Childhood Rebellion

Childhood rebellion is kind of a foreign concept to me, but is such an interesting aspect of the story. Growing up, I was always so respectful of authority and never seemed to rebel. Obviously, we all had little fights with our parents, but that was the extent of my misbehavior. I never had a rebellious stage in my adolescence, so I love to read stories like Tom Sawyer because it is so entertaining to see all of the shenanigans that he gets into. My parents and I had a mutual respect for each other and such a good relationship that I never felt the need to get their attention that way. Instead I just read books and watched movies that had prominent themes of childhood rebellion in them because it allowed me to live vicariously through them. Sometimes looking back I wish I had gotten into more trouble and pushed the boundaries, but I just never felt the need to do that. 

Unlike me, “rebellion” just seems to be Tom’s middle name! He and his friends challenge authority regularly because they love the feeling of adventure they get when they know they could get caught for something. Personally, the knots in my stomach and anxiety were more from guilt than excitement, but that wouldn’t make for an interesting novel now would it? The sneaking out, the snarky comments, and the tall tales to Aunt Polly are some examples of Tom’s unruly behavior. And it doesn’t help that the always ill-behaved Huck Finn is his best friend. If the two of them are so disobedient in their early adolescence I cannot even begin to imagine what they will be like as teenagers. That might be why Twain ended the novel where he did…he couldn’t even fathom a situation wild enough for those two to get themselves into! 

There are so many examples of childhood rebellion in movies, music, and books today so it is difficult to pick out a few. One that sticks out to me is the movie Almost Famous. The movie is about a boy who goes on tour with a rock and roll group to write a story for Rolling Stone against his very conservative mother’s will. He encounters so many things on that trip that are far too mature for him, but he continues on anyways. When I watched this movie it made me want to immediately run away from home, jump on a tour bus, and go see the world! But of course, being the little angel that I am, I most likely went downstairs and hung out with my parents.

The next thing I immediately thought of was my favorite book! It really has nothing to do with Tom Sawyer except that it shows a lot of rebellion, not by the main character necessarily, but by his friends and acquaintances. It is called The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and is from the point of view of a high school freshman named Charlie who just writes to us, the readers, about all of his experiences. He starts off being very alone and secluded and then begins to make unlikely friendships with all of these interesting people. He writes about his encounters with sex, drugs, alcohol, music, and just life in general. He does it in such an honest and candid way that you can't help but want to try everything he tries. It is just him observing all the life around him and figuring out his and everybody's meaning in the world. It's an awesome, awesome book and I definitely recommend it!

 After reading Tom Sawyer, Perks, and seeing Almost Famous, I am inspired to be more rebellious in my life. Not necessarily rebellious in a bad way, but rebellious to what my every day life is. I am tired to my whole cut and dry routine, I want to mix it up. Try new things, succeed at things, to fail at things. To be open to foreign ideas and go on crazy adventures. I want to stop taking everyone else's experiences and using them as an excuse to not do something. I think Thoreau says perfectly in Walden what I want my attitude to be:

"Here is life, an experience to a great extent untried by me; but it does not avail me that [others] have tried it."

Hypocrisy

Before you start reading this post, I just wanted to have you listen to this song! It's called "City With No Children" by Arcade Fire, and I'm just in love with them, but there is this one line that always sticks out to me. It starts around 1:40. You can fast forward if you like, or just enjoy the song and then pay special attention when it comes closer. It just perfectly describes the hypocrisy of society, more specifically religion, but then kind of gives you a reality check and makes you wonder if you yourself are "like them."

"You can never trust a millionaire quoting the Sermon on the Mount. I used to think I was not like them, but I'm beginning to have my doubts, my doubts about it."

One of the main ideas that Twain satirizes throughout the novel is the hypocrisy of society and its social institutions. Tom Sawyer takes place in the small town of Hannibal, Missouri where everyone knows everyone. The town is not very welcoming to outsiders like Huck Finn and Injun Joe. (Although, you can’t blame them for not opening their arms and embracing Injun Joe!) They see Huck as an outsider who is only around to start trouble and negatively influence their children. Even Tom, who isn’t as cast out as Huck and Injun Joe, is struggling to fit in because of his tendency to always find mischief. 

The people living in the town are all Christians and find themselves to be above all others. This is one of the main points of society that Twain targets. The example that sticks out the most in my mind is just the way the town treats outsiders. I already began to mention the people that were cast out and frowned upon and Twain is just shedding like on how truly “un-Christian” these citizens of Hannibal are acting. These people go to church and claim to be good Christians yet they treat people that are “lesser” than them with no respect. These are the same people that are slaveholders as well, and I don’t understand how anyone can sit around calling themselves Christians when they have people enslaved under their self-proclaimed authority. It reminds me of Narrative of a Slave when Frederick Douglass is describing the different slaveholders. The ones that have the most power and the most slaves claim to be God-fearing men who also happen to be leaders of the churches in their communities. There is something so wrong with that and it amazes me that such injustices went on for so long. I hate being a hypocrite, so I can’t imagine doing something so blatantly horrible but justifying it with the words of the Bible. 

Sorry, I went off on a little Douglass tangent! But it just bothers me that such things occurred in our history. Going back to Tom Sawyer though, Twain shed light on such hypocrisies using imagery and Tom as an outlet for his frustrations with society. My favorite instance of Twain’s subtle satire is the reaction of the town when Injun Joe dies. Society had cast him out as a violent murder and once he died something in their attitudes changed. They immediately went from being hateful toward him to lifting him up to God and forgiving him for the things he did. This would be the Christian thing to do, if it were actually sincere. I love that when Twain describes this transformation he is so dramatic with his imagery of the women and their petition that you can almost see him rolling his eyes as he writes. It’s just awesome when you can read a novel and picture them writing it like that.

When I was reading the excerpt of “Self Reliance” for class a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a little quote that I think Twain would completely agree with. Emerson and Twain have similar views on society and both urge independent thinking. In “Self Reliance” Emerson is discussing the need for people to understand that we should be governed by what is within ourselves, not by what others say or do. He then goes on to say he is “ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names, to large societies and dead institutions.” I read this is smiled because I immediately pictured Twain reading this and jumping up to give Emerson an enthusiastic high-five! Or maybe just a stern but sincere thumbs up considering this is what he looks like......

 

Young Love

The relationship I am going to discuss in this post is the blooming romance between Becky Thatcher and Tom. I find it so entertaining to read Twain's depiction of this young love, I just can't help but smile when I read how they interact. Becky and Tom act like they are wise beyond their years, which is exactly how elementary school-aged kids act when they "date" each other. When I look back to my elementary school dating days I see a huge difference in what we thought was a relationship and what actually is. The only time you spend with your significant other at that age is recess, and if you still have recess in school then you are definitely not old enough to have a real relationship!

I babysit a lot when I am home in Austin and I love to hear about all of the boyfriends and girlfriends the kids have. Brody, my favorite little boy to babysit, seems to have a new girlfriend every time I come over, and sometimes more than one! He loves to tell me all about them, how pretty they are, how fast they run when playing tag, and how much they like frogs. It just cracks me up that these things are what they look at to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. They seem so irrational to us adults now, but back when we were that age it made absolute perfect sense. Just to give you a break from all this reading, here’s a picture of the ladies’ man himself, Brody! :)

I know he's adorable, but it's time to stop "awww"-ing and get back to business! 

 

 I love the way Twain describes Tom’s epiphany when he sees Becky for the first time. He just casts Amy Lawrence away without a thought, claiming that his love for her was mere child’s play (pun intended) and his love for Becky is the real deal. Then he proceeds to do crazy things and bring attention to himself so that Becky will notice him and be impressed. This is where I see literary realism  in Twain's work at its finest because I think everyone in the world can admit they have done this at some point. Even today, not just in our childhoods, we see people going out on a limb, or acting a certain way to gain the admiration of their crush. Then Twain later on has Tom and Becky quarreling and playing little mind games with each other. This too is so relatable in our adulthood. Men and women like to play with each other’s minds and emotions by, for example, flirting with someone else, ignoring the person, or just being mean to them. We all do this or have done this so it is quite funny to see Tom and Becky’s childish relationship take on such adult actions.

Tom even proposes to Becky in the beginning of the novel, which shows the over-maturity of his feelings for her. (But then jealously ensues when she finds out Amy has also been proposed to in the past and his plans of taking her hand are ruined. For now at least!) The entire time I was reading about Tom and Becky there was one other infamous couple that I was imagining. This movie was on TV the other day too and it made me smile when this scene came on, so here’s a silly clip from The Little Rascals where Alfalfa sings to Darla. This is the epitome of Tom and Becky’s relationship, I can totally picture him singing this to her! 

 Mrs. Horton had mentioned in class that this is one of her favorite love stories, and I thought that was so interesting because I had never really focused on that aspect of the story. When you look back at Tom’s admiration for Becky, all of his heroic deeds for her, and his dramatic episodes of drawing her name in the sand and wishing he were dead because she didn’t reciprocate the feelings, you really start to feel for him. Even though he is so young and we initially see their relationship as childish, you can’t help but exclude theirs from the typical elementary school foolishness because they are so honest and sincere in their feelings. I think I’m going to add Tom Sawyer to my list of favorite love stories because of that discussion! 

Loss of Innocence and Growing Up

One of the main themes seen throughout Tom Sawyer is the loss of innocence.   The transition from childhood to adulthood is such prominent idea because the plot takes these young boys from playing around one day to witnessing a murder the next. After the night in the graveyard, you see an immediate change in Tom because of what he has experienced. He has a burden placed on his shoulders and an immediate moral dilemma to face. Should he tell someone what he saw and risk Injun Joe coming after him or should he keep his mouth shut? The struggle between right and wrong is present in any person’s transition to adulthood and we see him struggling with it even after his vow of silence with Huck. His guilt is so heavy that he even takes it upon himself to help Muff Potter our in smaller ways to almost make up for what he isn’t telling. Those actions alone show his progress toward adulthood, because most of the time children don’t feel responsibility to other human beings because they are still so dependent on others. We have to remember that Tom is still a boy though, constantly looking for adventure, yet so tied down by something he thinks he is responsible for. 

Reading the book, we all know that the right thing to do is tell someone what happened, but in his dramatic and still-childish mind everything is an adventure and he would be risking his life by telling. Injun Joe obviously is a very dangerous man, but if Tom told somebody he would be protected and Injun Joe would be persecuted. Unless of course we think in Tom’s point of view and picture Injun Joe escaping from imprisonment and finding him in the dark of the night to get his revenge. Then that’s just a whole new adventure and obstacle to face.

When I think about the responsibility and adventure that Tom and Huck take on by vowing their silence, I just think about a classic American movie. The story is a group of boys leaving their homes to go on an adventure to find a boy that had gone missing. They are so immature and childish in the beginning of the film and go through a sort of reality check toward the end that forces them to quickly grow up.  Instead of being the hometown heroes by finding the missing boy, they find the body of the boy and are jolted out of their fantasy and into a very grave situation that will change them forever. I think the situations that Tom and the boys from Stand By Me get themselves into are seen as adventures to them because there is the chance that they will become heroes. All any young boy wants is to be the macho man and the savior of the day, so I can understand why these boys always run into mischief. They don’t quite grasp the severity of the their actions and it forces them to leave behind their childish ways and address very serious events.

By the end of Tom Sawyer we still see a boy keen to adventure, but we also see a boy on the verge of manhood. Before the epilogue we see Tom finally being accepted and recognized as the hero that he has always wanted to be. I love the way Twain ends the novel with this idea that Tom is now acknowledged and respected by his small town because it seems to be the fulfillment of his childish dreams. With Tom Sawyer, Twain was telling us the story of a boy, not a man, so he ends it on that note but reassures us that the characters are doing well in their adulthood. I loved seeing Tom’s progression throughout the novel, but I am so glad that Twain leaves us with this image of an adventurous and foolish boy that we hope never truly grows up!

Understanding the Tone

The tone tends to move from one extreme to another throughout the novel. Twain begins the novel with light-hearted language that portrays young boys’ foolishness and naivety only to transition to a darker and more serious tone as the plot continues. The novel is the overall transformation of Tom Sawyer from a boy to a young man, and the language and tone used throughout matches his maturing perspective perfectly. The most important and obvious tone shift occurs when Tom and Huck sneak into the graveyard and witness the violent murder of the young doctor. This causes the boys to make a serious vow of silence and throws them into a very grown-up situation filling them with guilt. The rest of the novel is not nearly as dark as the graveyard scene, but it is definitely not as playful as the beginning. 

Twain keeps a good balance through the end of the novel by keeping it humorous but still effectively addresses the heavy issues at hand. By having a child deal with such mature situations, Twain is able to reach such a broad audience. The character Tom himself is perfect for a child, while the story still satisfies any adult. When I was reading Tom Sawyer and recalling my childhood addiction to the movie Tom and Huck I had two completely different perspectives. I think reading this novel or seeing the movie as a child, you focus more on Tom’s wonderful imagination and adventures instead of Twain’s darker underlying intentions. And now reading it as an adult, I pay more attention to Twain’s purposeful writing than the actual entertainment in the plot. I love how no matter what work of Twain's you are studying it is never just cut and dry, you can always count on him having an underlying meaning for just about everything. 

I sat down to write this post and brainstormed for a while to figure out what book, movie, or song I could connect with this topic and immediately thought of a childhood favorite that everyone knows. The children’s song where everyone joins hands and skips around in a circle singing “Ring Around the Rosy” is a perfect parallel to Twain’s writing in Tom Sawyer. Although the song is sung so sweetly and everyone laughs and falls down onto each other in the end, the meaning of the song is very different from what it seems. The song’s origin can be traced back to England in the 1600’s during the Bubonic Plague. This is such a good example of how something so innocent can have such a dark underlying meaning. And now enjoy this painfully obnoxious demonstration of the song! :)

I would hate to end this post on such a depressing note, so I would like to avert your attention from all of the darkness and shed light on something that I really enjoy about Twain’s writing. Along with his amazing ability to capture such versatile tones in one novel, I am amazed at his wit and accuracy when describing things that the children are saying and thinking. Children think in such distinct and irrational ways sometimes that you just have to smile, and there are so many moments in Tom Sawyer that I just couldn’t stop smiling about because he captured a child’s mind and its inner workings so beautifully. The way he describes blooming relationships between boys and girls, their stubbornness, and the dramatic way they view the world is genius. I thought it was wonderful to  be able to revisit my irrational childhood mind with Twain. Here’s a sneak peak into Little Annie’s irrational-minded and adventuresome days: 

 "...part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in." -from the Preface of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

If I keep this up, it will lead into a few other topics that I plan on discussing in other posts! So I’ll stop here, but keep reading for discussions on the different relationships Tom has, the children’s growing maturity and loss of innocence, and childhood rebellion. Get excited!

Goals

My main goal for this blog is to discuss the themes and ideas present in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. For each different theme or idea I will make a separate post that gives a thorough explanation and insight into what I believe Twain is trying to achieve. Most of the ideas present in this novel run together, so there will be a bit of borrowing from one post to another. That won't be a problem though because the repetition will just aid us in a deeper understanding of the work! :) I want this blog to be interesting and captivating, so I am also going to try my best to incorporate music, movies, etc. that I find to be relevant to the topics discussed. So, with all of that said, sit back, relax, and enjoy!


But before you enjoy my wonderful insights, feast your eyes upon the trailer of my favorite childhood movie: