Mankind goes through inner changes. Boys change to men as girls change to women. You cannot really notice the changes until you actually look back on yourself. Every few years, you can think about how you acted through the past years and how you’ve changed. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain shows us the change of mankind through a boy’s eyes. He shows us how a boy slowly turns from boy to man and how he is maturing over a short period of time.
In the beginning of the book, Tom Sawyer starts out like an immature boy. At the same time, he is very smart, although, he is not educationally smart. An example of when he was smart is when Aunt Polly made him whitewash the fence. Instead, he tricked some boys in the neighborhood to not only whitewash the fence, but traded goods to whitewash it. (Pgs. 20 – 22) He always gets into trouble. One incident when he got in trouble is in the very beginning of the book. He skipped school and played hooky and then was caught by his Aunt Polly. (Pgs. 12 – 13) Next, his evolution begins.
One day, he met Becky Thatcher. At first sight, he knew he was in love. One time in school, he got in trouble by the schoolmaster and was forced to sit with the girls. He chose to sit next to Becky and he gave her a peach. Becky threw it away but Tom kept putting it back. Then he wrote, “I love you” on a slate and showed it to Becky in a unique way. He made Becky become curious to see what it was, then he slowly moved is hand. (Pgs. 51 – 52) That is one sign of maturity. Another time when he acted “grown-up” is when the schoolmaster wanted to know who tore out a page of his book. Becky was the one who did it and Tom is a witness. She knew he was going to tell. Becky was about to be caught but then Tom said that he is the one who tore out the page of the schoolmaster’s book, even though he didn’t do it. After the trouble was done, Becky said, “Tom, how could you be so noble!” (Pgs. 132 – 134) Becky Thatcher is a factor in the process of Tom’s maturity.
The Essay on Tom Boy Joe Growing
Growing Up 5: Tom's experience in the graveyard is disturbing his natural way of doing things. He talks in his sleep and avoids the usual superstitious games the boys play. Instead, he visits Muff Potter in jail, giving him food and tobacco. This is a different side of the normally mischievous, playful Tom. Since he has sworn not to tell anyone about the murder, and is deathly scared of what Injun ...
Near the end of the book, Tom Sawyer’s change has practically completed. When Huckleberry Finn was walking with a dead cat, Tom Sawyer was curious to see what it was for. Huck explained that it is to get rid of warts. To get rid of them, you must take your dead cat to the graveyard at midnight when somebody wicked was buried. Then you say, “Devil follow corpse, cat follow devil, warts follow cat, I’m done with ye!” (Pg. 48) After that, Tom and Huck went to the graveyard around midnight to get rid of their warts. When they got there, they saw Injun Joe, Muff Potter and Dr. Robinson. They stood hid and watched what they were doing. They found out that they were grave robbing! Injun Joe murdered Dr. Robinson because he had a grudge over him for five years. He not only killed Dr. Robinson but has framed Muff Potter for doing it. Injun Joe convinced him that he did. (Pgs. 66 – 73) Later in the book, Tom had to make the decision of telling what really happened or to keep quiet in court. He finally made the decision of telling the jury. For the consequence, Injun Joe threw a knife at him but he missed, fortunately. (Pgs. 149 – 150) This showed how responsible he is and how much he cared about other people.
People can be immature in one point of their life. But when something inspires you to change, you are ready to grow up. Tom Sawyer has changed a lot throughout this novel. He starts out a childish little boy and then he grows up to be a man. He is inspired by Becky Thatcher to change his ways of living. Yet, she is only one factor in his development.
