Book Report of Adventure of Tom Sawyer

Introduction

Gist: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer describes the life of an imaginative,

troublesome boy in the American West of the 1840s. Tom lives with his Aunt Polly

and his half-brother, Sid, in the Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg, Missouri.

He seems to be the precursor of naughty which always makes Aunt Polly very angry

but his smart also helps solves a lot of problems. Tom falls in love with Becky

Thatcher, a new girl in town, and persuades her to get ―engaged‖ to him. Their

romance collapses when she learns that Tom has been engaged before—to a girl

named Amy Lawrence. Then he gets to know Huck Finn, the son of a drunk, who is

always isolated by both children and adults. One day by accident, they witness the

murder of young Dr. Robinson by the Native-American ―half-breed‖ Injun Joe at the

graveyard. But Injun misled Muff Potter to admit the murder, and he was wrongly

arrested. Scared, they run away to a deserted island and become pirates. Meanwhile,

the townsmen think they are dead in the river and begin to hold funeral for them. But

they appear at the funeral and identify Injun Joe is the murderer, but he flees from the

window. Summer arrives, and Tom and Huck go hunting for buried treasure in a

haunted house. Accidentally, they find Injun Joe who disguises as a mute and deaf

Spanish who wants to buy stolen treasure. Finally, they locks Injun in the cave and

starves him to death. A week later, Tom takes Huck to the cave and they find the box

of gold. And Huck is adopted by the Widow Douglas

Structure: In my opinion, the novel can be divided into three parts.

1. From 1st chapter to 10th chapter: the period before maturity.

The novel begins with Aunt Polly sweeping the house in search of her

nephew, Tom Sawyer which indicates his naughty. He skips school, fights with

the new boy, although is punished to whitewash the fence skillfully let Ben do it

for him, and pursues the puppy love with Becky, companies with ―bad‖ boy

Huck, shows off in Sunday school. These are all the interesting trifles in his

childhood which represents his innocent and infinity.

2. From 11th chapter to 22nd chapter: the period of changing to be mature

A thing totally changes him. He witnesses a murder, but because of fear Tom and Huck run away and swear a blood oath not to tell anyone what they have seen. They flee to an isolated island, but as they know Potter is wrongly arrested, Tom feels guilty. Meanwhile, he stealthily goes back home, he finds Aunt Polly’s sadness of losing him. He makes a surprising decision to appear at their funeral to comfort Aunt Polly and identify the murderer. The psychological struggle of whether to go back home and point out the out the criminals really test Tom a lot, but he makes the right decision indicating he is becoming mature.

3. From 23rd chapter to 35th chapter: the period of solving problem which shows their true maturity.

The boys try to explore treasure instead of playing childish games. But by chance they find Injun and shadow him, finally lock him in the cave. The whole process shows their bravery, smart and calmness. At last, Tom persuades Huck agreeing to be adopted, because he wants Huck to return to civilization life. Tom is no longer the naughty boy, he knows the duty of a man and the meaning maturity.

My own view about maturity

Throughout the novel, what impresses me most is the growth of Tom. He has gone through the process of immature to mature. In terms of mature, maybe we’ll ask what maturity is. I’ll illustrate it with the experience of Tom.

Above all, I think is the sense of duty. Firstly, the duty to the family. At first, he plays truant and fights with others which always makes Aunt Polly angry. ―Spare the rod and spile the child, as the good book says. I'm a-laying up sin and suffering for us both, I know. He's full of the old scratch, but laws-a-me... Every time I let him off my conscience does hurt me so; and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks.‖ (Chapter 1, page 2). When he stealthily goes back home after he flees to the island, he

hears aunt Polly says ―he wasn’t bad, so to say only mischievous… and he was the best-hearted boy that ever was –and she began to cry‖ (chapter 15, page 100). At that time, he feels guilty to leave home without a word, and the duty to protect Aunt Polly and home. So he decides to give up the total freedom and appear at his funeral to comfort Aunt Polly by saying ―I do really care for you‖ (chapter 19, page117). Secondly, the duty to the society. As they witness the awful murder, other boys decide to keep it secret with fear, but Tom feels really guilty, he always has nightmares. ―then Huck and Tom stood dumb and staring, and heard the stony-hearted liar reel off his serene statement… the clear sky would deliver god’s lightnings upon his head‖ (chapter 11, page 77), during a long term of struggle, he decides to speak out the truth ―hesitating at first, but as he warmed to his subject his words flowed more and more easily…Injun Joe jumped with the knife and –‖(chapter 24 page148). Also he holds the duty to protect his friends. When they came back they receive a warm welcome, but Tom doesn’t fall into his own happiness he says ― it ain't fair. Somebody's got to be glad to see Huck.'‖(Chapter 18, page 115) Which totally give Huck the sense of warm and friendship. He helps Becky escape the punishment from the headmaster and saves her in the cave. Finally he persuades Huck to agree the adoption by Widow Douglas, ―come alone, I’ll ask the window to let up on you a little‖. (Chapter 35, page 217)

Obviously, we know the sign to become mature is to shoulder the responsibility of all aspects of your life.

Next, I think maturity is the deep thought of life. Out of question, Tom is naughty, but on the other hand we can find his smart and his novel thought. He makes Ben whitewash for him by using his curiosity and then came to a conclusion ―in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain‖ (chapter 2 pages 15). Based on his own experience on the island, he makes the speech ―give me liberty or give me death‖ he said ―The glaring insincerity of these sermons was not sufficient to compass the banishment of the fashion from the schools, and it is not sufficient to-day; it never will be sufficient while the world stands, perhaps."(Chapter21, page.128). He begins to know the true meaning of

freedom----dare to think and dare to do with the limit of civilization.

Maturity is the process from adolescence to adulthood. As a French Philosopher Henri Bergson ever said ―To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly‖. As a college student, we’ll not live in the Ivory Tower forever; we should change ourselves to adjust the modern society. But being mature doesn’t mean to be sophisticated, it’s just a more proper attitude to life and a more appropriate means to solve problems. So we should keep na?ve, and hold maturity to be a simple and wise man.