Rebellion In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

According to famous French playwright Albert Camus, “Rebellion cannot exist without the feeling that somewhere, in some way, you are justified.” This idea of rebellion is explored by many people, both adults and youth. It was also explored in the 1800s, specifically by a boy named Tom Sawyer. One of the themes that Mark Twain explores in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is rebellion. Three examples that support this theme are when Tom gets out of whitewashing, when he runs away from home, and when he breaks an oath he made. One example of the theme of rebellion in this novel is when Tom gets other boys to whitewash the fence for him. Earlier that morning, Tom had clodded Sid for giving Aunt Polly the information that proved that Tom had skipped school before. As a punishment for hurting Sid, Aunt Polly forces Tom to whitewash the immense fence. When Tom realizes that it will take him a very

This act of defiance occurs when Becky Thatcher is ignoring Tom because he had accidentally mentioned his ex-girlfriend to Becky and she became outraged with him. He feels that everyone is against him and so he decides to run away from home to be a pirate. He recruits Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn to join him on his quest, and they begin to plan where they will stay. “So Jackson’s Island was chosen. Who were to be the subjects of their piracies was a matter that did not occur to them” (Twain 82). When Tom runs away, he is rebelling against his family. Twain portrays this act of rebellion as a childish and youthful adventure. He believes that the boys are young and they are supposed to revolt like this at their age. However, running away from home is a very dangerous decision, especially for children. When teenagers run away, they are endangering themselves as well as everyone who goes looking for them. Hence, Tom is committing a very outrageous act of rebellion that occurs to this