The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Notecards
THESIS: In Mark Twain’s classic novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain illustrates the cruel realities of American society through satire and children’s anecdotes. By frequently using humor, Twain illustrates how mid-19th century American society imposed their prejudices’ and illogical beliefs on younger generations. Through the stories of developing youth, we see that the core of childhood experiences was disturbing during Twain’s time, as what was common conduct then would now be considered immoral and in some cases, illegal.
Cristopher Patvakanian Notecard #1
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Front
Page 47
“‘Come up here. Now, sir, why are you late…show more content… While Tom’s tardiness is habitual, the master is caught off guard when Tom admits his conversation with Huckleberry Finn made him late. The lateness is enough for the master to be mad, but for Tom to not even make up an excuse and admit that he was late because of a delinquent, that was worthy of the harsher switch, not the “mere ferule”.
The schoolmaster feels responsible to discipline Tom and help him fit in better with “respectable” society. The cruel reality of the situation is that “respectable” society says different people, in this case an overly-adventurous kid, are less respectable and deserve to be shunned. Yet it’s a funny scene, as the reader finds out Tom intentionally tells the “horrid” truth in order to sit next to his crush Becky, as an interaction with Huck would cause the most anger and get him land shameful seat in the girls’ section of the class. Ultimately though, the discipline and underlying intolerance imposed by the schoolmaster was accepted back then as the norm, and is scary and sad in comparison to our current cultural