Tom Sawyer (Book Review)

Sean Kim

Independent Book Assignment, Tom Sawyer

 

Rating:

 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a book of adventure. The story starts off with the protagonist, Tom Sawyer, who is a genius of adventure. His daily life is filled with playful pranks on minor characters, causing him trouble at home, school, and even church. However, Tom Sawyer has a unique ability to escape trouble. Tom Sawyer reminds readers about their past boyhood, when life was filled with fun and exciting adventures. However, one night, Tom Sawyer and his friend Huckleberry Finn witnesses Dr. Robinson getting brutally murdered by Injun Joe. Also, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn finds out that Joe had buried a stolen treasure within a haunted house. With this in mind, they decide to take an adventure in finding and digging out the treasure that has been stolen. However, they were soon caught by Joe because Joe had found out someone was trying to take his treasure after looking at the tools Tom Sawyer had left for digging out the treasure. Tom has a passion to take back the treasure that was stolen; however, this would cost him his life if Joe finds Tom first. Tom Sawyer is a book of great and fun adventures; however, it is also a book of a dangerous challenges Tom would never have expected.

I personally thought this book was one of the most intriguing and entertaining books I have ever read. By looking at just the cover, I thought this book would bore me out of my mind, however, my friends and teachers told me Tom Sawyer would be a joyful read, so I started reading the first couple of pages of the book. I loved how Tom Sawyer would always cause trouble at home, at school, and even at church with his playful pranks, which annoyed other minor characters within the novel. These pranks are what kept me entertained and glued to the story. Also, Tom Sawyer’s ability to somehow get out of trouble with the help of other characters such as Huckleberry Finn made the book more fun and joyful to read. I believe that this is the reason why other readers of Tom Sawyer recommended me to read such a book by Mark Twain. Tom Sawyer is a great adventure book which is the type of books I love to read. The transition from Tom Sawyer’s daily pranks and laid back life to dealing with Injun Joe, a murderer, made the story much more exciting to read as Tom Sawyer had to deal with serious issues in his life as well. Tom Sawyer would probably bring back memories of readers’ boyhood and will be nostalgic to the readers of how they were like when they were young. Thus, reading this book is a must if readers want to enjoy a good adventure from the very beginning to the end.

Tom Sawyer is a book that is somewhat easy to read. It is in chronological order and pretty much straight to the point. The dialect that the characters speak within the story is interesting and fun to read because the characters use old terms and phrases while speaking to one another. It is a novel that Mark Twain wrote to portray his vision of what every man’s childhood was like, which was nostalgic and sentimental. Tom Sawyer shows how vivid and believable every boy’s life was like during the time, which made it very real for the readers. The story shows an ideal life that every child once had, with fun and exciting adventures. One theme that is easily seen throughout Tom Sawyer is the protagonist’s moral and social maturation. Tom Sawyer was initially a child who loved playing pranks and make believe games. However, as the story progresses, he starts to lead himself and others in dangerous situations. He takes initiative to help others without concerning his own problems which could lead to death. This shows how his concern for others was a bigger priority than his concern for his own life. He was once a boy who supported Huck from being excluded from the society to experience freedom from social constraints. However, at the end of the story, Tom recommends Huck to be civilized by living with Widow Douglas.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was written by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who is better known by the pseudonym Mark Twain. Twain, born on November 30, 1983, was raised in Florida, Missouri and had two brothers and one sister. Although he is mostly known for being a writer, he was also an American humorist, satirist, and lecturer. When he was only four, he moved to a city called Hannibal with his family, a city that bordered along the Mississippi River. Twain spent the majority of his childhood along this river, and as a result ended up writing two of his most famous books along this setting. Mark Twain is known mainly for his renowned books set along the Mississippi River- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , Life on the Mississippi and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. However, Twain wrote more books than just these. Alongside these well-recognized novels, he also wrote The Gilded Age, The Prince and the Pauper, The Mysterious Stranger, and many more. Many of his books caused controversy and were looked down upon because of their relatively disputable and disturbing themes and plotlines. After the death of his two daughters and wife starting in 1896, he suffered from a period of serious depression which continued throughout his life. On April 21, 1910, Twain died tragically from a heart attack in Redding, Connecticut. Known as the “father of American Literature”, Mark Twain was not only a accomplished writer, he was an important and vital part of American culture.