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What Is Tom Sawyer Losing Your Innocence

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Virginia Woolf stated, “Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others.” In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, a young boy named Tom Sawyer, his acquaintances, Huck Finn and Joe Harper, learn about the equivocal nature of growing up. These three foolish, juvenile boys experience a variety of lessons, which entail that losing your innocence because of growing up, is not necessarily unsatisfactory. Albeit, it is more of a exceptional turning point in a young adult’s life. This realization is a significant part of the novel that demonstrates the theme. Losing immaturity that comes with childhood, results in gaining more insight and knowledge of the real world. Through the use of setting, characterization and conflict, …show more content…

As stated before, Tom Sawyer, the main character, can be described as a “trouble-maker”. In the beginning of the novel, Tom is constantly getting himself and others such as Huck Finn, into trouble. He is extremely immature and childish for example the first sentence of the novel exhibits, “Forty times I’ve said if you didn’t let that jam alone I’d skin you. Hand me that switch.” “The switch hovered in the air- the peril was desperate-” “My! Look behind you, Aunt” “The old lady whirled round, and snatched her skirts out of danger. The lad fled, on the instant, scrambled up the high board fence, and disappeared over it” (Twain 8). This quote presents reader with an idea and opinion of Tom before the novel starts. Numerous other situations such as this occur throughout the novel. By the end, Tom finally starts to realize he needs to grow up and stop being so childish for example, “ Presently the spelling book discovery was made, and Tom’s mind was entirely full of his own matters for a while after that. Becky roused up from her lethargy of distress and showed good interest in the proceedings. She did not expect that Tom could get out of his trouble by denying that he spilt the ink on the book itself; and she was right” (Twain 189). This quote highlights that Tom’s actions in taking the blame for Becky’s accident and putting someone before himself is the next step for his

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