Reading Response 2 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Xavier Marzulli                                                                                                                             9/30/14
811                                                                                                                                                     ELA          

                                  Reading Response 2 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer


      "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain was a very pleasant book. However, what stood out to me, were the variety of moods that were displayed. Tom changed all the time, from his mood or even his character. The people around Tom were often found in deep sorrow. There were also many fearful moments that Tom and his friend Huckleberry Finn shared. Tom even had his own little love life. Love, sadness and fear all showed up multiple times through the books plot.

      Love, this was something that really surprised me in the book. I thought that Tom was just a mischievous boy who only cared about adventures, but he did show his feel towards one girl. His eyes fell on Becky Thatcher and they very rarely came off of her. Take this from the text, " ' No, I'll never love anybody but you, Tom, and I'll never marry anybody but you-and you ain't to ever marry anybody but me, either.' ". Tom even goes so far as to make sure Becky swears loyalty to him, he says that they were getting engaged. Further on into the book, Becky and Tom get into arguments, but they really do love each other deep inside. By the end of the book they get back together until the last pages. Tom's love life effects the book plenty and it also effects Tom's character.

      Moving on, it isn't just love that occurs, but sadness is a big part of the emotion factor. The whole village in which Tom lives in feels deep sorrow, more than once. For example Tom and his friends create the sadness, " 'And god forgive me, I cracked Tom's head with my thimble, poor boy, poor dead boy. But he's out of all his troubles now. And the last words I ever heard him say was to reproach-' ". Tom, Joe and Huck all go out to a secret island for a few days and the whole village realizes they're gone and after days of searching they weren't found. Soon the village deemed the three boys dead and here, Aunt Polly explains how she feels about it. Another example is when Tom and Becky get lost in a cave near the village, the village searches for them and again they fail to find them. The same feelings are shared of deep sorrow, but Tom manages to get Becky and himself out of the cave through a small hole and a sigh of relief is exchanged between the town's people.

      The last emotion that was clearly displayed in the book was fear. Tom and Huck experienced many moments of shock and fright that lurked them for a long time. The one I thought was the strongest explanation, was the time Tom and Huck went to the old cemetery during midnight, out of all their luck they managed to witness a murder, "Presently Tom seized his comrade's arm and said: 'Sh!' 'what is it, Tom?'... 'it's the devils, sure enough. Three of 'em! Lordy, Tom, we're goners! Can you pray?' ". In this excerpt the boys obviously get carried away, their fears get into their heads and they freak out. On future adventures, Tom and Huck experience many more moments like these, but they survive. Similar moments make the book exciting and this emotion is essential to the plot.

      In the end, the book wasn't only exceptional due to the emotions the author created, but it was certainly more fun to read because of them. I really find the writer's choice of scenes strong, because they present each emotion clearly and sometimes in a humorous way. Now I would also like to read the adventures of Huckleberry Finn and see if the writing style is similar or if it has a change.