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Maturity In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

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Author John Macnaughton once said, “Maturity begins to grow when you can sense your concern for others outweighing your concern for yourself.” These words tend to seem simple or obvious, but genuinely reveal the truth of growing up mentally and physically. As children blossom into adults, they learn a lot about the people surrounding them and gain the knowledge of learning to trust others. Trust is a crucial factor in maturity, considering the more you trust someone the more you want to protect them. Tom Sawyer slowly learns to care about the others around him, and as the bond deepens, he begins to respect them. One of the countless themes that Mark Twain explores in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is maturity building trust. Three examples that …show more content…

Aunt Polly doesn’t believe Tom when he said that he came back from the island and kissed her to show that he cared for her. He tells her that he had written a note on a piece of bark and was going to leave it, but in the end, decided not to. Aunt Polly then finds the bark in Tom’s, and pieces together that Tom was telling the truth all along. Twain shows this when he writes “So she sought the jacket pocket. A moment later she was reading Tom’s piece of bark through flowing tears and saying ‘I could forgive the boy, now, if he’d committed a million sins!’” (Twain 119) This passage expresses how Aunt Polly feels when she realized that Tom was telling the truth and not telling another lie to her. His maturity was displayed and Aunt Polly felt as if she could trust him more since he was finally growing up. The event happened to be a stroke of serendipity for Aunt Polly. Mark Twain is representing the time in a child’s life when they start to grow up and learn more about themselves and others. Tom starts to deliberate how other people feel and keep in mind that not everything is about himself. Children tend to become less self-indulgent, and a product of that is building trust with the people around you. In real life, kids grow up everyday and make it evident that they are slowly learning how to mentally develop. Tom Sawyer reminds every one of the beauty of maturing and becoming appreciative of the others around

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The theme of this book is growing up and the loss of innocence, and how children mature and learn right from wrong as they get older. 7. Tom Sawyer: “He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it- namely, that in order to make a man or boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.” (p.23) This quote shows how Tom is able to outsmart the other boys into doing his work for him, and is an example of how much of a troublemaker he can be by doing things like this.

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Tom grows from a spoiled kid to a dishonest and lazy adult. Tom's greedy education is the reason why he is flawed. From a young age he got everything that he wanted and a sense of power is born within him. When he becomes an adult the idea of working or making an honest living seems below him. Instead, he feels he has the right to just to take whatever he wants.

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I had to mature and become the person I am today. Maturity has shown through myself and others which is also the same for Huck throughout his adventures. In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck runs into many obstacles that through his actions show maturity. Huck’s enticing adventures have let him display his maturity in his actions towards others.

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To start, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a book filled with mischievous actions, and emotional restitutions of those mischievous people. Throughout Tom Sawyer, the young man whose name is entitled in the book, is a boy that has many fruits. The problem with trying to evaluate his character based on his fruits is that his fruits were many, and portrayed contradictory qualities. One hand, Tom helped Becky Thatcher by taking the blame for ruining their teacher’s prize possession. His admittal of guilt in Becky’s place can be found on page 139 of the book: “I did it”.

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Tom is revealed as even more selfish than at first, and readers can truly see his intentions and how little he cares about Jim himself. Throughout their adventure to save Jim, the boys experience a few moral crises, debating whether or not they should be “stealing” Jim. However, in every situation, the boys find a way to convince themselves that they have to be doing what they are doing, and it is all ok in the end. This example of uneducated and unlawful behavior is an example of the self-governed attitudes in the South Twain is trying to portray. He uses these stories and ironic reasoning to reveal the contradicting and hypocritical nature in which they live their lives and go about their day, making easy or hard decisions.

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Tom, in hopes of saving innocent Muff’s life, speaks out in court against Injun Joe, proving that Joe was the real murderer in the crime. Injun Joe, realizing he had been caught, flees from the court. On page 138, it states, “Call Thomas Sawyer!” (Twain 138). Tom has been maturing greatly throughout the entire story and this is proven when he speaks up against Injun Joe in court.

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Huckleberry Finn is a story about a rambunctious young boy who adventures off down the Mississippi River. “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain demonstrates a situation where a Huck tries to find the balance between what is right and what is wrong. Huck faces many challenges in which his maturity will play a part in making the correct decision for himself and his friend Jim. Huck becomes more mature by the end of the novel by showing that he can make the correct decisions to lead Jim to the freedom he deserves. One major factor where Huck matures throughout the novel is through his experience.

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When Huck and Tom wanted to rescue Jim, Tom insisted on a wild plan that could possibly get someone hurt or killed. Tom yearned to not only put himself endangered, but others as well. Tom knew that the whole time Jim was free and decided to not tell him. As George Saunders stated Tom “knows, likes king's, codified, nobility, unquestioned privilege, and presumes.” Tom is the overall representation of what Twain wanted to tell us that America should not be

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Trying your best to comfort others, or putting others before yourself are both mature deeds to do . Tom Sawyer from, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain did things such as that, and more. Tom is a young boy who lives with his aunt, and half brother. He goes on many adventures throughout the book, some proving his maturity and others not. He goes through some thought the book, but that doesn't affect his maturity.

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(Twain 148), and causes Tom to hold a reputation as a honourable boy. Additionally, this develops Tom as a selfless character because he makes personal sacrifices to help those he views as weak and that need help. Through the examination of the gender stereotypes Tom holds as truth, the reader can recognize how those beliefs influence his behavior towards girls, which prompts Tom to try to cheer and shelter them, and in turn develops his character as a noble

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In every situation in life, there is always a choice. When trying to decide upon the best course of action, a person’s maturity level plays a vital role in how the situation turns out. However, everyone matures at his/her own rate, and some people mature faster than others. These differing levels of maturity can drastically alter a situation’s outcome. During his adventures down the Mississippi River, Huckleberry Finn encounters many new experiences that force him to confront and resolve his own moral dilemmas in order to develop a more mature outlook on life.

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At the beginning of the novel, Tom and Huck are escaping the house and decide to play a little trick on Jim. When they are about to begin this prank, “Tom whispered to me, and wanted to tie him to the tree for fun.” (Twain) By Tom saying that he wanted to tie him up, is when the audience is able to see whom Tom really is and what might his reputation be throughout the novel. Tom is able to convince Huck to play with Jim and muddle with his hat, which hence shows that Tom is persuasive in being very adventurous.

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By enticing them with He is heard saying things like “you don’t get to whitewash a fence every day.” In this way, tom gets exactly what he wants, and more. Mark Twain portrays a power struggle within the novel when he e power the adults have over the children can be seen in the way they advise the children “She lifted up her voice, at an angle calculated for distance, and shouted, 'Y-o-u-u Tom!’,” (Twain, 2). Aunt Polly opens up the novel by repeatedly shrieking Tom’s name, in her most threatening possible tone followed by more desperate attempts to draw out Tom. “'Well, I lay if I get hold of you, I’ll--- ' She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom—and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with.

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One of the easiest ways to identify Tom's maturity is his relationship with Becky Thatcher. When Becky rips the teachers book, Tom shows his devotion to her by taking the blame. When the teacher asked Becky "'Did you tear this book?... He [Tom]sprang to his feet

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