Superstitions In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

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Superstition In “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” Tom lives a rather realistic life, than being involved with the supernatural. However, the boy’s adventures are due to his superstitions, that lead him to think so imaginatively about what he’ll do and what he wishes to venture into. Tom and his friends believe in many supernatural ideas, which includes the existence of pirates and what they enjoyed doing as a way of living, the tales of the hero, Robin Hood, and even his beliefs about romance can be seen as a superstition. At that period of time, the odd superstitions that were passed along through the minds of all children had many elements in common. They would believe in the things, Tom, Huck, and Joe discussed about almost all the time.…show more content…
Manipulation is basically defined as the skillful handling, controlling or using something or someone. This is shown throughout the entire book as Tom and many other characters found the use of manipulation to have fun, get what they want, or many other things. For example, in often times, Tom would sneak out to convince his friends to go play hooky. At other times he convinced people to take sides with him and believe in the things he would say. For example, Tom had the idea to abandon civilization and live off as pirates for as long as possible. Without manipulation, Tom would have never been able to do that and there would be one less adventure in the book to inspire the minds of readers. In fact, nearly all other mischievous things he did and adventures he went to would not be as thrilling or just would have never taken place. Another example is when Tom convinced the other boys that it was a privilege to be able to whitewash the fence. Using manipulation, he was able to make money while others did his work. This shows how the presence of manipulation allowed him to do so many things. A last example that can not be left out is the time when Tom convinced Becky to be engaged with him. Such presence of love was only real because of the things Tom said and the ways he was able to get to Becky. These actions are all forms of…show more content…
Without the desire to reach a certain point or achieve something, a person really won’t have any adventure. If Tom never wanted to be a pirate when he grows up, he would have never gone to Jackson’s island or play all those childish games with all of friends. He would have never been interested in treasure hunting and he would have never found all that money that Injun Joe was hiding. It’s a person’s desire and aspirations that leads him/her to venture out into unknown paths. Another good example is when Tom wanted to be engaged with Becky. Tom realized that he didn’t want to spend his life alone. He greatly desired love and to be loved by someone he has a lot of feelings for. When Tom saw Becky for the first time, he knew that she was the perfect girl for him. He started showing off to her and doing all sorts of things to get her attention. A quote from the book is, “say, Becky, was you ever engaged?”...and you ain’t ever to marry anybody but me, either.” (Chapter 7). This shows how a young child wishes to spend his life with the girl of his dreams. His desires lead him to adventures that a young boy like him would have never
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