Tom Sawyer Analysis

691 Words2 Pages

Milan Bui
Campbell
Period 2, Row 2
May 9, 2014

Tom Sawyer Essay: Second Prompt
"I can lick you!" In the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, Tom begins as a very immature and sneaky boy; however, he grows into a responsible and considerate person. He is immature and reckless by starting an argument with a boy who just moved into town. He then matures during the Muff Potter case, and we finally see him become responsible and caring when he and Becky get lost in the cave. Tom not only grew out of his recklessness and selfishness, but he also learned to tell the truth.
During the first chapter, Tom got into an argument with the new boy in town and lied to his aunt about going swimming. In the beginning of the chapter, Tom’s aunt, Polly, mentioned that is was a hot day and asked Tom if he felt like going for a swim. While Tom did, he answered that it was indeed hot, but he did not feel like swimming. Aunt Polly didn’t notice until Sid, Tom’s brother, said, “Well, now, if I didn’t think you sewed his collar with white thread, but it’s black” (Twain 9). When Sid said this, Aunt Polly noticed that she did sew Tom’s collar with white thread, and she came to the conclusion that Tom did go swimming. Later, Tom saw the new boy and kept staring at him, and the more he looked at the boy’s clothes “the shabbier and shabbier his own outfit seemed” (Twain 10) to him. To break the ice, Tom exclaimed, “I can lick you” (Twain 10). Using today’s vocabulary, Tom is basically saying I can beat you up. This is quite immature of him since he has not even spoken to this boy prior to the conversation. Later, Tom “[sat] astride the new boy, and [pounded] him with his fists” (Twain 13). He was being reckless and was not thinking of the conse...

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...archers or an escape from the cave” (Twain 246). This means that Tom put up an act, so Becky would stay calm and feel assured that they would be saved. Obviously, by this point in time, Tom has become more caring and courteous, and he has matured a lot.
This paper clearly shows that Tom has matured and how he did so. All the events fit together in chronological order, and showed how Tom changed throughout the book to become more and more established. He started out very immature when he got into an altercation with a boy he didn’t even know. Later, Tom grows to be a little more mature as the case of Muff Potter progresses. Lastly, when Tom protects Becky in then cave, it showed how much he had matured and thought less of himself and more of others. By the end of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom has become more considerate of others, and has turned into a fine boy.

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