories. I would recommend this book to my friends. This book makes tom alive and you can imagine the scene very well. The book is written dramatically and has all the genres. People of all age would enjoy the book. Personally I am not satisfied and I do not like how the book ended, which is by having Injun Joe's body being discovered and how Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher goes back to the town easily just like that, and how Huckleberry Finn become adopted and Tom asked him to Tom's gang. In my opinion, the ending is somehow flat, uninteresting and if it is being related to the book it is somehow meaningless. The ending that I imagined is that Injun Joe got into an incident that made him weak in the cave, and then Tom came. Injun Joe was still keen on taking revenge with Tom, so they fight and tom defeats him, but not until his death, meaning that Injun Joe will still be alive. Tom and Becky bring Injun Joe back to the town to be judged and to receive his punishment. This will make Tom Sawyer a true hero at St. Petersburg, even though he is a child. Huckleberry Finn also helped, and he did something heroic so the town also loves Huckleberry Finn. Therefore, this can sum up the whole story which at first, for Huckleberry Finn who did not get attention will get the attention from the whole town. This version will add up a happy ending towards the story. ACKNOLEDGEMENT I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher Mrs. Elizebeth who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which persuaded me to read the book and enjoy it a lot. Secondly I would also like to thank my parents who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.