Tom Sawyer Integrity Analysis

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In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Tom develops a growing sense of integrity and eventual ability to do what is morally right, no matter what the personal cost. To do what is right is not always easy, but Tom takes time to realize this. He goes from being so afraid to tell the truth, to knowing he should say something, but not being ready. Then, finally he is ready to come forward about the truth. In the beginning of the novel, Tom Sawyer goes with Huckleberry Finn to bury a dead cat to prevent warts. Yet, they see three men arrive with a handbarrow with a rope and a couple of shovels on it. After witnessing the murder of the doctor, "the two boys flew on and on, toward the village speechless with horror. They glanced backwards over their shoulder from time to time, apprehensively, as if they feared they might be followed" (62).‎ Their action states how taunted they were about this situation. …show more content…

Later on in the novel, Tom finds out that he is talking about the murder in his sleep, but is saved by Aunt Polly when she says she is thinking about the murder to: Afterwards, "Tom got out of the presence as quick as he plausibly could, and complained of a toothache for a week and tied up his jaw every night" (71). This quote exemplifies how Tom felt about the murder, and how he swore to not say anything. Yet, he still did because he just knew but wasn't ready. Tom did feel that his conscience just wanted to tell about the truth to save an inoccent man's life, but he was just not ready. Much later in the novel, Muff Potter is having his trail. When every witness came up to the stand, Muff Potter's attorney responded with having no question for the witnesses, and the faces of the audience began to betray annoyance felling as if this attorney was going to throw his client's life away without an

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