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Every individual goes through a transition at some time in his or her life. This transition is made from the mischief and pranks of childhood to the more sophisticated nature of adulthood. There are often times people or events that spur this change. Some religions even hold special events to mark this change such as people of the Jewish faith, who have the bar mitzvah to commemorate the transformation of a young boy from his old ways into mature ways. In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer, the protagonist, makes this shift from childhood to adulthood. Tom Sawyer starts out as a mischievous and rebellious boy who envies freedom from the responsibilities of everyday life but becomes a responsible young boy at the end of the novel.
Many factors contributed to this conversion in Tom. Some of these factors are his pursuit of Becky Thatchers heart, the murder of Doc Robinson and the adventure in McDougals cave. Tom Sawyers pursuit of Becky Thatchers heart helped Tom become more mature in his actions. When he first saw her, The fresh-crowned hero fell without firing a shot. A certain Amy Lawrence vanished out of his heart, and left not even a memory of herself behind (24). The fresh-crowned hero, Tom, fell in love with Becky when he first saw her at her house.
He liked her so much from that moment that even his current love at that time, Amy Lawrence, disappeared completely from his heart and mind without a trace. This demonstrates that Tom had deep interest in Becky. There is no way that Toms former love could vanish from his heart unless he really liked Becky. Toms infatuation with Becky induced him to try to win her heart. Since Tom was still a boy, he performed many childish feats to impress her. He carried out dangerous gymnastics, chased and teased other boys, yelled out absurd chants and words, and laughed at everything.
These acts show that Tom is still quite infantile at this stage. He showed all the characteristics of someone still in their childhood, someone who acts immaturely. At first, these things did make an impact on Becky and Tom convinced her to be engaged to him. They promised that they would not love anybody, except each other, forever. Becky was excited to be engaged but these feelings were short lived because she found out that Tom had been engaged to Amy Lawrence before. Becky refuses Tom and he is heart-broken by this.
Tom once again tries to win her heart back with his juvenile feats but she does not accept them this time around. Tom ceases his foolish actions and tries apologizing to Becky but she still rejects him. One particular event changes Becky's emotions for Tom and more importantly, brings him one step closer to adulthood. Tom had witnessed Becky ripping a page from the schoolmasters book before class started one day.
When the schoolmaster discovered his ripped book in class, he went around the room and interrogated each student and asked if they were the one to rip his book. When he got to Becky, A thought shot like lightning through Toms brain. He sprang to his feet and shouted, I done it! (127) Tom stood up and took the blame. This was a very heroic and brave thing for Tom to do. Earlier in the novel, he was angry towards his aunt because his aunt had punished him for a wrongdoing his younger brother had committed. He now willingly took the punishment for something he did not do.
Tom made one of the largest sacrifices he could for Becky. This was a very important step in his switch from adolescence to maturity. The murder of Doc Robinson also brought out a very important characteristic of an adult in Tom. That was the trait of honesty and always doing what is right. One night, Tom and Huckleberry Finn, the free boy of St. Petersburg, snuck out to the graveyard to cure warts with a dead cat.
When the two boys were at the graveyard, they saw three men digging up a corpse. Tom recognized the three men as Doc Robinson, Muff Potter and Injun Joe. Robinson had a fight with Potter and Injun Joe. Robinson end up being murdered by Injun Joe while Potter was unconscious. Tom and Huck, who witnessed the whole thing, fled the scene in fear. They were very afraid of what had just happened.
They feared that if Injun Joe ever found out that the two of them were at the scene of the murder, he would kill them. Being the young boys they were, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer [swear] they will keep mum about this and [may they] drop down dead in their tracks if they ever tell and rot (72). This occurrence was something so immense for them that they swore to secrecy in not just by words, but also in writing and blood. Tom wrote the oath on a pine shingle and both of them signed it with blood. Tom acted childlike in this situation. He was afraid of something so he simply bottled it up.
To make things worse, the two boys hear Injun Joe lie about the murder to the whole town the day after the crime. Injun Joe blamed the murder on Muff Potter and the town believed him. The sheriff even arrested Muff Potter and a trial was set for him. All Tom and Huck could do was look at each other in silence. They thought for sure that God would strike Injun Joe down with a lightning bolt but that never happened. Neither of the boys spoke a word about the murder after that.
This made things really bad for Tom. He began to have nightmares and started shouting all kinds of strange things about blood and torment. The nightmares demonstrate Toms childlike fears. Keeping this event a secret was destroying Toms conscience.
To help ease his mind, Tom would go to the jailhouse and smuggle small tokens and gifts through the barred cell window to Muff Potter. Although this did help ease his mind a little, it never fully gave Tom a peace of mind. Eventually, Toms pursuit of Becky distracted him temporarily but when the trial came, his guilty conscience sprung up to haunt him again. Tom could no longer take it and on the third day of the trial, he testifies against Injun Joe in order to tell the town the truth.
Tom was very brave and courageous in doing this. He risked two important things when he testified. He risked not only his trust but also his life. Tom broke the oath that he swore to and also put himself in danger with Injun Joe. Though it was an enormous risk Tom took in testifying, Tom did the grown-up thing and did what was right.
The characteristic of truthfulness was brought out of Tom in this ordeal and helped him step closer to maturity. In McDougals cave, Tom Sawyer gained the most important characteristic of adulthood, responsibility. Tom had already taken great leaps into adulthood before his adventure in McDougals cave but this event fully brought him into maturity. Tom went to a picnic hosted by Becky and he convinces her to explore McDougals cave with him alone. After trekking deep into the cave for quite a long time, the two realize that they are lost. They run hopelessly down different corridors trying to find a way out but are unsuccessful.
The situation becomes desperate when: She sank to the ground and burst into such a frenzy of crying that Tom was appalled with the idea that she might die or lose her reason. He sat down by her and put his arms around her; she buried her face in his bosom, she clung to him, she poured out her terrors, her unavailing regrets, and the far echoes turned them all to jeering laughter. Tom begged her to pluck up hope again, and she said she could not. He fell to blaming and abusing himself for getting her into this miserable situation; this had better effect. (181182) When Tom realized that they were lost and that Becky was in a frantic state, he, being more mature now, chose not to act childish. Instead, he tried to encourage Becky and took responsibility for the situation. Tom showed his responsible nature through these actions.
If he had not acted calmly in this situation, things could have gone terribly wrong. Tom shows more of his responsible nature through the actions he takes after comforting Becky. He conserves their candles, their only source of light in the cave, by blowing them out every so often. He was rational enough to stay by a source of water. When Tom tried to find a way out by himself, he was logical enough to use a kite string so that he would not become separated from Becky. All of these things that Tom did ultimately helped him find a way out for Becky and himself.
He acted calmly and like an adult. If he had acted immaturely, the two friends probably would have died in the cave. Toms heroic and responsible decisions helped him not only to save the two of them, but also helped to make the final stride in the transformation from a child into an adult. All in all, Tom Sawyer experienced a huge change from the beginning to the end of the novel. He has grown up and become a responsible young man. In the conclusion of the novel, Mark Twain says, So ended 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 (206). Since the author states this, we know that Tom has matured completely. The novel has shown us that through different events and people, one can be shifted to become a full-fledged adult, leaving his or her childish ways behind. Works Cited Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. World International, Manchester, 1991.
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