The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: an excellent introduction to the classics

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)- Mark Twain (218 pages by my edition)

Mark Twain’s novel follows the adventures of Tom Sawyer, a fun-loving, cunning boy that often plays along the border of maliciousness and innocence. The first half of the novel feels like a collection of short stories with seemingly random scenes from Tom’s countless mischievous exploits. The second half of the novel takes on a much more cohesive narrative as Tom and Huckleberry Finn solve a mystery, a mystery that has put the entire town at risk.

The readability of this classic is largely unmatched by other classics or other works from this era. Unlike the Last of the Mohicans, Tom Sawyer has no adjustment period needed to understand and easily read the plot. The subject matter itself lends itself to this as well as it follows a period of a boy’s life. Altogether, a very easy read with very little thought needed to comprehend the book’s basic plot.

The thematic questions or rather answers that Twain provides in this novel seem to be quite simple at first glance but really they question some of the most important aspects of human life. Twain questions and analyzes what it means to be a child. Specifically, what it means to be a boy. To Twain it entails a vast amount of curiosity and mischievous acts, it requires a group of friends, and it requires imagination. All aspects that Tom exemplifies perfectly. In this small town, Tom becomes a source of admiration to all despite being around 11 or 12. In this admiration and action, I think Twain provides another theme: don’t be scared to be different and take chances. Without giving up any of the plot, Tom is very boisterous and often takes chances that put him into risky situations but he keeps his composure, for the most part. These risky situations force Tom to strain, grow and become better for it. This theme I think is absolutely applicable to every reader: don’t be too comfortable, allow yourself to see risk, stress (in the right amount), and strain. Then enjoy the success and growth that come of it.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a very enjoyable read and one that surprisingly has me almost scared for the young Tom and Huck for quite a period of the novel. Tom is an incredible character, very mischievous but overall meaning well and a boy of incredible action or drive especially considering his age. As I stated earlier, the first half of the novel feels like a collection of short stories but they are a very enjoyable collection. Some of the stories are very simple and trivial but reminded me of some great memories of when I was around his age. The latter half of the novel accelerates to a very interesting and riveting mystery novel that finds a great conclusion.

I began this book thinking that the Adventure of Tom Sawyer was an over-intellectualized work. A work that was a fun read but provided little more than that. I now think differently. Twain does a fantastic job conveying and analyzing important themes while maintaining an illusion of its simplicity due to its subject matter and writing style. Overall, if you are looking to read a classic for the first time I think this would be a fantastic place to start and it’s the epitome of easy to understand, hard to master.

As always, my scoring breakdown is below. Thanks for reading!

Score: 7.3/10- While I enjoyed Tom Sawyer, I think this score is skewed upward by the very high readability score.

Readability: 9- A very easy read, a great entry-level work to start reading the classics.

Thematic Questions: 6- Twain provides important answers to the questions of boyhood and growth. I think he might have just over-simplified the answers to both.

Enjoyment: 7- Very enjoyable, the only reason I give this a mark is due to the overall simplicity of the plot.