The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Done by: Sean Koh Caven Teo Danyon Low

Agenda Themes Literary Analysis – Setting – Plot – Characterisation American Culture Film Adaptations Twain’s Life

Themes 1.From Boy to Man – Start of the novel: Immature Mischievous Insensitive – End of the novel: More mature More sensitive More serious

Themes 2. Freedom – Tom and his friends ran away from home and pretended to be pirates for a week (Chapter 13 and 14) 3. Superstitions – To cure warts, you can use beans “split the bean, and cut the wart so as to get some blood, and then you put the blood on one piece of the bean and take and dig a hole and bury it” (page 44)

Literary Analysis Setting: – Set in the 1870s, in a “poor little shabby village of St Petersburg” (page 5) – Set in the South Ideals were more firm, less likely to change – Disconnected from the world

Literary Analysis Setting: – Highlighted Tom Sawyer maturing after his experiences Contrast between the changeless setting with Tom – Explained people’s strong beliefs in their customs – Explained the characters’ actions Tom Sawyer and friends’ rebelliousness Did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted

Literary Analysis Plot: – Introduction shows a typical scene in which Aunt Polly is searching for Tom, who is always up and about. As she said, “I never did see the beat of that boy!” (page 1) – Rest of the novel Recounts Tom’s life and what happens in it – eg. carrying out strange practices to get rid of warts and so on.

Literary Analysis Plot: – Introduces the antagonist, Injun Joe Shows Tom and Huck’s reaction to such a character. – Ending Gives the reader a look at what has changed People’s reaction to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn Welcomed as heroes instead of rejected as outcasts

Literary Analysis Plot: – Significant events Adventures that Tom, Huck and Joe Harper had as pirates – Showed that the boys were rebellious » Doing whatever they wanted to » Part of American culture – Led them to realize that their families meant a lot to them » Tom snuck home one night » Witnessed the love that his family held for him and was touched » He “bent over and kissed [Aunt Polly’s] faded lips”. (page 105) » Significant point in Tom’s development

Literary Analysis Characterisation: – Tom Sawyer Matures as the novel progresses Carefree, believes he decides his fate Has strong beliefs in traditional practices

Literary Analysis Characterisations: – Other characters Stuck in time/Do not develop – Eg. Huck Finn Degenerate

Insights into American Culture America is divided along class lines – Looking down on those with ‘poor’ backgrounds Huck Finn, who is the son of a drunkard Muff Porter, a drunkard Treated like filth and rejected by society

Insights into American Culture Youths are rebellious – Tom and friends play pranks on teachers and parents Eg. Becky Thatcher and Tom Sawyer invading Mr Dobbins’ privacy by reading his book (page 133)

Insights into American Culture Individualistic and tendency to show off – Mentality to impress others Show that they’re stronger and better – Eg. Tom met Alfred Temple and the first thing he said was he could beat Alfred up

Film Adaptations - 2 silent versions - Multiple film adaptations, including a few in cartoon version -Several musicals

Film Adaptations Tom Sawyer by Panavision Films – One of the most commercially successful Tom Sawyer films Differences 1)Huck is a central character 2)Purpose of whitewashing scene is lost while trying to fluff it up 3)Many minor scenes are missing from the movie

Mark Twain’s life Spent his youth in Missouri – Characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn based on his childhood friends – Mark Twain’s village was prejudiced towards the Indians (Southern state), thus Injun Joe is portrayed as the antagonist Affects the themes in this book – Missouri was a slave state, familiarized Mark Twain with the institution of slavery

Mark Twain’s life Belief in learning from experience – Was not educated beyond elementary school – Believes schooling is different from education – Thus, Tom Sawyer matures throughout the book, through experiences of his own “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” -Mark Twain

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