Character Change In The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

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How can a character change over time in a book or text? Some may say that the characters in a book do not change but, like humans, characters learn and grow. Both the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the text "Abuela Invents the Zero," show examples of characters that change throughout the experiences that they go through. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ,Tom's Aunt Polly experiences a big change after an experience that she had gone through. In "Abuela Invents the Zero," the main character, Constancia, changes drastically after she realizes that she did something incorrect. In the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the text "Abuela Invents the Zero", the characters Aunt Polly and Constancia undergo a major change in their values after …show more content…

At first, Constancia views her grandmother as a ridiculous old lady, and feels quite embarrassed when she is around her. On paragraph 4 of "Abuela Invents the Zero" it says, "So since she's only four feet eleven inches tall, she walks around in my mother's big black coat looking ridiculous. I try to walk far behind them in public so that no one will think we're together." Obviously, Constancia thinks that her grandmother is ridiculous and Constancia also feels embarrassed when she is around her so she tries to "walk far behind them" so that no one thinks that they are related and so she does not feel embarrassed in around them. However, later in the text Constancia realizes how her grandmother feels, and eventually starts to feel guilty. On paragraph 18 and 19 it says "'Your grandmother says to tell you that of all the hurtful things you can do to a person, the worst is to make them feel as if they are worth nothing.' I can feel myself shrinking right there in front of her. But I can’t bring myself to tell my mother that I think I understand how I made Abuela feel. I might be sent into the old lady’s room to apologize, and it’s not easy to admit you’ve been a jerk—at least, not right away with everybody watching." In this paragraph it is obvious that Constancia feels a bit guilty for what she did, and she realizes that she has been a …show more content…

These two characters' experiences were very similar. One of the similarities between these two characters is that both of them changed for the greater good. Aunt Polly's decision helped her change for the greater good because she realized that she had been cruel to Tom, and she decided to understand why Tom gave the cat painkiller instead of hurting him. Constancia changed for the greater good because she realized the mistake that she had made with her grandmother, and though she did not apologize, she realized that she had been mean with her grandmother. Obviously, these characters changed for the greater good and understood what they did that might have been wrong. However, these two characters' experiences were also different. One of the differences between these characters’ experiences are that they learned their lessons in different ways. Aunt Polly gradually learned that punishing Tom was bad; she did not learn it right away. Aunt Polly started to become mellow after a series of events, unlike Constancia. Constancia realized how she had hurt her grandmother after one event, not a series of events like Aunt Polly. These two characters learned a lot through their experiences, however, there are similarities and differences between these two

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