The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain

On the surface “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” is a child’s adventure story but it is actually an ironic commentary on small-town America in the mid-1800s, with the serious theme of a child growing up to be an adult in that context. In broad terms, the novel traces the development of “Tom” – and also of “Huck” – from childish concerns and behaviour to a state of relative maturity. The novel ends before they are adults but the direction of their development is very clear.

The novel appeals to the young adolescents because of the intriguing and delightful adventures of a boy growing up in the mid-nineteenth century, in addition to the adventures that appeal to the instincts of most young people of any time and country. It also appeals to the adult reader in the way that it invokes memories of their own childhood.

The ironic criticism of “Mark Twain” of the adult attitudes and behaviours throughout the novel is set against the development of “Tom” from childhood to adulthood. He is progressing toward a model of adulthood that is full of hypocrisy. That is a major idea in the novel and something that can’t be resolved. It raises the novel beyond being a simple child’s adventure story.

The novel is similar in structure to the picaresque English novels of the 18th century, where instead of there being a clear plot as one may find in a novel written by the near contemporary of “Twain” – “Charles Dickens” – it comes in a series of episodes with each one contributing to a coherent picture of the lives of the children of the town “St. Petersburg”, and indeed, of the whole community, including the adults.