REFERENCE

THE CRITICS - LITERARY CRITICISM / ANALYSIS

TOM'S IMMATURITY

...If Tom is "hampered" as well as harassed, it is because he is incapable of learning from experience. He may be successful at the end of his adventures-in terms of fortune and social status. But he is not a whit the wiser. Although some critics hold that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer chronicles Tom's progress from childhood to maturity, the evidence suggests otherwise. One might expect his experience at Muff Potter's trial to have been at least a little sobering, but afterward Tom still likes to play at being a robber. He is later given much credit for leading Becky out of the cave, but it should be remembered that he is responsible for getting them lost in the first place. After making it back to safety, he reveals that his juvenile egotism remains intact. When he tells others about this adventure, he puts in "many striking additions to adorn it withal."

Robert Keith Miller, Mark Twain, 1983

COMEDY OF EVIL

What is apparent in the blissful atmosphere of frontier boyhood in Tom Sawyer is that the sense of evil is comic too. The 'diabolism' of the hero... is itself a form of playful parody; and life is basically innocent and loving. If Tom Sawyer is, on one level, a parody of an adult society of power and manipulation, of property and place, of trading and acquisition-the parody itself is divine, is innocent, is wistful and comic. (That is the real secret of the book's lasting appeal.) Beneath all the humor is the deeper rhythm of Sam Clemens' affinity with animal life and a natural sense of pleasure.

Maxwell Geismar, Mark Twain, an American Prophet, 1970

THE WORLD AS PLAY

Tom's play defines the world as play, and his reality lies in his commitment to play, not in the involuntary tendencies which are often attributed to him. Actually Tom is in revolt against nothing. To be sure, he feels the pinch of school and the discipline of Aunt Polly, but he has no sustained desire to escape and no program of rebellion. What he does have is a perennial dream of himself as the hero and a commitment to the dream which makes it come true not once, but as many times as he can reorganize the village around his dream. The truth the dream invariably comes to is play-a play which converts all serious projects in the town to pleasure and at the same time subverts all the adult rituals by revealing that actually they are nothing but dull play to begin with.

James M. Cox, Mark Twain: The Fate of Humor, 1966

ST. PETERSBURG'S SOCIAL HISTORY

The items of Twain's social history of St. Petersburg make an impressive tally: a Sunday School exercise, a church service, the village school, an informal inquest, a funeral, "Examination Day," a murder trial, a manhunt, and a reception. Senator Benton's Fourth of July speech disappoints Tom, as does the revival, but the circus does not. The inclusiveness of the catalogue may go unnoted simply because each event is presented as part of Tom's daily life. Always the dramatic focus, his personality unfolds as these manifold social forces act upon him. Tom Sawyer is, for all his imagination, essentially a passive character. True to the observed nature of childhood, Twain has made his hero, in spite of occasional smashing victories over adults, subservient in the main to the adult schedule of events.

Albert E. Stone, Jr., The Innocent Eye: Childhood in Mark Twain's Imagination, 1961

ADVISORY BOARD

We wish to thank the following educators who helped us focus our Book Notes series to meet student needs and critiqued our manuscripts to provide quality materials.

Sandra Dunn, English Teacher Hempstead High School, Hempstead, New York

Lawrence J. Epstein, Associate Professor of English Suffolk County Community College, Selden, New York

Leonard Gardner, Lecturer, English Department State University of New York at Stony Brook

Beverly A. Haley, Member, Advisory Committee National Council of Teachers of English Student Guide Series Fort Morgan, Colorado

Elaine C. Johnson, English Teacher Tamalpais Union High School District Mill Valley, California

Marvin J. LaHood, Professor of English State University of New York College at Buffalo

Robert Lecker, Associate Professor of English McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

David E. Manly, Professor of Educational Studies State University of New York College at Geneseo

Bruce Miller, Associate Professor of Education State University of New York at Buffalo

Frank O'Hare, Professor of English and Director of Writing Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Faith Z. Schullstrom, Member of Executive Committee National Council of Teachers of English Director of Curriculum and Instruction Guilderland Central School District, New York

Mattie C. Williams, Director, Bureau of Language Arts Chicago Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois

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