Add BookmarkConversations
-
Revelation
What is your take on the big surprise that Tom knew all along that Jim was a free man. I think it really paints Tom as being incredibly cruel even in spite of his age.
Steve Ticker about 1 year ago
Advertisement
More Stuff
About Us
LivingSocial.com is a social discovery and cataloging network that allows people to review and share their favorite movies, books, games, music, restaurants and beer
It's a good point, but I'm not sure 'cruel' is the right word. It was certainly reckless. I think that Tom just wanted Huck to go on a big, exciting adventure, and didn't really give much thought to the danger that Huck was putting himself in.
Mark Matchwick about 1 year agoTom Sawyer was definitely a romanticist, a dreamer, and an adventurer. He wasn't cruel, he was just a boy. Tom looked at the world and was unsatisfied, he wanted action, he wanted life to be like it was in novels, like Don Quixote. When Tom had the opportunity to take a serious life situation (Jim thinking he is running for his life towards freedom) and turn it into an action-packed experience, he jumped at it. Think about how when Tom was shot in the leg, he didn't complain, he loved it. It was exactly the sort of excitement he was after. Tom didn't withhold the information that Jim was free to be cruel, he did it because he wanted to have some fun. What he didn't understand was all that Huck and Jim had gone through to get to where they were, he didn't understand how serious they took the situation they were in, he thought they were simply after a good time too.
Facebook User about 1 year agoOne of the themes in this book is that even though Huck looks up to Tom and all of his "great ideas", Huck is the one that actually goes and does the things that Tom just talks about. If Tom had told Huck early on that Jim was a free man, there wouldn't really be any reason to take Jim on the trip. If Jim hadn't gone, then Twain wouldn't have been able to show a contrast to all the negative portayals of parenting (the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, Pap...) with a positive portrayal of parenting. And if he had just left it out and made Jim a runaway slave the entire time, then it all would have been for nothing because Jim would have gone right back to his owners and even punished for running away. The entire point of the novel, or the story, would have been thrown away in one scene if Jim had gone back to his owners.
Kate Gorter about 1 year agotom was indeed an adventurer, but you forget that slavery was still "in" at that time, so cruelty on his
Anonymous User about 1 year agopart is a possibility. he's a kid, but a 14 year old kid who can see the difference between right and
wrong... if he wants to see it! :P
I think Tom's behavior was Mark Twain's comment on the tawdry Romanticism that was such a big part of the Southern zeitgeist at the time. Really, think about it, the whole Southern plantation lifestyle, built by slavery, was modelled after dreams like the ones in Tom Sawyer's head. Dreams of gallant, chivalrous men and Walter Scott-esque adventure. The reality of course is that real people were sacrificed to feed other people's dreams. (Hell, this whole country was nearly sacrificed.) So whether or not we want to hold Tom fully accountable (it's true he's just a kid, but then, so is Huck, and he managed to rise above the beliefs he grew up with, when he decided he'd go to Hell rather than betray Jim,) I think we are supposed to notice that dreams, fantasies, and belief systems, all have consequences, and carry moral weight.
Stacy Dianne Kennedy about 1 year agoin my mind, tom sawyer is really selfish. he had to make freeing jim a big adventure for him to enjoy, not realizing how risky it was. it was really ironic because tom was seen as the good boy and the one that everyone looked up to. Huck was looked down upon because he didn't have a good family, he smoked, swore and skipped school and church. however, huck was the more selfless one.
Sarah Haidar about 1 year agoI agree with Stacy. Mark Twain seemed to have used the last chapters of Huck to:
a) take a swipe at the insincere or inauthentic posing of the Romantic model. We know he detested the Walter Scott school of writing and thinking which the Tom character is ape-ing at the end. The character of Huck grew up or wised up as he journeyed through reality. The romantic Tom character only dreamed up new adventures which indeed were no adventures at all, since Jim was already free.
b) soften some of the anger and bitter irony of the previous chapters with some over the top antics of the 'rescue' in order to make the book more sale-able. Twain was in dire financial straits for most of his adult life due to poor investments in inventions.
Facebook User about 1 year ago