The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Alabama Shakespeare Festival

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival
2012 Study Materials and Activities for
The Adventures of
R
E
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A
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TOM
adapted from Mark Twain's novel by Laura Eason
Director
Nancy Rominger
Set Design
Peter Hicks
Contact ASF at: www.asf.net
1.800.841-4273
Costume Design
Elizabeth Novak
Lighting Design
Tom Rodman
Sound Design
Richelle Thompson
Study materials written by
Susan Willis, ASF Dramaturg
[email protected]
ASF 2012/ 1
The Adventures of
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by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
True W. Williams's rendition of Tom
Sawyer for the novel's first edition
Characters
Tom Sawyer
Aunt Polly, his guardian, Tom's
dead mother's sister
Sid, Tom's half-brother
Huckleberry Finn, a "social
outcast," Tom's friend
Joe Harper, Tom's friend
Becky Thatcher, a new girl in
town
Injun Joe, half native American
Muff Potter, a local drunkard
Doc Robinson
School Master
Minister
Lawyers, at Potter's trial
Townspeople
Widow Douglas and her
brother, local residents
Place: St. Petersburg, Missouri
(ficitional name for Hannibal)
Time: the 1840s
Cover illustration: the
whitewashing scene from
the 1910 edition of the novel
Welcome to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
According to 19th-century America's most
popular author, Mark Twain, an 1840s' boyhood
spent on the Missouri bank of the Mississippi
River was just about perfection, especially if
that boy's name was Tom Sawyer. The real
frontier—with Indians and open territory—was
only 200 miles west, and local folk wisdom and
an array of adventure novels offered a lively
imagination all the inspiration any boy might need
to find wonder and opportunity at every turn.
The stern rectitude of a 19th-century
moral education might necessitate a number
of beatings at school and punishments at
home, but it did not preclude self-indulgence
or exploration for a boy such as Tom. What
these crises and experiences did nourish was
a growing conscience, an awareness of society
that Tom (and his creator Mark Twain) is never
long without. Child and adult, nature and town,
adventure and propriety—all these dynamics
and polarities enrich and deepen the story's
appeal.
This classic American tale charts the youth
of a man and the youth of a nation, a nation that
was no longer so young nor so wide-eyed by
1876 when the novel was published. In the 1830s
and '40s, Missouri was considered the American
Southwest; by 1876, it was the Midwest, for the
American Southwest had moved farther south
and farther west. Amid this expansive era, Twain
looks back at the spirit of his own youth and the
spirit of the land that nurtured it, a fascinating
testimony to human
nature, its limits, and its
possibilities.
This adaptation
was commissioned in
2010 for the centenary
of Twain's death. It is
written for eight actors
and will be performed
by ASF's talented intern
company, a group that
can definitely match the
vitality of Tom Sawyer
himself!
About the Adaptation and Study Materials
This dramatic adaptation involves the
major action and major characters of Mark
Twain's novel The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer. Unlike the novel, the play does
not contain any mention of slavery, slave
characters, or the "n-word." The word "Injun"
is still used in the name of a major character;
its use raises comparable issues and can
offer teaching opportunities about language,
labels, and American history.
Twain's story is a rich literary, historical,
sociological, and personal treasure of topics
for exploration and study. Use and adapt
these materials to serve your students' and
classroom's needs. Activities are indicated
in red in the text, and there are separate
Activity pages at the end.
Tom, Huck, and Joe Harper raft down to
Jackson's Island to be "pirates," leaving their
ungrateful world behind. The raft becomes a
powerful emblem in Twain's fiction as he follows
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn. First edition illustration.
ASF 2012/ 2
The Adventures of
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by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
About Samuel Clemens, the Author known as Mark Twain
A Mark Twain Timeline
• Nov. 30, 1835: Samuel Clemens born
prematurely in Florida, Missouri, the sixth
of John and Jane Lampton Clemens's
seven children
• 1839: the Clemens family moves to
Hannibal, Missouri, pop. ~2000
• 1847: Clemens's father, a judge, dies and
the boy's formal schooling ends at age 12
• 1848: He becomes a printer's apprentice. In
1850 he works for his older brother Orion
at the local newspaper office
• 1853-57: Clemens leaves Hannibal to work
in St. Louis, then as a printer and journalist
in New York, Philadelphia, Ohio, and Iowa,
where his family had moved
• 1857: Clemens becomes a cub (apprentice)
riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River
Samuel Clemens in 1876 when
• 1859-1861: Clemens works as a fully
Tom Sawyer was published
licensed riverboat pilot on the Mississippi
• 1861: outbreak of the Civil War ends
riverboat trade; Clemens enlists in a
Confederate militia, which disbands two
"[Mark Twain] was the
weeks later, then travels west to Nevada
true father of our national
with his brother Orion. In the West, works
literature, the first genuinely
as a miner and then back to journalism
American artist of the royal
• 1863: Clemens first uses the pen name of
blood."
"Mark Twain"
• 1864: works on San Francisco newspaper
—H.L. Mencken
edited by Bret Harte
• 1865: "The Celebrated Jumping Frog
of Calaveras County" published and
reprinted across America
• 1866: travel writing from Hawaii,
then begins giving lectures
• 1867: moves to New York; writes
• Hannibal
Florida •
of trip to Europe and Middle East,
published as Innocents Abroad
(1869)
St. Louis •
• 1870: Clemens marries Olivia
Langdon; settles in Hartford, CT
• 1872: Roughing It, a humorous
account of Clemens's years in the
MISSOURI
West
• 1872, 74-75: writes The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer,
published in 1876
• 1876: also publishes Old Times
on the Mississippi, his account of
his riverboat experience
• 1884: publishes his masterpiece,
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• 1896-1909: a series of business failures,
bankruptcy, and bad investments; deaths
of his wife and of two daughters
• April 21, 1910: Clemens dies at home
Twain's Own "Tom Sawyer" Boyhood
• Samuel Clemens's family moved to
Hannibal, MO when he was four years old
• by the age of 9, Samuel Clemens was
smoking, playing hooky regularly, and
leading a group of boy "pranksters"
• he knew the local boy "outcast," Tom
Blankenship, whose father was a town
drunkard; another such drunkard was
Jimmy Finn, from whom Twain borrowed
Huck's last name
• Aunt Polly is based on his mother, Jane
Clemens, Sid on Clemens's younger
brother Henry, and cousin Mary on his
older sister Pamela
• as a boy Clemens had a crush on Laura
Hawkins, who lived across the street
• there was an Injun Joe in Hannibal, MO, a
loafer and drunkard (never a criminal)
Fun Fact
• Samuel Clemens's first pen name was
Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, which he
used out West before adopting "Mark
Twain," a riverboat term for 12 feet of
water, a safe depth
Samuel Clemens's boyhood home
in Hannibal, Missouri—complete with fence.
It is now a Mark Twain museum
Watch Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain Tonight
As a young actor, Hal Holbrook crafted a
one-man show recreating Mark Twain's lecture
performances. Twain was an American icon
and used that to market his inimitable style
and presence.
An entire televised performance is available
in 10 sections on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=PNql_eRsWJo
ASF 2012/ 3
The Adventures of
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by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
"[Mark Twain is] the first
truly American writer, and all
of us since are his heirs."
—William Faulkner
Samuel Clemens (wearing his
"Sam" belt) about age 14—a
bit older than Tom Sawyer—
working as a printer's apprentice
PBS Scrapbook on Twain's
Youth
See the Twain pages at:
http://www.pbs.org/marktwain/
scrapbook/01_tomsawyer/
page1.html
"MarkTwain … found himself,
and his role, in California." There
he published "The Jumping
Frog" and became a performer,
a comic "lecturer" about his trip
to the Sandwish Islands [Hawaii],
including "the first uniquely Twain
sentence; 'At noon I observed a
bevy of nude native young ladies
bathing in the sea, and went and
sat on their clothes to keep them
from being stolen.'"
—Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker, 11/29/10
The Mark Twain Style
Though Twain had been a journalist and
writer for almost 20 years, The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer is Mark Twain's first independent
novel. Although he had already written short
stories and tales, newspaper articles and
collections, memoir pieces, and co-authored a
novel, The Gilded Age, only in the mid-1870s
did he explore the long form of fiction as a solo
effort. Twain's humorous, ironic style permeates
this boy's book, so that Tom's irrepressible
boyish tone and spirit share the novel with
the narrator's knowing commentary on Aunt
Polly's spectacles, seemingly endless sermons,
or graduation exercises and with his waxing
eloquent about summertime or the historical
span of stalacmites.
Twain's varied life gave him countless
experiences to draw from—the town, the river,
the city, the Wild West, foreign lands, and local
oddities. His keen eye for the telling detail and
wry means of expression made him popular,
and he liked the popularity, liked being a "star"
in his field. As he and his life changed, however,
stardom proved more difficult to sustain, and
its profits were embroiled and lost in the quest
for even more profit—the dominant mode of
his era.
Twain made his name as a humorist and
travel writer with a style "which pits a selfconfident observer against a setting which
he both comically misinterprets and ironically
understands only too well" (PBS special on "The
West"). His "self-conscious irony" gave him his
distinctive voice, seasoned his observations,
and made him a fabled platform speaker and
reader.
Later Twain
Throughout his career, Clemens watched
humanity, often amused and then increasingly
dismayed and disgusted by our callousness,
selfishness and tolerance for corruption both
in individuals and in the collective. By the end
of his life he usually referred to us as "the
damned human race" and laid the responsibility
for our cussedness squarely at our own door.
With the rise of realism in 19th-century fiction,
the conflict between the individual and society
magnified, with society usually prevailing, and
Twain found his own distinctive place within
this literary mode.
The iconic late
Mark Twain,
with a shock of
white hair, a thick
moustache, a
white suit, and a
keen gaze
Voice: Character and Narrator
Twain's realistic speaking voices and
dialects are part of the novel's claim to fame. He
crafts distinctive and believable voices, diction,
and rhythms for his characters.
• Compare Tom and Huck as speakers; Tom
and Aunt Polly; Huck and Injun Joe.
Twain also has a satirist's eye and his narrator comments on human foibles throughout
the novel—for instance, in chapter 1 the narrator
observes that Aunt Polly looks over and then
under her spectacles, but rarely through them
because "they were her state pair, the pride of
her heart, and were built for 'style,' not service."
Spectacles are a means of seeing clearly, but
notice that here clear sight is not the goal;
these are for "show"—the novel's first allusion
to showing off for social notice, one of Twain's
targets, because he also treats the idea when
Tom meets Becky and in the Sunday school
class when visitors arrive.
Those visitors open another comment as
well because Judge Thatcher is from a town 12
miles upriver "so he had traveled and seen the
world"—and Twain pokes our parochial notions
and perspectives, our definition of "world."
Twain comments on long pastoral prayers,
on vapid, predictable school examination
compositions, quack cures, and much more.
ASF 2012/ 4
The Adventures of
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by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Critics respond "as though
Mark Twain invented the bad boy
in literature. He did not—he just
invented the bad boy as hero."
"…Tom Sawyer vanquishes
his enemies and reaps tangible
rewards, because his creator
drew upon fictional fantasy rather
than pure autobiography."
—Alan Gribben, "Boy Books …," The Norton
Critical Edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Two illustrations from the
first edition of the novel and one
testimony to the novel's universality
as the Google doodle whitewashes
a fence
The Appeal of Tom Sawyer and Its Boy-Hero
Tales of Youth in a Growing Land
Telling stories of one's youth is a natural
part of life, and most families love to tell and
re-tell the challenges and scrapes of Mom and
Dad, uncles and aunts—"I remember when…."
"Really?" These stories are windows into the
past, into vanished times before the most
modern technology and attitudes, before iPods
and computers. That was also the appeal of
Hughes's Tom Brown's School Days (1857),
Aldrich's The Story of a Bad Boy (1869), Alcott's
Little Women (1868), The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer (1876), Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn (1885), and many other such works in the
late 19th century, when technology was also
changing the world "right before their eyes."
Pre-Civil War America of the 1830s and '40s
was a rural, agrarian country more connected
by waterways and roads than by train. The
frontier had shifted to Kansas and Nebraska,
and the debate about slavery was increasingly
tense. Post-Civil War America quickly became
an urban, industrial nation with transcontinental
railways, telegraphs, telephones, and the
wealthy "robber-barons" of industry.
Tom's Youthful Appeal
Tom Sawyer is young, psychologically
and socially astute, a dedicated game player,
and a boy with a heart and a conscience. He
loves adventure, has a flair for the dramatic,
and is aware of shaping his own heroic role
in his "life script," which he successfully—and
profitably—improvises throughout the novel.
When he does not actively manufacture
excitement, excitement seems to find him—he
has only to show up with Huck and a dead
cat in a graveyard at midnight for there to be
a murder right under his nose. He has only to
say that treasures are usually buried in haunted
houses to learn that a treasure is indeed buried
in the nearby haunted house. His imagination is
superheated by the adventure tales he's read,
and he and Twain arrange for Tom's life to do
its best to imitate art. On the scale of a youth in
small town America, his life approximates, and
modifies, the promise of adventure heroes. He
accepts their sense of honor, regrets or rejects
most actual wrongdoing, has no real sense of
money (he says his idea of vast wealth is a
handful of dimes), and thus provides a knowingly
naive view of the world's motives.
The Adults in Tom Sawyer
Adults in the novel provide real bloodshed,
real theft, real malice, and bloodthirsty revenge
as well as pretension, pride, prejudice, and the
use and abuse of power. Tom's version of this
reality is all play—pretend bloodshed, pretend
violence, pretend death. Tom does, however,
learn the difference between his play and the
real thing, which frightens him and gives him
nightmares. He sees the adult world and mostly
avoids it, for he need not join it yet, though he
will. He is growing up.
The adults who are helping to raise him
know adulthood is close at hand, too. As Tom
becomes unexpectedly wealthy at the novel's
end, Judge Thatcher admires Tom's spirit (he did
save Becky in the cave and take her whipping
for the book at school) and decides Tom should
be either a lawyer or a soldier, perhaps both.
In a few years, he may be a potential robberbaron, even richer and more commanding; now
he just tries to convince Huck to be respectable
enough to join his pretend gang of robbers.
Twain's commentary on Tom and on America
joins in such moments, as we celebrate the
spirit of his "play," which is also the reality we
live. For the duration of the novel, though, we
can live in the youth and vitality of the dream
without focusing too much on that reality except
around the edges.
As Tom lives the fantasy and it all works
out for him—fame, respect, monetary reward,
the American dream—Twain lets us live in his
fantasy, too. At times a frightened boy, he's
nonetheless a winner, and who doesn't love a
quick-witted scamp who's a winner?
ASF 2012/ 5
The Adventures of
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by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Novel and Play
Original illustration from the
novel's first edition
Boy Books
Many literary scholars view
Tom Sawyer in context of 19thcentury "boy books," a kind of
novel that gained popularity by
telling the moral story of a model
boy and his too perfect life full of
good deeds. In response, "bad
boy books" followed in which
the protagonist was at times a
scamp or rebel, in other words, a
real boy, yet one who eventually
became a solid citizen (note that
"bad" here does not mean "evil,"
just "not perfect").
Twain knew the genre well.
In fact, he satirized it in two short
stories, "The Story of a Good
Little Boy Who Did Not Prosper"
and "The Story of a Bad Little
Boy Who Didn't Come to Grief."
His titles demonstrate how the
usual tales set moral guidelines
to encourage good behavior
and values, but Twain points
out that poetic justice may work
in literature but not in the real
world.
What Kind of Story is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?
Since students inevitably start "research"
with Wikipedia, the classifications offered by
"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" entry may
provide a useful basis for considering what this
novel is. Wikipedia labels it "bildungsroman,
picaresque, satire, folk, children's novel." These
are not synonyms but various ways of viewing
the novel and its subject or import.
The bildungsroman
label uses the German word
for "formation, education, or
breeding," so it is a novel of
education, of the formation of
character, a story of growing up,
learning what adulthood requires,
and shifting from youth toward
maturation—perhaps overall or
sometimes in terms of one's life's
work (such as an artist). The term
implies movement, change, and
learning as well as awareness of
adulthood and its proximity. When
the protagonist is an artist, a sense
of destiny and true calling also emerges.
The picaresque novel, on the other hand,
is much less focused or targeted, because a
picaro is a wanderer or a rogue, and such a
novel offers episodic, realistic views of everyday
life with a humorous or satiric tone.
Satire looks at human folly, stupidity, or
vice in an effort to acknowledge, challenge, or
remedy it. The tone can be gentle and genial
or harsh and biting—a nudge in the ribs or a
venomous verbal slash. Satirists are truthtellers,
but they tell their truths by exaggerating human
behavior to enhance recognition. (Think Comedy
Central or Saturday Night Live.)
Folk fiction looks at common people and
everyday activities; it is more rural or small town
in setting and interested in local mores and
beliefs. It, too, is sometimes a tall tale.
The category of children's novel describes
the intended audience and often the novel's
protagonist. Nowadays the field is greatly
subdivided (as a glance at the New York Times
children's bestseller list will illustrate), but once
upon a time there were only adult novels and
children's novels, so this term, addressed in
Twain's preface and in initial reviews, places the
novel outside of "serious" fiction in subject matter
and import, emphasizing instead instructional
and entertainment values keyed to younger
readers.
ACTIVITIES: Discussion or Writing
Questions about Classifying Tom Sawyer
(good for groups; let each group take a
category and consider the questions)
• If Tom Sawyer is a bildungsroman, what
does Tom learn? Is he more mature or
closer to adulthood at the end of the
novel? Does he have a sense of his
"destiny" (or does the novel have a sense
of his "destiny"?—look at Judge Thatcher's
view of Tom's future at the end versus
Tom's own plans as described to Huck). Is
education (formal and informal) the focus
of the novel?
• If Tom Sawyer is picaresque, what are its
incidents and are they unrelated, a list
of events rather than a sequence? Is the
protagonist a wanderer or rogue? Is the
focus on this protagonist as he engages
with everyday life related with a humorous
tone? What difference does it make if the
picaro is a boy rather than a man?
• If Tom Sawyer is satire, what are the targets
of its satire, and are there any satirists
except the narrator? How gentle or severe
is its tone and approach to its satire?
• What elements of Tom Sawyer might make
it be considered folk fiction? Is its primary
focus on local beliefs and ways of life?
Research examples of folk fiction for
comparison.
• What aspects might make Tom Sawyer be
considered a children's novel rather than
an adult novel? What aspects of the novel
seem to be universal, that is, for all ages?
What aspects seem to be most relevant to
youth audiences?
• Which of these labels seems to be the
best description of Tom Sawyer's
primary focus and intent? Make a case
for which is the best major description and
which are apt minor descriptors.
• Which of the labels depend primarily on
the protagonist, which on the context or
environment, which on the arc of action
or character, and which on the author's or
narrator's perspective? Is one of the these
more privileged than the others in this
novel?
• Is Tom Sawyer a "good boy" or a "bad boy,"
according to 19th-century views of fiction?
When does adventure and mischief
become "bad"? (See next page.) Justify
your claim with specifics and reasons.
ASF 2012/ 6
The Adventures of
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by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Novel and Play
Above: Norman Rockwell's
illustration of a characteristic Tom
Sawyer moment, being switched
in school
Below: A different kind of
characteristic moment—Tom and
Huck on the raft (unidentified
artist).
The Character of Tom Sawyer
Because we tend to see Tom Sawyer
backwards through the lens of Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn (1884), it is critically
challenging to remember how most readers first
meet and see Tom—as the eponymous hero
of his own book, with Huck as sidekick. He is
young, lively, imaginative, loyal, and not without
conscience. Let's describe and then assess,
using the 19th-century terms "boy," "good boy,"
and "bad boy" as starting points.
Tom in the Novel:
• he attends both church and school, but is
bored by the routine and rigor of parson
and master. He "earns" a Bible by
swapping his whitewashing profits for the
necessary cards and gets the seat next to
Becky by volunteering for punishment
• Tom devotedly reads adventure books and
adopts their ethics for his imaginative
definition of heroism
• his primary activity is play—army battles;
Robin Hood; pirates, Indians; digging for
buried treasure; robbers—but there are
strict rules for every play mode. Tom has
a boy's idea of robbery and piracy, for
he and Joe Harper decide they will be
pirates, but without stealing once their
consciences tweak them on the island
• the other strict, rule-bound activity is the
boys' superstitions and folk wisdom about
such things as wart cures and oaths
• for all his love of rules in games, Tom likes
to step "out of bounds," likes to do what
he's forbidden to do, such as play hooky
or talk to Huck Finn. He "borrows" a raft
or a skiff to further his plans on the island
and takes food and implements from home
to enhance the escapade. He stays out
late at night and sneaks back in through
the window (and sometimes gets caught).
He fights the new boy in town without
reason, young alpha male behavior. He
maneuvers things to his own advantage,
often to his own acclaim and glory—ego is
not Tom's problem
• Tom loves to be the center of attention,
preferably the hero of the moment. He will
arrange events (funeral) to his advantage,
even if they cause others pain and sorrow
• he does get punished, more often getting
beatings at school than at home, because
he can sometimes evade or work around
Aunt Polly or the punishment (as with
whitewashing the fence).
• when falsely blamed or unappreciated, he
wallows in self-pity and a "she'll/they'll be
sorry" mode, usually fantasizing about his
exile and later spectacular return or about
his then-lamented death
• Tom is also aware of girls, especially Becky
Thatcher. He wants to "get engaged"—is
that another variety of game for Tom? He
shows off for her, but seeks her out and
tries to protect her in the cave
• Tom has great people skills and can
out-maneuver most boys (as with
whitewashing the fence, dealing for the
Bible cards, or convincing Huck to stay
at the widow's in order to be respectable
enough to join Tom's next gang)
• Tom has a conscience, manifested in his
asking forgiveness of Aunt Polly and
apologizing to Becky, feeling bad about
the grief back home while he's playing on
the island, knowing that Muff is innocent
of the murder of Doc Robinson, and his
nightmares of fear and vulnerability for his
conscientious actions
• his conscience responds most often when
he engages with the adult world—the
grief caused by his supposed death (once
during island escape, once while lost in the
cave) and the crisis caused by his witness
of Injun Joe's murder of Doc and later the
treasure discovery. The consequences of
this involvement are far more serious—
real blood, real robbers, real malice, real
threats, and no rules
Questions about Character
Now, which of these traits seem to be typical
boys' behavior, which the actions of a "good
boy" (good according to whom and on what
basis) and which the actions of a "bad boy"
(again, bad on what basis—see previous page)?
Which category does Tom Sawyer seem to fit?
Is Tom more action or more talk? How real are
his plans and his verbal projections?
Does Tom grow or change in the course of
the novel? State your opinion and discuss
corroborating details.
ASF 2012/ 7
The Adventures of
ER
TOM SAWY
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
"In Huckleberry Finn, I have
drawn Tom Blankenship exactly as
he was. He was ignorant, unwashed,
insufficiently fed; but he had as good
a heart as any boy had. His liberties
were totally unrestricted. He was the
only really independent person—boy
or man—in the community, and by
consequence he was tranquilly and
continuously happy…."
—Mark Twain, Autobiography
(Top): Norman Rockwell's
illustration of Huck's entry to the
novel, and (bottom) the original
illustration of Tom and Huck at the
novel's end Notice how the artists
differentiate the boys.
Character Issues: Tom and Huck
Tom Sawyer is a high-spirited and
imaginative rascal at times, and Huck Finn is
his counter in the novel. The adults of the town
consider Huck Finn to be idle, lawless, vulgar,
and bad, so now we have a 19th-century adult
standard of childhood "badness" by which to
judge Tom. Because the grownups disdain
Huck, the children, of course, admire him and
seek him out, especially Tom, in whose eyes,
"everything that goes to make life precious,
that boy had."
How Huck Affects Our View of Tom
When considering Huck, the boy who first
appears holding a dead cat, we realize how
deeply rooted in society and its mores Tom
Sawyer is and will always be. Huck is asocial,
free, educated by life rather than school, and
quite clear-sighted and shrewd. He has some
adult behavior: he smokes and cusses and
supports himself, or must support himself,
given his drunken, shiftless, absent father. He
is not a victim; his lifestyle is a choice, not an
imposition—as we see at the novel's end, when
society is imposed on him and he wants out of
it, just as he does at the end of Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn.
In the first church section early in the novel,
we see that Tom hates washing up for church and
the Sunday clothes he has to wear and chafes at
learning the Bible verses, but he does all these
things and finds a way to work learning Bible
verses to his profit (the Barlow knife), Sunday
school to his advantage (the Bible), and church
to his entertainment (he pinch bug). When Huck
is confronted with washing and stiff clothes, he
soon runs back to his hogshead. Huck is off the
social radar,and no one takes the responsibility
out of professed duty or love to beat him as
they do Tom. The narrator calls the
boys who admire him and his lifestyle
"harassed, hampered, respectable." All
these terms suggest limitation rather
than opportunity; Huck, in the boys'
view, has all the opportunities.
How Tom Affects Our View of Huck
Yet in this novel, Tom plays the
hero and Huck is the sidekick, the
Sancho Panza to Tom's Quixote. Tom
rights the injustice being done to Muff
Potter by testifying in court to what he
witnessed in the graveyard. Huck is
as shocked that Tom would break so
firmly sworn an oath of silence as he
is at the injustice.
Huck cannot read the books Tom reads and
does not know the games' "rules"—all literary
in origin—though he tags along on some of the
game-playing adventures, such as the pirates
and Indians on Jackson's Island. Huck is never
homesick, however, because he does not have
a home, but he does get bored.
Because he is not invited to Becky's picnic
near the cave, Huck does some independent
sleuthing with Injun Joe and defeats his
attempted revenge on the Widow Douglas by
prudently calling for adult help. Now Huck is
considered a hero, but he is uncomfortable with
the role. Tom, meanwhile, gets lost in the cave
and must find his way out; he welcomes the
clamor when he and Becky return to town just
as he had at his funeral and the trial.
Huck and Tom in Huckleberry Finn
Twain's next novel also involves Tom and
Huck, but their roles are reversed. Huck is now
the protagonist, a boy set on helping the slave
Jim escape to freedom, while Tom continues
his games at Huck's and Jim's expense. We
despise the other tricksters Huck and Jim meet
along the river, such as the Duke and Dauphin,
so Tom's insistence on "following the book rules"
for escape and delaying Jim's freedom for his
own entertainment seems selfish and petty
beside Huck's moral crisis and decision about
helping Jim, "all right, I'll go to hell."
Huck may disguise himself and use social
assumptions and prejudices to gain help and
conceal his flight, and he may tolerate indignity
to Jim by the Duke and Dauphin in order to hide
him, but these roles are protective strategies
rather than games or play. Tom knows Jim
is already free, but indulges in the chance to
pretend to set him free.
Questions for Discussion
• What role do Tom's games have in Tom
Sawyer? Tom is always leader and sets or
explains the "rules"—what is the basis of
those rules? Whom do they serve?
• As allies and friends, do Tom's and Huck's
views always agree? What is most
important to each boy?
• Does Huckleberry Finn change our views of
Tom, Huck, and the boyhood games? How
and why? How do Huck and Jim relate on
the raft?
ASF 2012/ 8
The Adventures of
ER
TOM SAWY
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Injun Joe by Richard Rogers
Imagery and Injun Joe
Injun Joe starves to death
in the cave. In how many ways
does he find himself enclosed
in something he cannot get out
of in the novel? He's at the door
when he dies; what other "doors"
can he not get through? Is he
"starved" in any other ways in
Twain's novel?
• For an insightful essay on
Twain's treatment of native
Ame r i c a n s , s e e C a r te r
Revard's "Why Mark Twain
Murdered Injun Joe—and
Will Never Be Indicted" in the
Norton critical edition of The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
(2007). [Originally printed in
Massachusetts Review 40.4
(1999-2000): 643-70.]
A murderous Injun Joe
haunts Tom's dreams
(first edition illustration)
Tom Sawyer and Injun Joe
At first glance, such as the glance we all
take when we first read the novel in childhood,
it's very simple—Tom Sawyer is the good guy,
the protagonist, and Injun Joe is the bad guy, the
evil antagonist, the villain. Tom is a respectable
if mischievous and imaginative boy; the "halfbreed" is an adult criminal, a conniving murderer,
a robber, and a savage. Demeaning stereotypes
might even have us wonder if he is evil because
he is an Indian.
As we look again at the novel as adults,
however, we may begin to notice the parallels
between Tom and Injun Joe and respond to
the cultural issues raised by this part native
American/part white character.
Playing Indian
Consider the games Tom and his friends
play—outlaws, pirates, robbers, and, of course,
Indians. Watch how Twain describes their day
playing "Indians" on Jackson's Island:
…it was not long before they were
stripped, and striped from head to heel in
black mud, like so many zebras, all of them
chiefs, of course, and they went tearing
through the woods to attack an English
settlement.
By and by they separated into three
hostile tribes, and darted upon each other
from ambush with dreadful war-whoops, and
killed and scalped each other by thousands.
It was a gory day. Consequently it was a
satisfactory one.
Recall that the entire Jackson's Island
saga follows the novel's real murder that Tom
and Huck witness. They try to avoid or erase
that actual experience by an oath of silence
and succeed except when nightmares torment
Tom. But does it affect their play?
No, gory still equals satisfactory—to the
purported Indians and apparently to the boys
enacting them. The boys' stereotypical Indian
is violent, perpetually on the warpath, and
blood-thirsty. That's what it's fun to play. That
is also a label it is too easy to assign if one is
the white man wresting territory from countless
tribes across the country in the name of progress
and settlement from the day the first European
ship landed in the New World. If the native
Americans fought back, they were savage. They
scalped. The invaders/settlers used gunpowder,
so much more civilized; they could blow heads
completely off.
Being Indian
At first, the town takes Injun Joe's word
about the murder. Once he is identified as the real
murderer, however, he is a hunted man. He hides
in plain sight by using another stereotype—the
deaf and dumb (and eye-patched) Spaniard. Not
his appearance but his voice gives him away to
Tom and Huck in the haunted house.
Neither of Joe's two major crimes is arbitrary
violence; they are vengeance, actions based in
honor and memory. Injun Joe keenly felt being
denied and shamed by locals. In the graveyard
he first asks for more money, not blood, and is
denied again, just as he was when he asked the
doctor's family for food five years earlier. (Would
they have denied a hungry white man—his
other half?) When Injun Joe confronts Doc
Robinson, he asks, "Did you think I'd forget?"
He is violent here because, in his mind, he has
been done wrong. He does not strike the first
blow or introduce the knife. By contrast, Tom's
first fully narrated action outside the house in
Chapter One is when Tom pummels a perfect
stranger, a nicely dressed new boy in town.
Why? Dress as implicit superiority? Alpha male
dominance rivalry and turf claim?
Once his murderous deed is done, Joe tries
to avoid punishment and blames another. He
also drinks excessively after the murder, another
stereotype. Joe's Indian heritage is remarked on
not about the murder but in his planned revenge
against the Widow by mutilating her face (an
ancient tribal indication of guilt).
Critics extol the dignity of Jim in Huckleberry
Finn and try to justify Twain's use of the racial
adjective; almost no one laments the "Injun"
identifying Joe in Tom Sawyer.
"Their" Land / "Our" Land: Rulers to
Renegades to Casinos on Reservations
• Research the history of the native American
tribes from the time white settlers began to
claim the land up to today. Focus either on
the tribes that lived in Missouri or on the
Alabama tribes.
How did attitudes toward the native Americans
change? How did the newcomers treat the
natives (and vice versa)? How did the land
change hands? What happened during
Twain's lifetime? How much of their native
land do the natives have now? Where are the
original tribes who once lived there?
• Research the 19th-century "one drop" policy of
racial identification and the sensitivity about
miscegenation. How might these affect the
portrayal of Injun Joe?
ASF 2012/ 9
The Adventures of
ER
Y
W
A
S
M
O
T
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
The first edition's illustration of
Aunt Polly and below of Tom and
Becky in the cave with bats.
Tom Sawyer and the Womenfolk—Aunt Polly and Becky
The adult males display errant and violent
behavior or try to shape Tom's character, usually
with the physical force of whippings. (Perhaps
we should remember that being whipped was
one of the actions Injun Joe could not forgive
or forget.) Tom manages not only to endure the
whippings but sometimes even to volunteer for
them in order to further one of his plans.
The Everpresent Aunt Polly
When dealing with the females of the
story, Tom is less often in charge, more often
off balance. He is confident he can outsmart
Aunt Polly, who is his mother substitute, but
how many times is she waiting for him when
he climbs back in the bedroom window late at
night? How much does he really fool her?
Like the schoolmaster, Aunt Polly feels
responsible for shaping Tom's character by
moral instruction and forceful correction. She
worries that she is not harsh enough because
she does not instantly reach for the switch as the
schoolmaster usually does. Instead, she uses
explanation and guilt tripping, and they have a
more powerful effect on Tom than whipping.
He doesn't think twice about playing hooky,
but he does think about home while on Jackson's
Island and sneaks home at night to ease her
worry. He kisses her, even though she is asleep,
yet he does not tell her he's alive. In the novel,
he leaves the bark-note he wrote, then takes it
back because he has his grand idea about the
funeral. Later he tells her about the note and,
after some doubt, she checks and finds it in his
jacket pocket. (No such action occurs in the play.)
Eventually Tom tells Aunt Polly the truth.
Playing with Girls
Becky Thatcher poses other challenges for
Tom Sawyer. He likes to get girls' attention, but
he likes to pick a particular girl to be "his" girl,
as he had previously chosen Amy Lawrence. As
with his other game-playing, Tom likes the thrill of
the new. Amid his games of pirates and robbers,
he also seems to play a game of wedding. After
he shows off to get Becky's attention, he asks
her to get engaged. This is in no way a serious
proposal; it is playing at manhood just as he
plays at outlaws. But he gets his kiss—even
though Becky has no interest in kissing—and
he keeps the idea alive in the cave when he
calls their saved piece of cake their "wedding
cake." But their relationship seems to be entirely
pre-sexual, a flirting with something they do
not yet fully understand, that is, if we assume
his desire to "go beyond the known areas" is
another way of showing off and not, as a few
recent critics have hinted, a Freudian code for
other explorations with Becky.
Becky's role, in addition to being Tom's
"femme fatale," requires her to cry buckets of
tears. Tom may tear up once or twice in the
novel, but Becky turns and weeps repeatedly;
she may be the human analogue to the river.
Tom figures things out; he is glib, daring, and
resourceful. Becky gets in the cave and gives up,
deciding she will die, and plays the role of expiring
innocent that Dickens had made so popular. She
contributes little to
the escape effort, but
with perseverance
Tom manages to
save her. Her boldest
effort is to tell her
father what Tom
did—to brag on her
hero. Does Becky
ever get to be heroic?
What a shame Tom
never gets to meet
a tomboy—imagine
a meeting between
Tom Sawyer and
Scout Finch! What
is Twain's view of the role women and girls in
this novel?
The Epilogue
Yet Twain keeps the marriage idea alive
right through the Epilogue:
So endeth this chronicle. It being strictly
a history of a boy, it must stop here; the story
could not go much further without becoming
the history of a man. When one writes a novel
about grown people, he knows exactly where
to stop—that is, with a marriage….
Marriage is where novels end, unless
one is still a boy. But how early the ideas of
manhood and marriage establish themselves
in Tom Sawyer. How do we learn about adult
relationships? When does society encourage
us to look on marriage as the goal? This is one
game Tom plays strictly by the social rules—inlaw, not outlaw.
ASF 2012/ 10
The Adventures of
ER
TOM SAWY
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Novel and Play
Working with Imagery in Tom Sawyer
• the first action of the novel is Tom being
caught eating jam and shinnying over the
fence to escape. The fence is a boundary,
a limit. Tom does not use a gate; when he
needs to escape he goes over the fence,
something Aunt Polly cannot do in pursuit.
How does Tom view boundaries or limits in
the story? Is playing hooky a form of fence
jumping? How many "fences" does Tom
face and can/does he jump them? What
is the boundary between boyhood and
manhood; what are its implications?
Is there any import in Tom's eating the jam,
the "forbidden fruit"? How well does he
respect or obey the basic rules set down
for his daily life at home and at school?
How do we assess his actions? How
does Aunt Polly view the necessity of
punishment?
• whitewash—start with a dictionary and
some basic research into whitewashing.
Tom's task of whitewashing the fence
(the fence he escaped over) is work, but
he turns it into profit by making it seem
an important and responsible act to the
other boys by using a kind of verbal
"whitewashing." How often does Tom
engage in "whitewashing" his views, his
actions, his responsibilities? How often
do others? Is Twain addressing such
behavior in the novel?
whitewash—1) a composition
of lime and water or whiting,
size, and water for whitening
wood walls, woodwork, etc.
2) deceptive words or actions
used in an attempt to
absolve a person or
organization from blame, to
excuse a scandal, cover up
defects, gloss over faults,
etc.
Escape and exploration—Tom's
essential activities—from first
edition of the novel
• showing off—Tom first sees Becky and
immediately starts showing off. How much
of Tom's behavior in the novel is actually
a form of showing off? How many other
people (boys, girls, and adults) show off
and in how many ways? Why? what for?
• playing outlaws/pirates/Indians/robbers vs.
the actual robbery, murder, and Indian in
the novel. Why does being outlaw seem
romantic to Tom and being within the law
does not? How does he respond when
confronted by reality rather than play?
• drowning and the river—the town believes
the missing boys have drowned. The
river can be a threat but also a promise of
travel, escape, or adventure to Tom, who
is mostly a landlubber in the novel. Does
Tom "drown" or nearly drown in anything
or any attitude in the novel? Is the river
Tom's friend or foe here?
• lost in cave and in darkness—compare the
cave to the river as a challenge. The cave
encloses; Tom gets lost with Becky by
exploring beyond the known area, though
he had tried to mark their path. Tom loses
his light, and to save them he must find
an opening and the light. What kind of
enlightenment does Tom seek or need?
Note, too, that once the children are found,
the cave is locked. Why? Does the danger
outweigh the wonder? Should it? Does
caution have a downside?
What kind of new "space" does Huck find
himself in? How does he respond?
• death/return/heroism—twice Tom returns
from natural threats (the river, the cave)
when he was presumed dead. Having
rigged the idea of his death while on the
island, how does he respond to real death
threats (haunted house, cave)? Does he
learn anything from these experiences?
• buried treasure—what is valuable is hidden,
protected, seized and kept. What is
the real treasure of Tom Sawyer—the
$12,000? Is it all about money? What
does money mean to Tom and Huck?
What valuable treasures does Twain or the
reader believe they have?
ASF 2012/ 11
The Adventures of
ER
TOM SAWY
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Novel and Play
Original illustrations for three
scenes in which Tom confronts
the adult world, once by
surprise and twice by choice
"That Ain't the Way It Is in the Book": The Novel and the Play
In the novel, during his Robin Hood game
with Joe Harper, Tom protests that their play
must be exactly as in the book. In the real
world of theatrical adaptation, that demand
vanishes.
Adapting a novel for the stage may look
simple, but it isn't; it involves a thousand
negotiations and choices about plot, character,
intent, length, and technique. Much of what the
novel tells cannot be put on stage, but only what
it shows; the genres are inherently different and
have distinctive strengths.
Narration: Laura Eason values Twain's
narrative voice and storytelling charm, so she
keeps a bit of narration as part of the dramatic
structure. The ensemble shares the narration
for both Twain's prologue and epilogue as well
as transition points at the top of some scenes to
identify time and place throughout the action.
Characters: Because the script is written
for eight actors who play one major and one
to three minor roles, the array of characters
is narrowed to the essential. Mary Sawyer, all
the boys except Joe Harper, Judge and Mrs.
Thatcher, and most others are cut, whereas
Widow Douglas now gets a brother to replace
the Welshman who helps Huck protect the
Widow. Sometimes characters pick up action or
dialogue they did not have in the novel.
Structure: The novel's 36 chapters become
30 scenes in the play, and the action is rearranged
and edited to the most active moments; thus
many details about Tom's behavior and thoughts
are cut as well as most of Twain's satire and
extended description.
For instance, the novel first introduces:
• Tom and Aunt Polly
• the other boys during the whitewashing
• Becky Thatcher
• church (cards for the Bible, sermon)
• and finally Huck Finn when Tom is on the
way to school, and the boys agree to use the
cat to cure warts later that night.
The play first introduces:
• Huck and Tom while Tom's playing hooky
and they agree to meet 3 nights later to try the
dead cat cure for warts
• Becky
• Aunt Polly and the family
• school
• then the boys and whitewashing scene
Thus, in the novel we see Tom manipulating
his Aunt once and other boys twice in the early
action, and although he's met Becky he still
tries to avoid school on Monday. In the play, the
graveyard destination is set immediately, and
Tom is eager to get to school to see Becky.
In the play, whitewashing leads directly
to the graveyard scene, the murder, and Muff
Potter's arrest, then to Jackson's Island and
the funeral, then the trial, the idea of buried
treasure and the haunted house, pursuing
Injun Joe and the party to the cave, and finally
lost and found with children and treasure. In
its telling the novel contains more than action;
its time span is naturally more expansive, as is
its mood. The play focuses on the highlights of
the novel's action.
Adaptation Details to Consider
• in the novel the town gathers at the
graveyard the minute they hear about
the murder, and Muff Potter, who comes
back there to get his knife, is arrested. In
the play word about the murder spreads
in church and Muff appears there ("I
couldn't seem to come anywhere but here"
[church]),which alters his characterization
• in the play Huck also runs to find Tom in the
church. In the novel, Huck is never near
either the church or school
• in the novel, an expanse of time occurs
between Potter's arrest and playing pirates
on the island. Tom talks in his sleep after
the murder and Potter's arrest; he visits
Potter at the jail. Becky is ill, so Tom
languishes for days until Aunt Polly treats
him with awful Painkiller, which cures him
because there's not enough "distracting
variety" in languishing. When Becky
returns to school and spurns him, he feels
forsaken by family and Becky, and then
decides to go be a pirate. In the play, Muff
is arrested, Becky returns Tom's prize
doorknob, and he pouts, then they're off to
be pirates, all in the same scene.
• at the end of the novel, the boys find the
treasure, and when the Widow says she'll
raise Huck and pay to educate him, Tom
says Huck doesn't need money because
"Huck's rich," and reveals the treasure.
Then Huck runs away from "civilization"
and Tom plans to form a gang of robbers.
In the play, the action ends in the cave
with Tom declaring "We're rich" as the
boys toss money in the air.
ASF 2012/ 12
The Adventures of
ER
TOM SAWY
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Quotations from Tom Sawyer
(Quotations are in play and novel unless noted)
• "Huck Finn, you're the luckiest boy in St. Petersburg."
(in the play only)
• "[Thomas Sawyer] is the name they beat me by. I'm
Tom when I'm good."
(novel says "the name they lick me by")
• TOM: [about being engaged] "You only just tell a boy
you won't ever have anybody but him, ever ever
ever, and then you kiss and that's all."
BECKY: "Kiss? What do you kiss for?"
• "Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence
every day?"
• "In order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is
only necessary to make the thing difficult to
attain."
• "Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do,
and Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged
to do."
• "If only there was a way to die temporarily."
"Meow!" Norman Rockwell's illustration
of Tom sneaking out to meet Huck.
Notice his careful detail from the novel—
Tom has a hurt toe
• "Is it possible to have a grand adventure without
stealing? … Because I think that might be best in
the future." (thought but not spoken in novel)
First edition illustrations
introducing Huck Finn and
Becky Thatcher
About the Art of Illustration
For a professional artist's
commentary on some of
Norman Rockwell's Tom Sawyer
illustrations, see:
http://todaysinspiration.
blogspot.com/2009/07/normanrockwells-tom-sawyer-part1.html
There is also a part-4 at
this site.
All 8 Rockwell illustrations
can be seen at:
http://surfsedge.com/Mymags/SaturdayEveningPost/
Tom_Sawyer.html
• "Boys, I know who'se drownded—it's us!"
• "We saw only faults and flaws and this blinded us
to the truth. That those boys, each of those poor,
lost, dead boys, possessed a sweet and generous
nature." (adapted from sermon summary in novel)
• AUNT POLLY: "You could have come over and give
me a hint some way that you warn't dead, but only
run off."
TOM… "But that 'twould 'a spoiled everything."
• "There comes a time in ever rightly constructed boy's
life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere
and dig for hidden treasure."
• "Married! Well, that's the foolishest thing you could
do."
VOCABULARY
• chronicle = a history or written
record
• spunk-water = standing water in a
tree stump
• whitewash = a composition used
for whitening walls, woodwork,
fences, etc.
• white alley = a large playing
marble (short for "alabaster")
• he fetched you = gave you, hit you
• keep mum = stay silent
• it's nuts = it's great, the best
• I'm suited = it suits me
• swag = plunder, money
• skiff = a boat small enough to be
rowed or sailed by one person
• Your Granny, Tom = you're kidding
me, you don't say
• lucifer matches = friction matches
ASF 2012/ 13
The Adventures of
ER
Y
W
A
S
M
O
T
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
E.W. Kemble's illustration of Huck
Finn for Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn (1884); in Tom Sawyer we met
him holding a dead cat.
"You don't know about
me, without you have read
a book by the name of 'The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer,'
but that ain't no matter. That
book was made by Mr. Mark
Twain, and he told the truth,
mainly."
—the opening of Twain's
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Viewing Tom Sawyer, Reading Huckleberry Finn
Tom Sawyer insists on being the hero,
repeatedly, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
But try as he might—and he does—that novel
is the end of his glory. The ultimate claim to
fame for the novel Tom Sawyer is that it let
Twain discover the tremendous potential of
Huckleberry Finn as a character and narrator.
In addition, because he was writing Old Times
on the Mississippi at the same time, his strong
yearning for the river he knew so well as a
riverboat pilot, fed the genesis of the new work
he began after publishing Tom Sawyer.
Tom Sawyer has big ideas and a dominant
(or domineering) personality; he is the leader,
sets the rules, makes the decisions. Because
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn quickly gets
Huck out from under the dominion of his friend
Tom and experiencing life with a new companion,
we get to know Huck better and see the world
through his eyes and the eyes of the slave
Jim. For many readers, it seems, Tom is soon
overshadowed by the more complex and subtle
sensibility of Huck. Yet Twain lets Tom dominate
the end of Huck's novel, too, and many believe to
its detriment. One recent critic comments, "One
wants to defend the ending [of Huck Finn] … but
it's indefensible, callow and dull, and the only
explanation is that Twain's show-biz instincts
… got the better of him." Is this accurate or too
strong a statement, in your opinion?
Discovering the genius of Twain's Huck
Finn, the author's scathing criticism of society
at the various ports of call, his precise depiction
of the river and the superior micro-society
crafted by the raft's two inhabitants is one of the
great joys of American literature, whether it is
first read in youth or adulthood. And it is worth
considering what makes Huck Finn the American
masterpiece it is, and why Tom Sawyer is so
often seen as its jejeune prequel.
Questions and Considerations
• Compare Tom Sawyer's values, tone, and
attitudes in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
with those of the Tom Sawyer we meet
at the beginning and end of Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn. Are they the same?
Does the different context make us view
and assess him and them differently?
• What are the most important ways in which
Huck differs from Tom Sawyer? How does
he view Tom? How do we view Huck when
he's with Tom? Is he the same person?
• Do Huck's adventures parallel Tom's? Do
we get incidents similar to whitewashing
the fence, sweet-talking Becky, running off
to the island, staging one's own funeral,
telling the truth about a serious event,
getting lost in—and getting out of— a
cave, or discovering a buried treasure in
Huckleberry Finn?
• What is Huck's relationship with Jim? How
do they treat each other? Where is Huck's
loyalty?
• Is Huck's stumbling onto the farm of Tom's
relatives a good thing or a bad thing? Is it
a stroke of genius on Twain's part to have
Huck Finn mistaken for Tom Sawyer?
At that point in the novel do we consider
Huck to be easily mistaken for Tom
Sawyer? Why or why not?
• Describe Huck's father and Huck's
responses to him and the actions he takes.
Describe Tom's relatives in Louisiana and
Huck's responses to them and the actions
he takes. What about Tom's responses to
his relatives?
Compare the contexts and consider what
Twain may be doing with Huck as child
of an abusive parent and Huck later
entrapped by a persona he knows so well
(how many personas has he adopted by
that point in the novel?). Is it a good fit?
How does he deal with the circumstances
and entrapments of the other personas?
How does he deal with this one?
"But I reckon I got to light out for the
Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt
Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me,
and I can't stand it. I been there before."
Jim and Huck on the raft
—end of Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn
ASF 2012/ 14
The Adventures of
ER
Y
W
A
S
M
O
T
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Missouri Claims to Fame
• "The Gateway to the West"—the
origins of the Pony Express
line and Oregon Trail were in
Missouri
• the ice cream cone was invented
at the 1904 St. Louis World's
Fair. Dr. Pepper was also first
introduced at that World's Fair.
7-Up was invented in St. Louis
• the first ready-mix food sold
commercially—Aunt Jemima
pancake mix—was invented
in St. Joseph, MO and sold in
1899
• America's most powerful
earthquake was centered in
New Madrid, MO in 1811; it was
felt as far as 1,000 miles away
• The first African-American to
serve a full term in the U.S.
Senate was Blanche Kelso
Bruce, who also founded a
school for blacks in Hannibal
• Missouri has 5,500 recorded
caves
• Famous Missourians: Samuel
Clemens, Harry Truman, Jesse
James, Satchel Paige
See "Missouri Legends" at:
http://www.legendsofamerica.
com/mo-facts.html
for more fun facts and laws still on
the books in Missouri
What Do You Know about MO?
Missouri—the Show-Me State
• When Louisiana became a state in
1812, the rest of the Louisiana
Purchase became the Missouri
Territory (see right), which is
when the name "Missouri" was
first adopted. It was a healthy
chunk of real estate and the
westernmost part of the United
States at that time.
• Missouri is named after one of
its Indian tribes (but not by the
name they called themselves;
rather it is the name the Illini
called them—the men of dugout
canoes; they called themselves
the Niutachi, people of the
river mouth). The tribe suffered
losses during attacks by other tribes, but
far more severe losses from European
diseases. A smallpox epidemic in 1829 left
only 80 to 100 Missouri Indians alive.
• Missouri became the 24th state in the
Union on August 10, 1821—after the
1820 Missouri Compromise about slavery:
there were to be no more slave states
north of the 36˚30' parallel once Missouri
was admitted to the Union. Missouri was
still the most recent state when Samuel
Clemens was born in 1835. There were no
other states north or west of it (see second
map—Michigan is still a territory).
Settlers flocked to Missouri: in 1810 the
population of the state area was 20,845; in
1820, just before statehood, it was
66,586; in 1840, when Clemens was 5, it
was 383,402.
• After Missouri became a state, more than
6,000 Indians remained, but since settlers
wanted all the land, these were forced
to move to Indian Territory in Oklahoma
along with the eastern tribes that were
resettled there during the Trail of Tears.
Working with Missouri Indian History:
Useful Websites
• Fact Sheets about Indian tribes for middle
school students at:
http://www.bigorrin.org/missouri_kids.htm
(it is easy to navigate to other tribes from
this spot)
• Indians and early settlers/explorers at:
http://mostateparks.com/page/55157/
homeland-missouri-indians
The United States in 1812
The United States in 1835
Missouri Indian Tribes—Original Territory
A Missouri Indian
ASF 2012/ 15
The Adventures of
ER
Y
W
A
S
M
O
T
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Designing ASF's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Visually the set and costume design take
us back to 1830s' America near the frontier,
where propriety ruled but the look could be more
rough and ready as well. Elizabeth Novak's
costume design for Huck Finn captures the
novel's description of the boy as clad in whatever
castoffs he can find; he has no clothes specially
bought or made for him. Tom, on the other hand,
is a town boy who looks good, and the patch
on his knee reveals his active nature. Huck's
patches are a result of wear, and he patched
them himself. This is the era of frock coats for
men, but before the era of bustles and huge
bell skirts for ladies.
Peter Hicks's set offers us a view of the
river, since the river is also a major character
in the play. The space is rustic and adaptable;
chairs, a table, more fencing can make it indoors
or out, and the levels and ramps let action
move easily.
Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/
asfeducation to watch interviews with ASF
designers and actors discussing the process of
creating The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Design for Aunt Polly
Designs for Injun Joe
and the Schoolmaster
Costume designs for Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer
Peter Hicks's set design for Tom Sawyer
ASF 2012/ 16
The Adventures of
ER
TOM SAWY
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
How Old Is Tom?
Activities for Tom Sawyer—while reading the novel
STRUCTURE
• What is the progression or development of
major events in the story:
—whitewashing the fence
—graveyard/murder
—playing pirates on the island
—attending their own funeral
—murder trial
—haunted house/Injun Joe with treasure
—preventing Injun Joe's revenge
—lost in cave
—finding the treasure
Is there a pattern to what Tom experiences
and how he responds, or is it haphazard?
What is the large arc of the novel's or
play's action?
CHARACTER
• How old is Tom? The novel never
specifies,and illustrations offer a range
of ages. Study the illustrations of the
whitewashing scene at left and research
others. How old does Tom appear to be
in each of these drawings? What are the
implications of having a younger or older
Tom, given the action and relationships
in the story? How do 19th-century ages
relate to 21st-century ages? (Is a 9- or 12year-old "older" or "younger" in the 1840s
than our current sense of those ages?
Why?)
• Compare/contrast Tom and Huck in Tom
Sawyer in terms of values, experience,
initiative, family, and lifestyle.
Top, Norman Rockwell's young
boy Tom Sawyer, and below, a preadolescent Tom on the cover of the
1910 edition. Note how Rockwell
uses the actual birthplace as his
model (see p. 2)
• Make continuums or ranges of qualities—
selfish to selfless, irresponsible to
responsible, bad to good, immature to
mature, quiet to showoff, dependent to
independent, and place Tom and Huck on
each scale, explaining and justifying your
placement.
• How much of Tom's life comes from
the books he reads? How have those
adventure tales affected him? Are they
good influences? What values do they
promote? (Why do we never see him
reading?)
• How much of Tom's character is already
fully formed? How much will he change as
he becomes a man? What kind of man will
PLOT/ ACTION
• Tom Sawyer has adventures. Does his
normal everyday life offer him adventures,
or does he have to find adventure outside
his normal life? What does that say about
normal life? How much "adventure" is
in your normal life? How do you define
"adventure"?
• Most of the games Tom plays involve
violence or illegality—war, outlaws (Robin
Hood), pirates, robbers. What is the
appeal of these games to Tom and to
other boys throughout time? Why not play
at finding a cure for cancer or a way to end
poverty? Does honing skills about conflict,
power, and possession of valuables
relate to youths' coming adult lives? How
much of "playing adult" does Tom actually
understand?
• What role does Tom and Becky's
relationship have in this boy's adventure
book? Why is it focused on "getting
engaged" and what are the implications
of Tom's dreams should he get the
treasure—"buy a new drum, and a sure'nough sword, and a red necktie, and a
bull pup, and get married"? Examine the
potential of each item and why Tom wants
each one.
• As the novel progresses, Twain begins
to keep the reader in suspense. On
Jackson's Island, Tom has a plan which
he tells Joe and Huck, but not the reader
until the funeral service itself. At the
murder trial Tom's testimony comes as a
surprise. What is the value of this narrative
technique in the novel?
During the treasure hunt, Twain splits the
narrative, with Huck in town watching Injun
Joe while Tom explores the cave with
Becky. How do these multiple points of
narrative serve the story? When and how
does Twain pivot between plot lines?
ASF 2012/ 17
The Adventures of
ER
Y
W
A
S
M
O
T
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Pre-Show Activities for Tom Sawyer (novel not required)
Questions and Issues to Adapt for Group
Discussion or Writing Prompts
BOOKS and PLAY
• Tom Sawyer reads books, especially
adventure books about outlaws and
pirates, and lives them out in his fantasy
play. What values do such book promote?
Are they good influences?
• Compare his books to the adventure books
young people read today—Harry Potter,
The Hunger Games trilogy, His Dark
Materials trilogy, the Percy Jackson series,
the Twilight series, and others. How do
these books affect their readers? How do
they spark our sense of the "possible"?
Are they good influences (each has
advocates and critics)? What values do
they promote?
• Do we play at being action heroes as Tom
does based on our experience with books,
film, and video games? How do video
games affect such play and fantasy? What
would Tom play if he lived now?
Tom as Robin Hood (top)
and "engaged," both drawings
from the first edition
GROWING UP
• Is there a difference between growing
up and being "raised"? How much of
maturation is an individual activity and
how much is shaped by environment,
adults, and authority figures? What does
someone need to grow up? What should
"raising" someone involve?
• In the novel, both at home and school the
rule is stern physical discipline—"spare the
rod and spoil the child." What is the idea of
punishment and what is its value? Should
every "bad" move be punished? How do
authority figures define "bad" or "wrong"?
How do young people define them? What
is the view of corporal punishment today?
What are today's alternative punishments?
Do they work? What do they "build"?
• If you have ever had responsibility for
supervising a young child through
caregiving or sports or play, do you try to
lead or guide that child, or do you let the
child run free/wild? Why or why not? How
do you decide what the limits are? What
do children need? How different are a
young child's needs from your needs?
• Compare Tom Sawyer to Peter Pan: games,
followers, view of growing up, a girl. Alike?
• Research: Compare Dr. Spock's rules for
child rearing (post-World War II) and
current thinking about child rearing. How
have views changed? Effect?
OUT-OF-DOORS
• What are your experiences playing outof-doors unsupervised? What places
are intriguing? What places have you
explored? Rivers or lakes? Caves or
rocks? What is the appeal of boats and
water or caves? What can happen in such
places?
• What is the difference for you between
supervised and unsupervised play,
organized and spontaneous play?
• Does our view of nature change if we work
in it rather than play in it? Having to mow
the lawn versus swimming?
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• Research Missouri during the 1830s and
1840s during Mark Twain's youth. What
kind of place was it? When did Missouri
become a state? How many states were
there at that time? Where was the western
frontier then?
• Was Missouri a free state or a slave state?
How was Missouri involved in the slavery
debate at the time? What Indian tribes
lived in Missouri? How were they treated?
THE OPPOSITE SEX
• How early do boys "notice" girls and what
form does that notice take? How do boys
get girls' attention? How early do girls
"notice" boys? How do they get boys'
attention? Compare contemporary boys
and girls to Tom and Becky.
•Where does this impulse to notice come
from—Mother Nature? environment?
society? tv and film? friends?
REMEMBERING BEING YOUNGER
• No matter how old you are, you remember
being younger. Narrate one or two stories
about yourself being younger and how
you tried to get out of being in trouble or
escapades you had playing games. Who
were your friends? Where and what did
you play?
• What stories does your family tell you about
when you were younger? What are their
favorite memories?
• What stories do your parents or older
siblings tell about when they were young,
especially any stories about getting into
mischief? How do their stories compare to
your story?
ASF 2012/ 18
The Adventures of
ER
Y
W
A
S
M
O
T
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
"The difference between the
right word and the almost right
word is the difference between
lightning and a lightning bug."
—Mark Twain
Writing Activity: Write Aphorisms Like Mark Twain
Mark Twain is renowned for the distinctive
pungency in his world view and for even more
renowned for his ability to express that view.
Figure out how he accomplishes his witty style
by studying these examples—how he pivots off
of the expected, how he uses detail, how he
plays on words, how he twists commonplace
phrases, how he plays on stereotypes, how he
deadpans a followup phrase, and how keen his
knowledge of human nature is—and then "write
like Mark Twain" for some observations of your
own. Post them all on a bulletin board!
PITHY MARK TWAIN:
• Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in
authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.
• By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity—another man's I mean.
• Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
• Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.
or Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.
• I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
• If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is
the principal difference between a dog and a man.
• It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American
criminal class except Congress.
or Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I
repeat myself.
• It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to
open it and remove all doubt.
• It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
• Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.
• I cannot call to mind a single instance where I have ever been irreverent, except
toward the things which were sacred to other people.
• A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
• Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
AND SOME OF TWAIN'S TRUTHS CLEARLY EXPRESSED:
• A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
• I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.
• It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral
courage so rare.
ASF 2012/ 19
The Adventures of
ER
Y
W
A
S
M
O
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by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
Post-Show Activities for Tom Sawyer
THE PLAY
• How does the play portray Tom and
Huck—as good-hearted scamps?
selfish children? smart about their
world? careless of others? How are their
characters displayed and clarified in the
action, delivery, and movement?
• How does the play suggest setting—inside
houses, the school, the church, the streets
of St. Petersburg, the graveyard, the
island, the cave? How would you suggest
these settings if you were staging the play
in your classroom?
• How much information does costuming give
you? Can you distinguish Tom from Huck?
How? What do the costumes tell us?
Tom breaks his oath, so is the
cave incident "punishment"?
• What effect does doubling of roles have
for the play? Do you get the sense of
many characters? How do the actors
differentiate their various characters?
Do they use voice (pitch, dialect,
rhythm), body (straight or hunched, still
or gesturing, energized or exhausted),
energy (fiery or stolid or harassed)?
• State what you think the theme or
overall idea of the play is. Would you
make the same statement about the
novel?
The haunted house.
What is the appeal of a haunted
house? What beliefs figure in
"haunting"? Do Tom and Huck have
a typical or atypical experience?
Compare the role of this house to the
role of other houses in the story.
Both illustrations from original
edition of novel.
Copyright—Research Mark
Twain's role in getting an
American copyright law
passed and why he fought to
establish it. Why was copyright
important to authors such
as Twain and Dickens and
how are the internet and ebooks impacting the idea of
copyright?
• Does the idea of growing up change
with a play rather than a novel? Is there a
different sense of time? Does the idea of
death change in the play?
NOVEL AND PLAY
• What is Tom's definition of heroism? When
does he think he's a hero? When, if ever,
do you think he's a hero? Why? Is Huck
also a hero? How do you define heroism?
Research Joseph Campbell's definition of
heroism in mythic terms at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_
a_Thousand_Faces
and consider how many of the elements of
this definition apply to Tom Sawyer?
• What difference do you notice between
the novel's development—with its use of
narration for description of setting and
states of mind and scenes of action and
dialogue—and the play, which focuses
almost exclusively on scenes of action and
dialogue? Is the "cut to the chase" focus
of drama better? Does the novel give us
beneficial insights?
• If you could have one more moment from
the novel in the play, what moment would
it be and why?
FOLK WISDOM and CURES
• From Tom and Huck to Aunt Polly, much of
St. Petersburg relies on folk wisdom and
folk remedies rather than books or doctors.
Research how to cure a wart, historical ways
of taking an oath, and other local folk
wisdom from Missouri or Alabama—or the
famous Foxfire series, which began as a
high school class project in Georgia at:
http://www.foxfire.org/
Do we still rely on folk wisdom today? Is
the internet the new folk wisdom? Are
they equally reliable? What does modern
medicine think of folk remedies?
PEERS and PEER PRESSURE
• How does the boy gang operate? What are
its dynamics and how does Tom always
end up as its leader? Analyze how the
boys negotiate crises (as on Jackson's
Island or with Injun Joe). Is Tom different
with Huck than he is with the other boys?
• Does Tom feel peer pressure to behave in
certain ways? Where? Does he inflict peer
pressure? Where? Why?
Is there pressure about "joining" in the story?
PSYCHOLOGY
• How does Tom use psychology in dealing
with Aunt Polly and other authority figures?
Does he use different methods in dealing
with other boys? with Becky? What are his
methods and strategies? Would they still
work today?
• Tom likes to stage the story of his own life;
he's a bit of a drama hound. Is everyone
like this, or is this particular to Tom? Why
does he do this? What effect does it have
on him and on others? Will he grow out of
this trait?
• Consider how the novel and the play treat
these elements:
—conscience
—playing by the rules
—getting revenge
—freedom versus constraint
ASF 2012/ 20
The Adventures of
ER
TOM SAWY
by Mark Twain
adapted by Laura Eason
2012-2013 Alfa SchoolFest Sponsors
Supported generously by the Roberts and Mildred Blount Foundation.
SPONSORS
Alabama Power Foundation
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama
Hill Crest Foundation
CO-SPONSORS
Alagasco, an Energen Company
Robert R. Meyer Foundation
PARTNERS
AT&T
G&N Aerospace
International Paper Company Foundation
Publix Super Markets Charities
PATRONS
Central Alabama Community Foundation
Elmore County Community Foundation
Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, LLC
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Photo: Haynes