Analysis Of Tom Sawyers Maturity English Literature Essay

It will have the effect of making boys think that an unscrupulous scapegrace is sure to turn out a noble man; it might therefore have given more emphasis to truth and straightforwardness. But it is irresistible; fully up to the mark of the “Innocents Abroad [3] 

Maturation of the protagonist character namely Thomas Sawyer or favourably known as Tom Sawyer was being emphasized by the author and has become one the themes of the novel. [4] Tom Sawyer was being portrayed as a childish character at the commencement. Apart from that, his childish acts were found mostly at the beginning of the story before he indulged himself in the adventures that changed him to be more mature.

As the story proceeds, he became a more mature adolescent as claimed by the author himself in the conclusion;

“It being strictly a history of a boy, it must stop here; the story could not go much farther without becoming a history of a man” [5] 

The goodness in Tom arose when he became more mature. 3 major aspects that showed maturation in Tom Sawyer include the adventures that he had with Huckleberry Finn, his relationship with Becky Thatcher and his daily experiences. Nonetheless, does Tom really become a mature adolescent after the adventures that he had with Huckleberry Finn, his relationship with Becky Thatcher and his daily experiences? Although there were a few critics mentioned that after the protagonist character had experienced certain turning points in his life which made him more mature, but the incidents in the story showed that he was merely a boy. In the reviews of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Becky Laney which stated that;

‘He’s trouble, it’s true, but beneath the surface he is a good boy’ [6] .

Although the protagonist character experienced many incidents that portrayed maturity, he was still a young boy at heart. Another criticism by Robert Keith Miller stated that Tom actually did not mature aftermath the turning points in his life. He was still portraying immaturity acts throughout the story.

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“…If Tom is “hampered” as well as harassed, it is because he is incapable of learning from experience. He may be successful at the end of his adventures-in terms of fortune and social status. But he is not a whit the wiser. Although some critics held that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer chronicles Tom’s progress from childhood to maturity, the evidence suggests otherwise.” [7] 

I wanted to find out whether Tom really become a mature adolescent or he was still having childish behaviour throughout the story as being claimed by Robert Keith Miller. Thus, I came up with the research question “To what extend Tom was depicted as a mature person in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?” in order to investigate did Tom really portray maturity.

DEFINATION OF MATURATION

Maturity is a psychological term used to indicate that a person responds to the circumstances or environment in an appropriate and adaptive manner. This response is generally learned rather than instinctual, and is not determined by one’s age. Maturity also encompasses being aware of the correct time and place to behave and knowing when to act with appropriate emotion for the situation. [8] 

ADVENTURES WITH HUCKLEBERYY FINN

The adventures that Tom Sawyer had with Huck include many incidents that showed maturity. One of the maturations that Tom had portrayed included an incident where he realised the importance of justice when he testified at Muff Potter’s trial. Tom and Huck witnessed Injun Joe murdered Dr. Robinson and ran away. After the incident, Tom and Huck promised each other not to tell anybody but they were shocked when innocent Muff Potter who was drunk that night was being blamed of murdering the young doctor. Tom and Huck visited Muff Potter while he was in jail and from that moment, there was a change in Tom’s behaviour. Aftermath, he decided to testify during the trial and named Injun Joe as the murderer of Dr. Robinson. Injun Joe was nowhere to be found after that.

This incident showed maturity in Tom Sawyer because he started to realise that an innocent person was being accused for something that the person did not do and this was definitely wrong and preposterous. He knew what was right and what was wrong. He wished that Injun Joe was struck by lightning when he was lying. In my opinion, deciding to testify was a brave decision and reflected grace and maturity in him. Since Muff Potter was being such a nice friend to them and he expressed his gratitude to the boys because they came and paid him a visit, guilt overwhelmed them. This chapter was one of the turning points in his life because Tom realised the importance of justice and because of friendship, he had the guts to testify in the trial. Besides, he showed a sense of responsibility when he testified during the trial. Only Tom and Huck witnessed the crime and they were the only hope to reveal the truth in order to save Muff Potter from this mess.

However, Tom portrayed immaturity when he had the desire to hunt for treasures, as being mentioned in the book;

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy’s life when he has raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure. This desire suddenly came upon Tom one day. [9] 

Testifying at Muff Potter’s trial should be the turning point where he became a mature adolescent. But, the desire to hunt for treasures really provokes me to think twice whether the protagonist character portrays maturity. While he was hunting for adventures, he was using a bogus name to represent pirates; the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main. So did his comrades; The Red-handed and the Terror of the seas.

” Tom Sawyer, the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main. Name your names. “Huck Finn the Red-handed and Joe Harper the Terror of the seas.” Tom had furnished these titles from his favourite literature.” [10] 

Pretending to be someone else especially by pretending to become a pirate does not indicate maturity as pirates could bring bad connotation to one’s mind. Pirates steal other people’s belongings,

On the other hand, when Tom and Huck stayed close to Injun Joe in order to catch him was also one of the incidents where he showed maturity. He was able to plan how to find Injun Joe’s hiding place with his best friend, Huck. He was responding to the circumstances and environment in an appropriate and adaptive manner. After Tom named Injun Joe as the murderer, he ran away from the town. While Tom and Huck were hunting for hidden treasures at the old haunted house on Still-House Branch, they accidently met Injun Joe and his companion. He was disguising as a deaf old Spanish man. He wanted to bury a bag filled with over six hundred dollars in silver. Tom and Huck who were hiding in the upper part of the house were delighted to know that their dreams of getting treasures would come true. Things got more interesting when Injun Joe found a box of gold coins before he buried his money. Unfortunately, Injun Joe noticed the pick that he was using had fresh soil; he changed his plan and took the money and the new found box to his hiding place which he called ‘Number Two’. From that moment, Tom and Huck vowed to stay close to Injun Joe, find his hiding place and catch him. Tom and Huck planned how they were going to find Injun Joe’s hiding place. They went to the tavern and waited at the alley for Injun Joe. While Tom was lost in the cave with Becky Thatcher and was trying to find their way out, he saw Injun Joe in the cave. After Tom found his way out, he told Judge Thatcher that Injun Joe was still inside the dark and gloomy cave.

Description of the instances from the book should not be too lengthy.

Don’t use first person pronoun I find this incident shows maturity in Tom because he is able to plan how to find Injun Joe’s hiding place with his best friend, Huck. At first, when Tom and Huck knew about the hiding place, they did not seek any help from adults and this was considered very dangerous. They were just young adolescents and did not care about the danger that awaited him. The way they put themselves in those kind of fatal situation did not indicate maturity in Tom and Huck. They felt that they were strong and capable enough of catching Injun Joe on their own. On the other hand, after Tom saw Injun Joe in the cave, he told Judge Thatcher about it. He finally got the adult’s help in order to catch the culprit. Getting the authority’s help in order to catch a dangerous man was a mature act because this would help to prevent unwanted incident from occurring.

Unfortunately, he was still having the desires to hunt for hidden treasures. Tom seemed to resort back to his immature ways, similar to his “relapse” of chapter twenty-two, where he testified at Muff Potter’s trial. Even after Judge Thatcher had ordered that nobody was allowed to enter the cave and even after Tom’s own near-death experience, he returned to McDougal’s cave with Huck to gather the stash of hidden treasure. Again, I feel both discussions are insufficient. there’s something lacking.You probably want to discuss why going back to hunt for treasure is an act of immaturity.

Besides staying close to Injun Joe, the incident where Tom ran away to Jackson’s Island with his comrades was also one of the incidents which illustrated maturity. Although running away from his problems did not show maturity you shouldn’t contradict yourself here. This paragraph should only discuss about his maturity but as he was on that island, he was being able to think properly and some of his actions showed maturity. He realised his mistakes and promised not to repeat the same mistake again; portrayed maturity too. There is a summary analysis don’t mention this(there’ is a summary analysis), you can insert it in your analysis subletywhich stated that by running away to Jackson’s Island, Tom had made an attempt to run away from reality [11] . But I no “i” think otherwise. This was because, while he was on that island, he learnt to be independent and listen to his conscience. He cooked his own food; said his own prayers and many more. Before leaving St. Petersburg, Tom stole cold ham as his source of food for that particular day . At night, after saying his prayers, his conscience approached him. Guilt surrounded him. He started to think about his wrong doings which were running away and stealing food. From that moment, Tom swore not to steal in their piracy anymore. Insufficient discussion

Nevertheless, he was still running away from reality at the first place. He had problems with Becky why do you mention becky when this is about him and finn? and would like to escape from the problems.

“Tom’s mind was made up now. He was gloomy and desperate. He was a forsaken, friendless boy, he said; nobody loved him; when they found out what they had driven him to, perhaps they would be sorry”

Running away from the troubles that one was facing will not fix anything at all. It will make things worse than ever. A mature person will face the challenges that come upon him bravely and will think properly the consequences of the actions taken did he do this?. Tom caused Aunt Polly to worry and cry over his absence without leaving any note. Nonetheless, he did camecome back to leave a note to Aunt Polly after he realised his mistakes.how did he realise his mistakes?

Despite that, taking the responsibility to inform the people who care about you and your whereabouts shows responsibility in that person. When he acted this way, I no “I” feel that he is turning into a young man from a childish person trying to be responsible towards what he had done. When Tom returned home, he saw Aunt Polly and Mrs. Harper were crying and weeping for the lost boys. The boys were thought to be dead after they got drown in the river. A funeral was being planned for them although their bodies were nowhere to be found. Tom felt very guilty and touched when he saw Aunt Polly was crying. He left a note to Aunt Polly while she was sleeping and kissed her. From the dialogue that Aunt Polly had with Mrs. Harper, it was depicted that Tom Sawyer realised how much Aunt Polly loved and cared about him. He returned to the island and informed his comrades about the incident and planned to attend their own funeral. Is this maturity?What’s the discussion/analysis?

Apart from that, the way Tom showed his friendship was by being concerned towards Huck and shared the love that he and Joe received. Consequently, these actions portrayed maturity in him. When they attended their own funeral, everyone was shocked. Tom and Joe Harper were greeted with kisses and hugs from their beloved ones but Huck just stood there without knowing what to do. Abased and feeling uncomfortable, Huck did not know what to do or where to hide from the unwelcoming eyes. He had no one. Tom seized him and said,

‘ Aunt Polly, it aint fair. Somebody’s got to be glad to see Huck.’ [12] 

Realising that his best friend was lonely, not showered with love from anyone and felt left behind, he came to the rescue. He wanted Huck to feel and share the love that he and Joe Harper were receiving from their loved ones. The friendship that he shared with Huck triggered him to be concerned about how Huck felt towards something. Friendship is one of the greatest gifts from God and in my opinion the way Tom showed his friendship was through being concerned towards Huck and shared the love that he and Joe received illustrates maturity in him.Insufficient.I son’t see the strength of this point.

HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH BECKY THATCHER

Tom’s relationship with Becky Thatcher had also made him more mature in certain ways. Before this, he was not very serious in his relationship with Amy Lawrence. But when he started having a relationship with Becky, he changed his attitude. After returning/coming back from Jackson’s Island, Tom apologized to Becky and asked for her forgiveness. In my opinion, Tom’s act of pleading for forgiveness was a mature act because he wanted to save his relationship with Becky. He appreciated having Becky as his companion. From the conflicts that he had with Becky, it caused him to realise the importance to appreciate the one that he loved. Before this, Becky was ill and after she recovered, she ignored Tom and this caused Tom to run away from St. Petersburg. After he came back, in his glory, he decided that he could continue his life without Becky and he started to talk with Amy Lawrence, his ex-girlfriend. This caused Becky to be very furious and Tom being such a considerable person asked for Becky’s forgiveness and wanted to patch things up. Although Becky did not accept Tom’s apology but at least Tom tried to save his relationship with Becky. Apart from that, he realised that making Becky jealous by talking to Amy was not the right way to fix their relationship. He knew that what he did was wrong. Realising his wrong moves, he quickly apologised. It takes a mature person to realise and admit their mistakes .develop this.

However, I x “I” felt that the incident when Becky Thatcher got sick depicted immaturity in Tom Sawyer because he was being very worried towards the one whom he loved but did nothing to help her. He was being very pessimistic about Becky’s ailment and thought about death. Although Tom’s behaviour changed when Becky got ill and stopped attending school, Tom’s habits changed almost immediately when Becky recovered. Before this, he was far from getting trouble. But, after she recovered, his attitude changed immediately. He was trying to get Becky’s attention by showing off.

The next instant, he was out and going on like an Indian; yelling, laughing, chasing boys, jumping over the fence at risk of life and limb, throwing handsprings, standing on his head-doing all the heroic things he could conceive of and keeping a furtive eye out, all the while to see if Becky Thatcher was noticing. [13] 

The way the protagonist character demanded for attention from his beloved one was very childish. Discuss more He was running and yelling all over the place. Immaturity was being depicted by Tom when he did that.

On the other hand (may not be appropriate), Tom saved Becky from the punishment that she should receive and this definitely illustrated maturity in Tom. After the incident where Tom pleaded for Becky’s forgiveness and she refused to forgive Tom, Becky went to the empty school house. She saw Mr. Dobbins had left a key at the drawer lock of his desk. Every day, Mr. Dobbins would take out a mysterious book out of his desk and read it when he did not have any class. Becky, who was feeling very curious, opened the drawer and took out the book. The title of the book was ‘Professor Somebody Anatomy.’ At that moment, Tom stepped into the classroom startling at Becky. Becky accidentally tore the book down the middle. Realising that she was going to be punished, Becky yelled angrily at Tom. When Mr. Dobbins found out that his book was being torn, he asked each and every child at school. When he asked Becky, she was succumbing and was looking very nervous. Tom who realised that she was going to say something suddenly sprang out shouted ‘I did it.’ [14] He admitted that he tore the book although he did not do it. For the sake of saving Becky from the punishment, he rather took the blame.

This incident showed maturity in Tom because the way he responded to the situation was very noble. Becky admitted herself that his act was very altruism by saying

‘How could you be so noble?’ [15] 

In my opinion, he did that that out of love. He was madly in love with Becky to the extent that he was willing to do anything for her. He was willing to take the whippings from Mr. Dobbins in order to save Becky. In spite of that, he knew that Becky would forever owe him. To me, he was being responsible in his own way. He thought by doing that, he would save their relationship.

Heroic navigation while Tom and Becky were lost in the cave was also one of the incidents that portrayed maturity in him. Becky and her family returned to town and Becky’s mother had invitations out for a picnic for her and her classmates. An event Tom waited for a long time. Her mother was afraid that they would return late that night so she asked Becky to stay at Susy Harper’s house who lived near the ferry landing. Tom persuaded Becky to go with him to Widow Douglas’s place to have some ice-cream instead of going to Susy Harper’s. After persuading Becky quite a few times, she finally agreed to go there. He asked Becky to disobey her mother’s instructions for his own good. He was being quite selfish when he did that. For the sake of this own good, he asked somebody else to disobey the order that was been given. Thus, this illustrates immaturity in Tom. After wandering in the cave for quite a long time, they realised that they were lost and Tom took charge in order to find their way back. This para is on maturity or otherwise?This can create confusion.

I find this incident shows maturity in the main character because he seemed to know what to do and which precautionary steps to be taken in order to get them out of the cave safely.

“Tom knew their ways, and the danger of this sort of conduct. He seized Becky’s hand and hurried her into the first corridor.” [16] 

He asked Becky to blow her candle and used his candle to conserve the wick and they shared a piece of cake bit by bit that Tom had in his pocket to avoid starvation. When Becky was tired, Tom asked her to rest and held the kite strings while he went to find a way out. This was to avoid Tom and Becky got separated while Tom was walking. In my opinion, Tom felt that this was his responsibility to cope with the situation and took charge. From a troublemaker and an irresponsible person, Tom turned out to be a responsible young man when he was facing this situation. Worst situation that one is having can bring out the good side of that person. He did not take his punishment correctly and asked somebody else to finish off his job. But now, he became a different young man. While he was searching his way back, he found Injun Joe in the cave. He ran back to Becky using the kite strings that he was holding in order to protect Becky. In my opinion, protecting the one that you love from any kind of danger is a caring and a noble act that a mature person possesses. To me, he also learnt to overcome his fear of Injun Joe while he was in the cave. Starvation was a bigger issue to him rather than Injun Joe. How does starvation come into the picture here?

Tom was given credit for his heroic navigation by the critics. Nevertheless, they were lost in the cave at the first place because of Tom. He should be held responsible for their activities in the cave. Since Tom Sawyer was so familiar with the cave, he should not let them lost and always be aware of where they were heading to in the cave. At first, I feel that this incident portrays immaturity in Tom, but after they managed to get themselves out of the cave, I feel that Tom was becoming a more mature person.

Please try to organize your ideas and points

DAILY EXPERIENCES

The act of persuading Huck to continue staying with Widow Douglas was a mature act. This was because, Tom knew that Huck had nobody to take good care of him and he had no rules in life. Staying with Widow Douglas to him was the best choice for his best friend. The connection that Huck and Widow Douglas had dragged him into the society. Huck saved Widow Douglas’s life from Injun Joe and as a return the widow offered Huck to stay with her. Huck accepted her offer. While staying with her, he needed to wear clean clothes, use proper utensils while eating and go to school just like other boys in town. Huck found that he was not comfortable and convenient in that kind of life and he ran away after three weeks of staying there. He did not have the freedom that he used to have anymore. I find Tom was mature in this situation because he started realising what is the best choice in life and the reasons for it. He was able to distinguish between the good and the bad. The way he persuaded Huck was also very unique. He knew about Huck’s interests, strengths and weaknesses. The friendship that they shared caused Tom to know more about Huck. In order for Huck to be in Tom Sawyer’s Gang, Huck needed to be respected. If not, he could not join the gang anymore. That was the condition that Tom set so that Huck would stay with the widow. He wanted to be in the gang so he was willing to stay with the widow as long as he was in the group.

Furthermore, the incident where Tom witnessed the murder of Dr. Robinson also showed that Tom really cared for his Aunt Polly’s feelings. He was being caring towards the person that he loved. He went out late that night where he witnessed the murder and this caused Aunt Polly to worry about him. Despite all the troubles that he got himself into, he did not have any intention to hurt the old lady. ‘This was worse than a thousand whippings’ thought Tom as Aunt Polly cried over him [17] . He cried and pleaded for forgiveness. There was no doubt of his honesty of asking for forgiveness. Although he loved to indulge himself in troubles he was still good at heart and in my opinion this portrays maturity in him.

For all discussions/analysis please make sure that they are not just done briefly. Please expand the points/ideas so that they won’t just superficial or on the surface only. The synopsis of the instances in the book shouldn’t be too lengthy.

CONCLUSION

The main character portrays maturity in his act as the story proceeds. He becomes mature in three aspects which include his adventures with Huckleberry Finn, his courtship with Becky and also his daily experiences. There are many incidents in the novel that shows Tom is transforming from a whimsical troublemaker into a mature young man. The experiences that Tom has are developing his character into a much more mature person. However, some of his acts throughout the story still portray immaturity. His maturation is not totally coherent. Yet, he is still transforming into responsible a young man. The conclusion is too short.Synthesise the whole analysis