The Personality Analysis Of Tom Sawyer
As every great novel ever written, there is a personality that changes over time. In our lifetime we as humans will develop and grow. This is our process of maturing. This is part of our story in how we change over time. Tom Sawyer is a real peculiar personality in the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Tom was the type of character that starts off and seems one way, but in other ways changes over the time of the novel. Tom Sawyer is a very immature but is fighting his urge to grow up and be mature in life. He had a way of not listening and found it hard to be truthful when it came to confess what he had done wrong.
Throughout the novel, I was able to see how Tom Sawyer grew from a trouble making, game playing, adventure seeking boy into what was going to be his adulthood. Tom Sawyer in a lot of ways was very immature but throughout the whole book was revealed into maturing young man as all boys do. In an illustration, Tom skipped school to go play hooky with his friends. He went to swim and whenever he finished he forgot to bring a change to fool Aunt Polly. She instead caught him because his clothes were wet. (Chapter 1) His punishment was to white wash a fence. A sophisticated boy would have taken his punishment he was given. Instead of doing it himself he bargained his friends into doing it for him. Meanwhile, he was horsing around. This showed the immaturity of Tom Sawyer. It also indicated creativity on his behalf that he had schemed such a plan on his own.
Not just your average or typical boy could have come up with such a plan. (Chapter 2) Tom’s behavior towards Becky were his way of showing her he was in love with her. It was more of showing off than anything. (Chapter 3) He can memorize bible verses for Sunday school and attends church, but he won’t clean himself for his Aunt Polly. (Chapter 4) He was trying to show Becky that he was mature by saying that he loved her and wanted to marry her. However, he also admitted to her he had, had other marriages to other girls. It became clear this was what their relationship was going to be like at the beginning. It made Becky very upset but still Tom never apologized to her. All Tom proved was that he was still a boy playing boyish pranks on the girls.
Another immature thing Tom did was, he didn’t tell anyone where he was going when he left. He didn’t even leave a note to tell his poor Aunt Polly that he was running away. He confesses that he had a note which did show some maturity that he had even taken the time to write it. But he chose not to leave it out for anyone to find. He chose to run away due to the fact he felt mistreated by Becky all because he again was trying to show off to her. He left with his friends to travel to an island. During this adventure they pretended to be pirates. It’s funny that he wants to be a pirate as an adult, which means he doesn’t want to grow up. But on the adventure, he was making plans about the future, which shows that he was internally growing. When they were busy trying to find treasure and adventure. This was a way of showing the playful, boy side of Tom that still existed.
He was able to take care of himself when he was away from home, which proved maturity. (Chapter 14) When he did return home from his adventure, he chose not to tell anyone he was back. Instead he chose to hide from them and listen to what they were saying to one another. This showed he wasn’t changing his ways at all. (Chapter 15) Once he found out that everyone in the town thought that he was dead. He snuck around and watched everyone at his funeral. He watched the funeral as it began, without remorse for anyone. Instead he watched their reactions of losing the boys before he decided to appear at this own funeral. Anyone would feel remorse for having worried their family members.
This showed an immature side of Tom. He was homesick when he returned. He also proved that he could indeed take care of himself which both proved to his maturity during this time. (Chapter 17) Later on, in the novel, Becky tore her teacher’s book because Tom scared her. Tom knew Becky was sorry and didn’t want her to be in trouble. So instead of ratting her out, he took the blame and told the teacher that he was the one that had torn the teacher’s book and took her punishment. This showed he had matured from the first chapter when he had other boys taking his punishment. He now was taking someone else’s. It showed he also deeply did care for Becky.
Towards the end of the book, it must have been scary for Tom and Huck to stay close to Injun Joe. They had overheard his plans of what he wanted to do to Widow Douglas. This is when Tom realized that Injun Joe was the true killer in the book. They decided to follow him so that they could find out where the treasure was. They weren’t mature enough to realize the danger that was involved at this time. Nor did they feel the nature to go get help that would have been better for them both. (Chapter 26) They then follow him to a cave. They still hadn’t told anyone what they were doing. Tom talked Becky into disobeying her mother and into going with him to Widow Douglas’s house. He had her disobey her mother and he chose to put her in harms way.
However, Tom had shown how much he had grown into a young man by helping Becky when they had become lost and trapped in the cave. He helped her, so they wouldn’t be thirsty or hungry. He stayed what seemed to be very level headed and helpful not to upset Becky. He protected her and cared for her. This showed a mature young man in Tom. (Chapter 30) He also chose not to tell her he had found Injun Joe in the cave with them. He instead kept looking for a way to get them out of the trapped cave. He also helped when the lights went out and they used the kite string to help guide them through the caves. Once they get out of the cave, Tom then admits to Judge Thatcher that he had seen Injun Joe in the cave. He tried to save Injun Joe from dying in the cave, which showed a caring side of Tom.
In the last chapter at the party Huck invites him to leave the crowd but Tom reassures him by telling him not to worry. The boy at the beginning of the book probably would have gone out the window in a heartbeat. Tom and Huck went back for the treasure to bring back to town. He also gives all the treasure to Huck by telling them that he is the one that was rich. (Chapter 34) Tom’s character evolved over the whole novel. You could tell the mischief boy inside him was fighting the urge to grow up. Twain’s version of himself in the novel was completely one of a kind to read. It was interesting to see how a boy who was immature changed and matured towards the end of the novel.
Work Cited:
- 1. Twain, Mark, 1835-1910. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. New York: Library of America, 2010. Print.
