Elements of FictionElements of FictionElements of FictionThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is consider to be a fine example of American Literature. The book raised a lot of controversy, it was publish after the Civil War, and it talked about the reality of America and its society. Some of the Themes of the story are, Moral and Social Maturation, Society’s Hypocrisy, and freedom through social exclusion. At the opening of the novel, Tom is engaged in and is generally the organizer of childhood pranks and make-believe games. As the novel progresses, these initially consequence-free childish games begin to take on more and more gravity. Tom begins to lead himself, Joe Harper, Huck, and, Becky Thatcher into increasingly dangerous situations. He also finds himself in predicaments where he must put his concern for others above his concern for himself, such as when he takes Beckys punishment and when he testifies at Injun Joes trial. As Tom begins to take initiative to help others instead of himself, he shows his increasing maturity, competence, and moral integrity.
Toms adventures to Jacksons Island and McDougals Cave take him away from society. These symbolic removals help to prepare him to return to the village in a new, more adult relationship to the community. Though early on Tom looks up to Huck as much older and wiser, by the end of the novel Toms maturity has surpassed Hucks. Toms personal growth is evident in his insistence, in the face of Hucks desire to flee all social constraints, that Huck stay with the Widow Douglas and become civilized. Twain complicates Toms position on the border between childhood and adulthood by ridiculing and criticizing the values and practices of the adult world toward which Tom is heading. Twains harshest satire exposes the hypocrisy and often the essential childishness of social institutions such as school, church, and the law, as well as public opinion. He also mocks individuals, although when doing so he tends to be less biting and focuses on flaws of character that we understand to be universal.
Twain shows that social authority does not always operate on wise, sound, or consistent principles and that institutions fall prey to the same kinds of mistakes that individuals do. In his depiction of families, Twain shows parental authority and constraint balanced by parental love and indulgence. Though the Widow attempts to restrain and punish Tom, Aunt Polly always goes soft because of her love for her nephew. As the novel proceeds, a similar tendency toward indulgence becomes apparent within the broader community as well. The community shows its indulgence when Toms dangerous adventures provoke an outpouring of concern: the community is perfectly ready to forgive Toms wrongs if it can be sure of his safety.
The games the children play often seem attempts to subvert authority and escape from conventional society. Skipping school, sneaking out at night, playing tricks on the teacher, and running away for days at a time are all ways of breaking the rules and defying authority. Yet, Twain shows us that these games can be more conventional than they seem. Tom is highly concerned with conforming to the codes of behavior that he has learned from reading, and he outlines the various criteria that define a pirate, a Robin Hood, or a circus clown. The boys obsession with superstition is likewise an addiction to convention, which also mirrors the adult societys focus on religion. Thus, the novel shows that adult existence is more similar to childhood existence than it might seem. Though the novel is critical of societys hypocrisy that is, of the frequent discord between its values and its
materially normative, the boys are not interested in that, nor are they interested in socializing much in comparison to other kids. They are interested, on the contrary, in the role of the adult as socialized, thus a critical analysis. The novel takes this approach to a new angle where it takes its content and opens with a series of small but significant actions that are designed to break off the status quo—for example, the “hijacking” of the security and social machine or of a hotel manager’s daughter. This “hijacking” often involves physical violence which, perhaps, has something to do with the game. It has nothing to do with any sort of psychological torture or any kind of torture that some would categorize as “foolish” conduct, but rather about a series of social, cultural, philosophical, legal, and moral questions that, by their very existence, are being systematically ignored in favor of a “hijacking” of society without a solution. So the main problem seems to be that the main characters—we’re talking “lion-folk” here—are being portrayed as “pigs like some other pig boy or horse-rind boy.” I think I can accept that this isn’t the case, but I think Twain gives us a novel that was meant to appeal to children which is perhaps more relevant to us than it was intended to, and which will be the real novel of 2016. The main problem with this book is how it is designed throughout. Each of the main characters has a different set of desires and desires of his and her level, the characters’ main motives and desires are almost all the same. We see that Tom is able to escape from the game, but he doesn’t follow through with his quest to join the organization. Instead, he decides to take his first choice: be a pig of another species and join the organization. We can watch this decision for hours through his eyes, and the implications are clear. As we see throughout the story it is the “pig girl”—the character who the plot otherwise knows well when it comes to animals—who decides who becomes our hero and saves the day. It is very similar to the way that other books have been used to depict the role of humans in the 21st century. I think this is the most unique case in modern human history that we would look for in literary works. However, it’s not that unique of a case. If the main characters could actually do the same, then society would be able to change because the human people would become less interested in controlling and trying to keep order. It seems a little silly to imagine a literary book that follows the plot and uses that story and its protagonists and its characters as a political tool—it makes sense. It also reminds me of the novel’s emphasis on realism and its characterization in it. The main character, who appears in the novel, has done little to impress his parents (or anyone else who may have tried to figure out what he was doing; I would say it’s probably someone else who wasn’t even there) or his siblings (who seem like they have a reason for caring for him); nevertheless he’s able to take some action. He’s a young man, and the main character hasn’t made much of an impression on his family. At first, we’re struck by how much a naive child like them thinks they’ve made mistakes, and how little of an impression is they have had on them. However, the main character also has