A Static Character In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

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Tom Sawyer
A Static Character
Tom Sawyer is an adventurous boy, a mischievous boy, a kindhearted boy, and a static character. Twain created Tom as a boy. He did not include any evidence for the reader to conclude that Tom has matured, or grown up, over the course of the story. Isn't The Adventures of Tom Sawyer a book about the nostalgia and greatness of childhood? If Twain was concerned about the growth of Tom and included it in the book, then would the story be as enjoyed? Would it still do its job, that is, making the reader miss the great days of their youth?
Larzer Ziff is an American writer who wrote many famous books such as The American 1890's, Writing in the New Nation, Literary Democracy, and Mark Twain. In his book on Mark Twain, …show more content…

Tom does mature things, such as breaking the blood oath with Huck so Muff Potter could be saved from jail and the town could know the truth about Dr. Robinson's murder, but that's the only thing that comes to mind when it comes to Tom's maturity. But, doing mature things and maturing over the course of a period of time are very different. Tom does not change, or mature throughout the story. He probably learned some things from his bad experiences, but Twain doesn't focus that wisdom into Tom's next actions, except for one or two. For example, the cave: Tom thought it would be a good idea to wander off from the group, with Becky, to explore the cave, and of course Tom and Becky got lost. They were stuck in there for what seemed like forever, but that did not stop Tom from going back into the dangerous cave with Huckleberry at the end of the story. Twain was not concerned that the reader would not conclude that Tom was maturing, or else he would've changed up that scene.
Overall, Tom is a boy at heart. Beginning to end, the story contains evidence about Tom's youthful personality. That doesn't mean he is a bad kid, it means that he does mature things at random times, and does immature things immediately after. In other words, he is a little mature from the start but he doesn't get any more mature throughout the book. It also means that in Twain's thoughts, Tom will need to make a few more mistakes to gain the wisdom and maturity of a

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