The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

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Mark Twain uses the story to reveal his own childhood; as a result, many details in the book, such as the characters and the setting are very dear to his heart. The story is about life in a boy's world, it tells about the feelings Mark Twain had regarding his childhood, his town, and the people that lived there. The time period is about twenty years before the Civil War, and the setting is in St. Petersburg, Missouri, a small community on the Mississippi River.

The main character in the book is Tom Sawyer. Throughout the book, the author compares himself to Tom and his adventures. Tom is all boy he hates anything that places limits on his boyhood freedom including, church, school, and chores and he will do anything to get out of them. Tom's character is a dynamic one. Harper Academic states, "A good student? A polite nephew? A hard worker? Not Tom Sawyer. He never wanted to be the model boy. His sights were set on being a pirate, a robber, or a treasure seeker. He wanted a life of excitement, but never thought he'd be a witness to a murder! Now Tom and his buddy Huckleberry Finn are in for the adventure of their lives" (www.harperacademic.com/).

Next to Tom Sawyer, Injun Joe is the next important character in the book. Tom's reactions to Injun Joe we plainly see Tom's growth from a boy into a young man. Injun Joe is a thieving, dishonest, wicked person who achieves most of his evil goals because he is also clever and resourceful. He kills Dr. Robinson without reservations and for n...

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...stalactite; after his death, the cup assumed representative meaning. Twain states, "It is many and many a year since the hapless half-breed scooped out the stone to catch the priceless drops, but to this day the tourist stares longest at that pathetic stone and that slow dropping water when he comes to see the wonders of McDougal's cave. Injun Joe's Cup stands first in the list of the cavern's marvels; even "Aladdin's Place" cannot rival it" (Twain, 269). Twain's narrative implies many things concerning American Indians at this time. Among those things is the insinuation that American Indians have no place in American culture other than as relics exhibited as attractions, or as beggars, living off of the government.

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