The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

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Description

Who could forget the pranks, the adventures, the sheer fun of Tom Sawyer? It’s something every child should experience and every child will love. From Tom’s sly trickery with the whitewashed fence—when he cleverly manipulates everyone so they happily do his work for him—to his and Becky... read more

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis

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Summary

An imaginative and mischievous boy named Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother, Sid, in the Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. After playing hooky from school on Friday and dirtying his clothes in a fight, Tom is made to whitewash the fence as punishment on... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Cast of Characters

Tom Sawyer: The novel’s protagonist. Tom is a mischievous boy with an active imagination who spends most of the novel getting himself, and often his friends, into and out of trouble. Despite his mischief, Tom has a good heart and a strong moral conscience. As the novel progresses, he begins to take more seriously the responsibilities of his role as a leader among his schoolfellows.
Becky Thatcher: Judge Thatcher’s pretty, yellow-haired daughter. From almost the minute she moves to town, Becky is the “Adored Unknown” who stirs Tom’s lively romantic sensibility. Naïve at first, Becky soon matches Tom as a romantic strategist, and the two go to great lengths to make each other jealous.
Amy Lawrence: Tom’s former love. Tom abandons Amy when Becky Thatcher comes to town.
Sid: Tom’s half-brother. Sid is a goody-goody who enjoys getting Tom into trouble. He is mean-spirited but presents a superficial show of model behavior. He is thus the opposite of Tom, who is warmhearted but behaves badly.
Aunt Polly: Tom’s aunt and guardian. Aunt Polly is a simple, kindhearted woman who struggles to balance her love for her nephew with her duty to discipline him. She generally fails in her attempts to keep Tom under control because, although she worries about Tom’s safety, she seems to fear constraining him too much. Above all, Aunt Polly wants to be appreciated and loved.
Mary: Tom’s sweet, almost saintly cousin. Mary holds a soft spot for Tom. Like Sid, she is well behaved, but unlike him, she acts out of genuine affection rather than malice.
Huckleberry Finn: The son of the town drunk. Huck is a juvenile outcast who is shunned by respectable society and adored by the local boys, who envy his freedom. Like Tom, Huck is highly superstitious, and both boys are always ready for an adventure. Huck gradually replaces Tom’s friend Joe Harper as Tom’s sidekick in his escapades.
Joe Harper: Tom’s “bosom friend” and frequent playmate. Joe is a typical best friend, a convention Twain parodies when he refers to Joe and Tom as “two souls with but a single thought.” Though Joe mostly mirrors Tom, he diverges from Tom’s example when he is the first of the boys to succumb to homesickness on Jackson’s Island. As the novel progresses, Huck begins to assume Joe’s place as Tom’s companion.
Injun Joe: A violent, villainous man who commits murder, becomes a robber, and plans to mutilate the Widow Douglas. Injun Joe’s predominant motivation is revenge. Half Native American and half Caucasian, he has suffered social exclusion, probably because of his race.
Muff Potter: A hapless drunk and friend of Injun Joe. Potter is kind and grateful toward Tom and Huck, who bring him presents after he is wrongly jailed for Dr. Robinson’s murder. Potter’s naïve trust eventually pushes Tom’s conscience to the breaking point, compelling Tom to tell the truth at Potter’s trial about who actually committed the murder.

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Memorable Quotes

“He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it — namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.”
“Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.”

Setting & Important Places

St. Petersburg: a fictional town, inspired by Hannibal Missouri

Organizations

List the groups and organizations mentioned in this book.

First Sentence

'Tom!' No answer. 'Tom!' No answer. 'What's gone with that boy, I wonder?

1. Tom Plays, Fights, and hides
2. The Glorious Whitewasher
3. Busy at War and Love
4. Showing Off in Sunday School
5. The Pinch Bug and His Prey
6. Tom Meets Becky
7. Tick-running and a Heartbreak
8. A Pirate Bold to Be
9. Tragedy in the Graveyard
10. Dire Prophecy of the Howling Dog
11. Conscience Racks Tom
12. The Cat and the Painkiller
13. The Pirate Crew Set Sail
14. Happy Camp of the Freebooters
15. Tom's Stealthy Visit Home
16. First Pipes -- "I've Lost my Knife"
17. Pirates at Their Own Funeral
18. Tom Reveals his Dream Secret
19. The Cruelty of "I Didn't Think"
20. Tom Takes Becky's Punishment
21. Eloquence-- and the Master's Gilded Dome
22. Huck Finn Quotes Scripture
23. The Salvation of Muff Potter
24. Splendid Days and Fearsome Nights
25. Seeking the Buried Treasure
26. Real Robbers Seize the Box of Gold
27. Trembling on the Trail
28. In the Lair of Injun Joe
29. Hucks Saves the Widow
30. Tom and Becky in the Cave
31. Found and Lost Again
32. "Turn Out! They're Found!"
33. The Fate of Injun Joe
34. Floods of Gold
35. Respectable Huck Joins the Gang
Conclusion