The Leader In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

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Imagine being a child once again with no rules and responsibilities, while living in the spur of the moment, this was what the life of Tom Sawyer was like. The book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer written by Mark Twain, takes place in a small town in Missouri in the 1840s. The novel stars a mischievous young boy named Tom Sawyer, who constantly worries his family and the entire town with his gimmicks. Tom leads himself and his friends into many interesting situations throughout the book, like experiencing a murder, faking their own deaths only to run away to an island, and finding himself stuck in an underground tavern with no way to get out. Although many think Tom Sawyer isn’t a leader because of his recklessness and the lack of empathy he shows throughout the book, he is a leader, but doesn’t move the community forward yet, showing us that to be considered a leader only need to move the community in a direction, whether it’s good or bad. Tom’s acting without thinking makes him a poor leader for his peers. For example, Tom feeds painkiller medicine to his cat simply to get a kick out of it: “Tom pried his mouth open …show more content…

For example, Tom convinces the others to paint his fence by making it seem enjoyable, “Now let me try. Say-I’ll give you the core of my apple” (Twain 14). This displays how Tom manipulates others to for his own personal gain, instead of doing the work himself. Another example, Huck, Tom’s close homeless friend, wants to run away from the widow who recently brought him in, Tom intervenes and convinces Huck to stay: “Finally he said: ‘Well I’ll go back to the widder…if you let me b’long to the gang Tom’” (Twain 199). This shows how Tom can use his persuasion abilities to lead others to do good. Tom slowly, but surely learns throughout the book how he can use these abilities to help others and move his community

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