Full title
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Author
Samuel Clemens, usually known by his pen name, Mark
Twain
Type of work
Novel
Genre
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.
Language
English
Time and place written
1874–1875;
Hartford, Connecticut
Date of first publication
The novel appeared in England in June 1876,
and six months later in the United States.
Narrator
An adult who views the adult world critically and looks
back on the sentiments and pastimes of childhood in a somewhat idealized
manner, with wit and also with nostalgia
Point of view
The narrator narrates in the third person, with a special
insight into the workings of the boyish heart and mind.
Tone
Satirical and nostalgic
Tense
Past
Setting (time)
Not specified, but probably around 1845
Setting (place)
The fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri (which
resembles Twain’s hometown of Hannibal)
Protagonist
Tom Sawyer
Major conflict
Tom and Huck perceive their biggest struggle to be
between themselves and Injun Joe, whose gold they want and whom they believe
is out to kill them. Conflict also exists between Tom and his imaginative
world and the expectations and rules of adult society.
Rising action
Tom and Huck’s witness of Dr. Robinson’s murder; the
search for the boys’ bodies in the river when they escape to Jackson’s
Island; Tom’s testimony at Muff Potter’s trial; Tom and Huck’s accidental
sighting of Injun Joe at the haunted house; Tom and Becky’s entrapment
in the cave
Climax
Huck overhears Injun Joe’s plan to kill the Widow Douglas,
and Tom encounters Injun Joe when he and Becky are stranded in the cave.
Falling action
Huck gets help from the Welshman and drives Injun Joe
away from the Widow Douglas; Tom avoids conflict with Injun Joe and navigates
himself and Becky out of the cave; Judge Thatcher seals off the
cave, causing Injun Joe to starve to death; Tom and Huck find Injun
Joe’s treasure; Huck is adopted and civilized by the Widow Douglas.
Themes
Moral and social maturation; society’s hypocrisy; freedom through
social exclusion; superstition in an uncertain world
Motifs
Crime; trading; the circus; “showing off”
Symbols
The cave; the storm; the treasure; the village
Foreshadowing
When he is frustrated by his fight with Becky, Tom
declares his intention to become a pirate, foreshadowing his later
excursion to Jackson’s Island; Tom’s great fear of Injun Joe foreshadows
his later encounters with him; Tom’s obsession with the oath he
and Huck have taken never to speak about Dr. Robinson’s murder foreshadows
the fact that Tom will later break the oath and testify at Muff
Potter’s trial.
