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!