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Sukhorukova Maria
“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain.
>It’s practically impossible today to imagine our life without books. Literature means much in my life. It helps to form the character and to understand life better. The world’s literature contains a number of volumes that we read and reread endless times with great pleasure. There are some names of talented writers in Russian and in foreign literature which are very dear to me. The name of this remarkable author is known all over the world. H.L. Mencken called him «the true father of our national literature».
In my opinion, Mark Twain has earned the national fame because he managed to enrich the American folk humour and serious literature more than other writers had done before.The typical motive of his works is the story of a naïve young man or the story of an Easternerunaccustomed to a Westerner’s tricks. And as a rule, the over-refined Easterner was usually outwitted by the Westerner.
First of all, I would like topoint out that the real name of Mark Twain was Samuel Clemens. He took his penname from a term used by the men who operated the river boats. They could call: «By the mark, twain! » That meant that the river was two (twain) feet deep.As in case with many 19th century writers, work in printing and journalism served Mark Twain as apreparationforhisliterarycareer.The famous writer used humor to develop many serious themes in his novels and to help the society see itself more clearly. As for me, I like his short stories because they are full of realism, humor and romantic. Thus, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” are based on the real events which at various time happened to different boys. The author carefully connected the stories he had heard before and formed the whole story.
But the majority of stories about Tom carry adventure character. The treasures buried in the cave by robbers, mysterious disappearances, pursuits, disguise – you find everything in this book all that is necessary for good adventures. However, the inner world of the book is much more interesting – completely unfamiliar hard customs at school, studying thousands of verses from the Bible, corporal punishment and, of course, the mysterious world of children’s superstitions, treasure and complicated relationship. It so bewitches all adventures that they themselves are somewhere in the background.
The image of Tom Sawyer-collective means the image of a sloven, mischievous, a little bit hooligan-fighter and fidget boy. People usually say about such children as Tom Sawyer that « they sewed in one pace». He was always the leader in the boys’ company and you would never miss with him. Huckleberry Finn was also a naughty boy who liked adventures but I am fond of Tom Sawyer’s witty tricks and adventures most of all and I shall try to explain it retelling its contents.
Well, Tom Sawyerlived with his Aunt Polly and his cousin Sid, who was an obedient boy. Aunt loved her nephew very much, though he brought her many troubles. He stole apples, jam from the closet, missed the lessons at school. Tom’s life was full of adventures.
When other people were sleeping in their beds, Tom was climbing out of his bedroom window to meet his friends. He and Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn had an exciting life. They looked for ghosts, they dug for treasure, and they took a boat down the Mississippi to Jackson's Island - to swim, and fish, and sleep under the stars.
The first chapter contains the story about fence painting. It seems to me many people even those who never read Mark Twain’s stories know it probably word-for-word. This scene is usually shown in animated cartoon, magazines and other books. And, by the way, it is the most ingenious manual on advertising and marketing - how to make the person want that is not necessary him at all, and thus to get profit.
However, I must admit that Tom’s adventures were rather dangerous. One night he and Huck Finn went to the graveyard. The aim of their trip was to see the devils which were walking there. But there they saw Dr. Robinson, Muff Potter, who was a hard-drinker, and Injun Joe. The boys saw them digging one of the fresh graves and taking out the body, but then they began to fight. Dr. Robinson knocked down Muff, they fell together and at the end Injun Joe killed Dr. Robinson. When Muff Potter came to himself, Injun began to convince Muff that he and only he had killed the doctor, because the knife belonged to him. But the readers know that it was not true, because Injun Joe was a famous liar. Muff was very afraid of punishment and left the graveyard very quickly. As for the boys, Tom and Huck were both so afraid to have a knife in their backs too that sworn not to tell anybody about Dr. Robinson’s killing. Poor fellow Muff Potter was taken to St. Petersburg’s little jail and sat there for four weeks waiting for the trial.Tom and Huck often visited Muff as they knew that he was innocent.
Time passed, life went on and Tom’s life was interested as before. One day Tom, Huck and Joe Harper went to the Jackson’s islandwhich was in the Mississippi, three miles south of the village. Nobody lived there. They had a good time walking through the island, swimming, fishing and cooking fish on the fire. They were so happy there that decided to live there forever and later become robbers. One evening Tom saw a lot of boats in the river. They were looking for the drowned boys. The naughty boys understood that their relatives were looking for them. So the boys decided to return home. But Tom offered to do it in a special way. When village people were in the church, the door suddenly opened and the boys came in. Everybody was very happy to see them. That evening Tom got so many kisses and cuffs he had never got before.
Meanwhile, the time of Muff’s trial was coming. Tom and Huck were anxious. The hall was full on the trial’s day. All evidences were against the defendant. But when the judge wanted
to announce the verdict, the lawyer suddenly offered to ask Tom Sawyer. Tom told the truth, everything he had seen in the graveyard. After that Injun Joe jumped out from the window. The judge said that Muff was innocent. Tom’s life became ghastly. Injun Joe disappeared from the village, nobody saw him. Tom was afraid of walking after midnight but it lasted not very long.
There is a time in every boy’s life when he wants to go and dig for treasure. And that time came for Tom. So one hot summer day Tom and Huck went to Cardiff Hill, three miles away from the village, to dig under an old dead tree. They dug for two hours or more but found nothing. Then they saw the house and found Injun Joe and a deaf-mute man there. Injun Joe had found a lot of money under the floor, but they hid them somewhere «under the cross». For a week Tom and Huck thought about the treasure “under the cross”, but they didn’t know where it was and couldn’t find the treasure.
Meanwhile, Becky Thatcher invited all her friends including Tom Sawyer to her birthday party. They went to the island which was famous for its caves. The children decided to play in one of them and after a while they noticed that Tom and Becky got lost. They had no water or food, but after three days Tom found the way out which was five miles away from the mouth of the cave. Tom was very tired and stood in bed for two days then. By the way, he told nobody he had seen Injun Joe there. Later he remembered that meeting and together with Huck came back to the cave and they found the treasure! There was a big smoke cross on the tunnel wall and the treasures were under the ground in a small room. Huck and Tom found a box with twelve thousand dollars. Thus, the two boys became the richest boys in their village. It was the end of the story about the adventures of Tom Sawyer.
In conclusion, I’d like to say that the book is a bildungsroman, showing the development of a young boy, how he experiences one adventure after another. Beside, Mark Twain's work is told in the third person, looking back with a sense of nostalgia. I think all of us ought to know books written by Mark Twain, one of outstanding American writers. I advise all children to read them and don’t be afraid to become bad, naughty or even hooligans after that. As for me, this book has caused me a great desire to read, including about other adventures and, of course, in English.