Tom Sawyer Essay, Research Paper

The story takes place in the small rustic town of St. Petersburg Missouri. Tom Sawyer is the main character of the book. Tom is an imaginative young man who always seems to be getting into trouble. Tom is very adventurous, he never passes up a chance to play pirates, robbers, or soldiers. This book has multiple themes but the most important is knowing when its right to talk and tell the truth and when its better to be quiet or lie. At the beginning of the story Tom is introduced by climbing in his window after a long night of cavorting with his friends. Soon after the start of the story Tom meets Huckleberry Fin. Huck is a local outcast of society who likes to live by his own terms. Tom and Huck become good friends. One night the two boys go to the grave yard. While they are there they witness the murder of the town doctor, Mr. Robinson. The boys watched as Injun Joe kills the doctor and frames a drunk by the name of Muff Potter who just happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. The boys swear never to speak of this again. Soon after this Tom falls in love with his new neighbor, Becky Thatcher. Eventually the two become engaged but the engagement falls through when Tom accidentally mentions his former love while talking with Becky. The two fued and do not speak. Meanwhile, the whole town is gossiping of the murder of Dr. Robinson and the prosecution of Muff Potter. A trail quickly forms and Muff is put on the stand. Tom knows he can not let the innocent Muff go to jail so as the trial comes to a close Tom testifies, proving Injun Joe guilty. This is the climax of the story. After the trial ends, the man hunt for Injun Joe begins. Tom is treated like a hero, but feels bad knowing that he broke Huck’s oath. Becky and Tom soon become friends again after Tom takes Becky’s punishment at school for being careless with the teachers things. Becky finds Tom to be very noble. Summer is coming near. Injun Joe is still at large and Tom and Huck are searching for treasure. While searching near an old ghost house one night the two boys over hear Injun Joe talking about some loot that he hid. The boys are determined to find it . As an end of the year celebration, Tom’s whole class goes on a picnic and on a cave exploration near the wood outside of town. While in the caves Tom and Becky get lost. The whole town searches for them but they are not found. also in the caves Tom sees Injun Joe snooping around. This inspires him to find a way out, which he does. After Tom and Becky are home the caves are sealed, leaving Injun Joe and his treasure locked inside. Injun Joe dies of starvation at the gated entrance of the cave and his treasure is discovered buy Tom and Huck who had found a secret way into the cave. The boys become the richest men in town. Huck decides to break away from the outcast life and moves in with a respectable widow in town. Tom and Huck are happy and rich and they promise to always stay together. The main character of the book is Tom Sawyer. Tom is an imaginative young man. Whenever Tom plays he pretends to be a pirate or Robin Hood and his friends would be his merry men. Tom is also very adventurous and loves to go hunting for treasure with Huck. “There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy’s life when he has a ragging desire to go somewhere and dig for buried treasure.” This feeling suddenly came upon Tom one day. Tom got Huck and the went to search for treasure by the old abandoned ghost house. Tom often uses his creative imagination to get out of punishment from his Aunt Polly. Tom could make up lies like nobody else. He was very slick. Tom would use his adventures to escape the havoc of daily life. When Tom had a hard day at school or a problem with Sid, he would go on a treasure hunt , or go play Robin Hood in the woods. This book is known to have multiple themes but I tried to connect all of them into one. The presence of truth is the cornerstone of my theme. I believe it can best be summed up by a quote from Alexander Jablokov. “The road to truth is long, and lined the whole way with annoying bastards.” Tom has many important decisions to make throughout the book. It is his truth that saves the life of Muff Potter during his trial and actually his lie that saves Becky Thatcher from being whipped. Tom is made out to be this wild conniving little cheater at the beginning of the book, but as the story proceeds Tom begins to mature, tell the truth, show signs of nobility and charisma, and not be such a naughty little boy. Tom goes from boy to man in this book. His view of the importance of truth changes and he understands that in order to do what is right it wont be easy and that there may be some hardships along the way.