ipl-logo

Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

506 Words3 Pages

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer develops many themes throughout, but perhaps the most developed theme is the theme of moral and social maturation. At the beginning, Tom is always creating pranks and make-believe games that many of his friends go along with. As the novel progresses, these childish activities become more dangerous for not only Tom but for Joe Harper, Huck, and Becky. While in these activities, they soon become predicaments where he must worry about the lives of his friends as well as his. Once Tom starts to worry and help the lives of his friends more, he illustrates moral integrity and competence. This can be seen through the quotation: “And as the doctor fetched the board around and Muff Potter fell, Injun Joe jumped with the …show more content…

This is first evident in the graveyard scene, where Injun Joe commits murder. Originally, Tom and Huck just sneak out to the graveyard to find devils appearing from the area, but instead they see the murder take place. Throughout the novel, Tom and Huck seem to have a superstition for everything that takes place in the novel. It is almost as if it is a type of religion to the boys because they practice and think about it so much. Despite this, it can be seen through the quotation: “Yes---leave it. Injun Joe’s ghost is roundabout there, certain” (Twain 241). This quotation exemplifies the boys superstitions about ghosts, this supersition is also evident when searching for treasure outside an old house. The boys are scared that witches and now their ghosts haunt the house. So, they are scared to go in it. But, they only go in it because they are almost caught digging for treasure by Injun Joe. Tom and Huck believe that once a person dies, no matter how they die, their ghost stays where they died and haunts the place forever. Hence, why the boys were scared to go into the cave for treasure because they were scared Injun Joe’s ghost would haunt them and ruin their lives. Overall, the theme of supersitisions and the supernatural within the world is displayed throughout the novel, but mainly through the characters of Tom and Huck’s own

Show More
Related
1092 Words | 5 Pages

On all accounts, Huck and Jim are as superstitious as superstition gets. Their belief in witches, ghosts and other nonsensical things makes their adventures all the more interesting and ridiculous. First off, Huck rebels against society. Some ways in which he does this is with his emphatic incredulity. “ After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers,

Read More
415 Words | 2 Pages

The element of superstition is often used when talking about Jim, and Huck tends to realize that Jim is very superstitious throughout the novel. Jim sees many things, such as his hat being moved off of his head, a spider, hairballs and other instances as being cursed actions or objects that are the work of witchcraft.

Read More
530 Words | 3 Pages

Through his subversion of these conventions, Twain highlights the importance of reason and rational thinking in the face of fear and superstition. This theme of the critique of superstition is particularly relevant in today's society, where beliefs and practices that are not based on scientific evidence are often still

Read More
357 Words | 2 Pages

Crossing your fingers, finding four leaf clovers, and Friday the 13th are just a few examples of the plethora of superstitions that are commonly used. Superstitions have dated before the Roman or the Greek times. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the motif of superstitions is ubiquitous. Harper Lee uses superstition to show Maycomb’s ignorance and fear of the unknown, as well as naïve interpretations of natural events. When Maycomb experienced its coldest weather since 1885, Mr. Avery tells Jem and Scout this quote because he had read in the Rosetta Stone “that when children disobeyed their parents, smoked cigarettes, and made war on each other, the seasons would change”.

Read More
1097 Words | 5 Pages

Superstition is the belief in supernatural causes, when one event causes another without any natural process linking the two events (Wikipedia). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel about a young boy, Huck Finn, and a slave, Jim, who want to escape their life, so they run off and eventually run into each other and embark on a dangerous and problematic journey. Huck and Jim experience many insoluble events, so they turn to superstition to explain these happenings. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses Huck and Jim’s character to show that often times people who are in a lower class or have little to no control over their lives have a strong belief in superstition.

Read More
705 Words | 3 Pages

Ultimately Huck and Tom illustrated how hypocritical and irrational beliefs were in the eighteen

Read More
904 Words | 4 Pages

Jim is a superstitious man who believes in ghosts, witches, and omens from God. He tells Huck stories about his beliefs and is often seen engaging in rituals to protect himself from bad luck, shown most prevalently whenever Huck mentions death or spirituality. However, despite his superstitions, Jim is also a deeply religious man who has a strong faith in God. His beliefs in christianity and superstitions provide an interesting contrast and show the complexities of religious belief in the

Read More
1504 Words | 7 Pages

Introduction This story is one of Mark Twain’s popular novels since the use of symbolism and imagery depicts and develops the falling point in the book. Throughout the story there was a repeating symbol of superstition. Another symbol that was discovered through the story was treasure, since Tom and Huck find some treasure. It is also symbolic where the setting took place since it was around where Mark Twain grew up.

Read More
157 Words | 1 Pages

Jim uses superstition as a way to understand and explain why things happen. When Huck finds Pap’s footprints he seeks Jim out in search of answers. Jim uses his magic hairball to predict the future. He informs him on what the future holds, telling Huck that there are two women one rich and one poor standing by him and next to his father there are two angels a good and a bad one (Twain 13). Jim uses the hairball to prove that the footprints found in the snow belong to Huck’s dad.

Read More
260 Words | 2 Pages

Later in Twain’s life, he becomes very depressed and he has some bitter feelings of human nature. Some of the depression is said to maybe be mixed into the book of “The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer”. Twain’s perspective on human nature is confusing, so it needs to be described. In Chapter 35 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom and Huck find and obtain the treasure.

Read More
450 Words | 2 Pages

The children walk and run throught the cave. Huck is interste in Injun jeo's treasure he wait in the steet near the building that he cross is in there but he don't come out and Huck is very ill. Tom and Becky play with their friend in the cave. They run in to the nearst tunnel but suddenly they are lose throught the tunnel.

Read More
524 Words | 3 Pages

Tom really showed that he has grown up a little bit by finally admitting that he was wrong about something. Then, Tom realized that the treasure that Joe stole is hid in the cave. So Tom convinces Huck Finn to go and get the treasure with him. When he goes and gets the treasure Tom takes control and tells Huck what to do. Huck was scared that Joe’s ghost was in the cave.

Read More
521 Words | 3 Pages

 When the children first find them, they don’t know what they are; it isn’t until later when they discover that Indians travel through their land, that they understand their true meaning.   The graves represent the idea that land can never truly be owned by one person.   Per Hansa claims the land, but the Irish had staked the land first and the Indians used the land on their route, so the true ownership of the land is in question.

Read More
1011 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the book, the reader joins Tom on his several adventures such as when he dares to go to a cemetery with Huckleberry Finn, roams a dark cave with his beloved Becky Thatcher, and even follows a wanted Injun Joe for treasure. These risky expeditions reveal aspects of Sawyer’s personality that can be described as childish, venturesome,

Read More
583 Words | 3 Pages

Reading this Essay May Give You Bad Luck Mark Twain uses Superstition in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to show how uneducated Huck and Jim are. Huck is uneducated because he is still a child, and Jim is uneducated because he is a slave. Huck is Superstitious because he doesn’t believe in religion, where as Jim is superstitious because he doesn’t know any better. Three superstitious symbols throughout the novel are the spider, the hairball, and the birds. All of these symbols changed the characters action throughout the novel.

Read More

More about Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

Related Topics

Open Document