The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
Introduction Background Discussion Starters
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Introduction

• Tom Sawyer just wants to have fun.

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Introduction

• He isnt interested in what hes supposed to do
  go to school, study the Bible, or do chores.

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Introduction

• He is interested in

• tricking his friends into doing his chores

• playing that he is a pirate

• sneaking into the cemetery to perform secret
  spells

• exploring caves

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Introduction

• Tom is often joined on his adventures by
  Huckleberry Finn, the son of the towns drunkard,
  and by Joe Harper, Toms best friend.

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Introduction

• Tom also spends a lot of time trying to win the
  affections of Becky Thatcher, the new girl in
  town.

Sometimes he accidentally involves her in his
adventures.
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Introduction

• And sometimes Toms fun turns dangerous, such as
  when he and Huck witness a murder.

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Introduction

• Can Tom find a way to do the right thing while
  still having his fun and games?

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Background

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was written by Mark
  Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens.

• Clemens grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which he
  later used as the inspiration for St. Petersburg,
  where Tom and his friends live.

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Background

• The real town of Hannibal and the fictional town
  of St. Petersburg are located on the banks of the
  Mississippi River.

Both are near islands and caves, which provide
adventurous children with lots of places to play.
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Background

• The action in the book takes place in the 1840s.

In some ways the United States was growing and
prospering during this time, but in other ways it
was still old-fashioned and impoverished.
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Background

• On top of that, slavery still existed in America.

• In the book Jim, who occasionally crosses paths
  with Tom and his friends, is a slave.

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Background

• The characters in the book speak very differently
  from the way most Americans do today.

• Although Twains characters speak English, they
  speak in a distinctive dialect. They shorten some
  words to one syllable and sometimes combine
  several words into one.

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Background

• Tom and his friends also hold many beliefs that
  seem superstitious to modern readers.

For example, Tom and Huck discuss the best ways
to cure wartsnone of which involve medicine or
doctors!
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Background

• In the 1840s, medicine was primitive in
  comparison with techniques used today.

Doctors and medical students had a hard time
learning about human anatomy because there were
legal restrictions on the use of bodies to
dissect for study.
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Background

• So some people became body snatchers, stealing
  freshly buried bodies and selling them to doctors
  and medical establishments.

• When Tom and Huck sneak into the cemetery, they
  come across some body snatchers.

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Discussion Starters

• Discuss (1)
• From the title you know that the book is about a
  boys adventures.
• What kinds of adventures did you have as a
  child?
• How do you think they will compare with Toms?
• Do you think American children have more or fewer
  chances for adventures now than they did in the
  1840s? Why?

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Discussion Starters

• Discuss (2)
• Tom is often able to persuade his friends to do
  things for him. Are you more like Tom, or like
  the friends he tricks? How so?
• Tom and his friends are very superstitious. What
  are you or your friends superstitious about?