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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is a popular 1876 novel about a young boy growing up in a small town along the Mississippi River. The story is set in the town of "St Petersburg", inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, where Mark Twain grew up. In the story's introduction, Twain notes:
"Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest of those boys were schoolmates of mine. Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual—he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, and therefore belongs to the composite order of architecture."15
The first publication of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was by Chatto and Windus, in England in June 1876 (it was listed as "ready" on June 10 and was reviewed on June 24 in the literary publication The Atheneum), and in the U.S. by subscription only in December 1876. Twain and other U.S. authors used initial publication in England fairly often, since otherwise it was impossible to obtain a copyright in the British Commonwealth. In the case of Tom Sawyer, the delay between the London and U.S. editions extended much beyond what Twain envisioned, or desired. This led to widespread piracy of the work - notably a July 4, 1876 pirated edition in Canada obtained by many American readers - and, Twain believed, to a significant loss of his royalties.
When the work did appear in the U.S., it was sold by subscription only. In this distribution method, book agents across the country took orders for the book prior to publication and then delivered the book when available. It was only with subsequent editions that the book became available in retail shops.
In dictations for his autobiography, Twain claimed Tom Sawyer "must have been" his first book whose manuscript was typed on a typewriter. However, typewriter historian Darryl Rehr has concluded that Twain's first typed manuscript was Life on the Mississippi.16 Concerned with Tom’s personal growth and quest for identity, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer incorporates several different genres. It resembles a bildungsroman, a novel that follows the development of a hero from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. The novel also resembles novels of the picaresque genre, in that Tom moves from one adventurous episode to another. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer also fits the genres of satire, frontier literature, folk narrative, and comedy.
The novel appeared in England in June 1876, and six months later in the United States.
An adult is a narrator of the novel who views the adult world critically and looks back on the sentiments and pastimes of childhood in a somewhat idealized manner, with wit and also with nostalgia.
The narrator narrates in the third person, with a special insight into the workings of the boyish heart and mind.
The fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri (which resembles Twain’s hometown of Hannibal)is the setting place of the novel.
Tom Sawyer is the protagonist.
The major conflict of the novel is in Tom and Huck perceive their biggest struggle to be between themselves and Injun Joe, whose gold they want and whom they believe is out to kill them. Conflict also exists between Tom and his imaginative world and the expectations and rules of adult society.
Rising action is Tom and Huck’s witness of Dr. Robinson’s murder; the search for the boys’ bodies in the river when they escape to Jackson’s Island; Tom’s testimony at Muff Potter’s trial; Tom and Huck’s accidental sighting of Injun Joe at the haunted house; Tom and Becky’s entrapment in the cave The climax of the novel is Huck overhears Injun Joe’s plan to kill the Widow Douglas, and Tom encounters Injun Joe when he and Becky are stranded in the cave.
Falling action is Huck gets help from the Welshman and drives Injun Joe away from the Widow Douglas; Tom avoids conflict with Injun Joe and navigates himself and Becky out of the cave; Judge Thatcher seals off the cave, causing Injun Joe to starve to death; Tom and Huck find Injun Joe’s treasure; Huck is adopted and civilized by the Widow Douglas.
When he is frustrated by his fight with Becky, Tom declares his intention to become a pirate, foreshadowing his later excursion to Jackson’s Island; Tom’s great fear of Injun Joe foreshadows his later encounters with him; Tom’s obsession with the oath he and Huck have taken never to speak about Dr. Robinson’s murder foreshadows the fact that Tom will later break the oath and testify at Muff Potter’s trial.
Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer doesn't have a standard narrative structure. There are a number of different plots – you might call them "adventures" – some of them intersecting with and others entirely independent from the rest. What might make more sense is taking one of the plots from the book, let's say the cave sequence, and treating it as an independent storyline.
Initial Situation.Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher go on a picnic with their friends. After lunch, the boys and girls head into some nearby caves and go exploring.
Conflict .Tom and Becky manage to get separated from the group. They get lost in an unexplored area of the sprawling caves. Soon they're tired and are close to running out of the candles, which they need to see.
Complication. Before the picnic, Becky told her mother that she was spending the night at a friend's house; Tom has told his aunt the same thing. As such, no one realizes that the two are missing until around noon the next day. Climax. While looking for a way out of the cave, Tom sees someone holding a candle coming around the corner. He shouts for joy, only to realize that his would-be rescuer is in fact Injun Joe, a vicious murderer who already has a bone to pick with Tom. Luckily, Tom manages to avoid being seen and return to Becky. Suspense. Even after he escapes from Injun Joe, Tom still needs to get out of the cave; it's sort of an "out of the frying pan and into the fire…then right back into the frying pan" situation.
Denouement. After some more searching, Tom finds a small hole at the end of a dark passage. He and Becky escape from the caves and make their way back to town. After recovering a little, Tom heads over to see Becky; when Becky's dad, Judge Thatcher, tells him that the cave's entrance has been sealed, Tom reveals that Injun Joe is in the cave.
Conclusion. The townspeople rush to the cave, where they find Injun Joe dead, his body sprawled on the ground behind the door; his attempts to dig his way out having failed.
At this point, the "Tom and Becky in the Cave" story can be said to have ended, but this paves the way for the ending of the "Tom and Huck Search for Treasure" storyline. Thus one relatively tight sequence allows another to progress. Tom goes into the caves to have some fun, but he comes out of them with the information he needs to find the treasure.
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