The_Advantures_of_Tom_Sawyer

I. INTRODUCTION A. THESIS STAMENT “The adventures of Tom Sawyer” is a wonderful novel written by Mark Twain about his own life experiences. Twain based the story largely on his personal memories so most figures in the story come from his childhood’s village experiences. He used these experiences combine with his imagination to create the protagonist Tom Sawyer and his adventures that attracted many readers around the world. By analyzing Tom’s characteristic and many events that happened in his life, we can find out more about the themes, motifs and symbols that were wonderfully expressed by Mark Twain’s talented nib. B. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE By going the theme, motifs and symbols in the story, we can understand more deeply about the American society forty years ago. C. OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS To carry on this research paper we must answer these objective questions: (1) What themes did Mark Twain used in the novel' (2) What motifs did Mark Twain used in the novel' (3) How many symbols in the novel' II. BACKGROUND OF RESEARCH A. METHOD OF STUDY Method of study used in this research is library research. The information in this research is collected from many internet sources and e-books. B. LITERATURE REVIEW “Mark Twain was never able to get his hero out of boyhood, however, and the novel ends with its protagonist still preparing to make the transition into adult life.” “Thus we have two Toms: one who plays boyish pranks on his Aunt Polly - "hooking" an apple or doughnut when she is not looking, teasing her, and finding ways to get around her - and one who has the maturity to save an innocent man and protect a frightened girl.” “Tom Sawyer is a double-edged sword. His spontaneity causes him to be in constant trouble, but it also a spontaneity fuelled by a joy of life.” “Tom occupies a position between the free and the imprisoned. Under Aunt Polly's orders, he attends school, church and Sunday school.” “Tom is loyal and honest in his relationships with other children, even when this entails suffering, such as when he takes on Becky's punishment in school. This aspect of his behavior is contrasted with that of Sid, who is an outwardly well-behaved child who repeatedly 'sneaks' on Tom, getting him into trouble.” C. AUTHOR AND WORKS Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 – 1910) a.k.a Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri and grew up in nearby Hannibal, a small Mississippi River town. Hannibal would become the model for St. Petersburg, the fictionalized setting of Twain’s two most popular novels, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. The young Clemens grew up in a prosperous family - his father owned a grocery store as well as a number of slaves, but he was sent out to work at the age of twelve after his father’s death. As a young man, he traveled frequently, working as a printer’s typesetter and as a steamboat pilot. In this latter profession he gained familiarity with the river life that would furnish much material for his writing. He also gained his pen name, Mark Twain, which is a measure of depth in steamboat navigation. Later he moved East in the late 1860s and married Olivia Langdon, the daughter of a prominent family in Elmira, New York, Twain and Langdon settled in Hartford, Connecticut. In this time he wrote “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, which he published in 1876. Twain proceeded to write, among other things, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1884) and two sequels to “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”: Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) and Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896). He died in 1910, one of America’s most beloved humorists and storytellers. III. THEMES, MOTIFS AND SYMBOLS A. THEMES: Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. 1. Moral growth and maturation During the first part of the novel, Tom indulges in many tricks and adventures and gave little consideration to the results. Fortunately, these consequences were never to be more serious than causing annoyances to town people. Everything changed when Tom witnessed the murder scene in the graveyard caused by Injun Joe and the way he framed Muff Potter, who was innocent of the crime. Suddenly, a conflict appeared in the boy’s mind, his actions could make the difference between justice being done or an innocent man being executed but he feared for his own safety. Tom at first remained silent but has to appease his conscience by encouraging and giving small gifts to Potter in jail, this action proved that Tom had some moral growth and maturation but not enough to quiet his conscience. Finally, Tom conquered his fear for his own safety and testified against Joe. Tom's reward was the admiration and respect he received from the town people. An event that influenced Tom's growing sense of right and wrong was that when he stayed in the island without telling anything to his aunt, later he realized of how badly he has hurt Aunt Polly by doing that. He solved this matter by reassuring her that he cared much about her, and she forgave him. Another event that proved Tom’s maturation was when he selflessly took on Becky's punishment in school. Later when he and Becky lost in the cave, he still kept his head cool and calmly, selflessly looked after Becky and got them both out safely. 2. Society’s hypocrisy In this novel, the author critically condemned the society’s hypocrisy that existed in every corners of the town. If a tavern was a Temperance Tavern, then it should not have a secret whisky den. A Sunday school was supposed to teach Bible and Christian values in children, not a chance for children and teachers to "show off" before Judge Thatcher. Churchgoers should be more interested in the sermon than in the antics of a bug. Teachers should be concerned with the education and took good care of the children in their charge, they should not as bad as Mr Dobbins, who flogged the children to make a good showing on "Examination" day and even got drunk before the event. Finally, what kind of society that gave prominence to money and status'. The town evaluated people on how much money they had, not for what they were. This was obvious when the townspeople suddenly began to change their attitudes towards Tom after he found the treasure. 3. Freedom Throughout the novel, freedom is equated with standing outside society's rules. Good behavior means a loss of freedom. To have good behavior that means to act like an adult, Tom had to whitewash the fence on Saturday, endure boring hours in school, church and Sunday school, and dress in ridiculous and restrictive clothes. Tom occupied a position between the free and the imprisoned. Under Aunt Polly's orders, he attended school, church and Sunday school but whenever he could, he escaped to the island with Huck and Joe Harper. However, the pursuit of freedom had its price, as when Tom made Aunt Polly angry by staying on the island without telling anything to her, he realized of how much he had hurt her and also grew sense of responsibility, combined with his discovery of the treasure, made him give up at least some of his wild characteristics and submit to the restrictions of society. The fact that Tom began the novel which honored Huck for his freedom life and started persuading him to give up his freedom and joined the society indicated that Tom had accepted the society life. B. MOTIFS: Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. 1. Crime The crimes committed in the novel varied from minor child’s trick to serious guilt -from skipping class to murder. The boys wanted to be pirates, robbers, and murderers even though they feel guilty when they actually committed the minor crime of stealing bacon. The scene in which the author described Tom plays as Robin Hood who stole from the rich and gave to the poor was both a criminal and a hero that indicated the emblematic of how Tom associated crime with defending values and even altering the structure of society. 2. Trading Tom was a very clever and tricky boy when he swindled his friends out of all their favorite objects through a kind of false advertising, he tricked them to trade him something in exchange for the privilege of whitewashing the fence. He then used his newly acquired wealth in the “whitewashing campaign” to buy the Bible tickets at Sunday school. This detail indicated that power and prestige can also be bought, which should not happen in the society because rewards like that should be earned by effort rather than bought. 3. Showing off Tom fell in love with a girl name Becky Thatcher in town and her father was a big officer government. To gain her love and impression of his father, he used those things that were gained from the “whitewashing campaign” to trade for the Bible tickets. In his time, every child who went to the church and answered correctly the question asked by the priests would gain a ticket for that day. On the day Judge Thatcher went to visit the church, the priests asked the boy who had the most tickets to come up and honored him, probably that was Tom because he got all the tickets from the boys but when the priests asked him a question related to Bible, he answered it incorrectly and the whole plan was a failure. C. SYMBOLS: Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. 1. The cave In traditional stories of heroes and adventure stories, the hero often descends into a cave or labyrinth, where he would face many challenges. If he shows courage and passes the challenges, he would gain a treasure and return to society. Twain's novel followed this traditional motif in which the cave represented a trial that Tom had to pass before he can graduate into maturity which was the transition between childhood and manhood. In the cave, Tom was separated from the rest of the society for a period of time and faced significant dangers and challenges. Even though Tom's irresponsibility made him and Becky lost in the cave, he acted with courage and kept his head cool and calmly then got both of them out safely. Only after having survived many challenges on the strength of his own, Tom ready to rejoin society.   2. The treasure First, the treasure was a symbolic goal that marked the end of Tom’s journey. Second, it symbolizes the heroism of him as well as a rite of passage from childhood to manhood because he ready to leave behind his childish trashy “treasure” and enter the adult world. 3. The town St Petersburg Many readers interpret the small village of St. Petersburg as a microcosm of the United States because all of major social institutions existed in the real world also appeared on this small town included public morality, the law, education, religion, medicine, and economics. The author wanted to tell us that the challenges and joys Tom encountered in the village were the ones that he or any reader could expect to meet anywhere. IV. CONCLUSION By using the childhood’s experiences combine with his imagination, Mark Twain was successful in creating the protagonist Tom Sawyer and his adventures that attracted many readers around the world. Moreover, behind Tom Sawyer and his adventures was the image of American society forty years ago that was wonderfully expressed by Mark Twain through many themes, motifs and symbols in the novel. To this day, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” remains perhaps the most popular and widely read of all Twain’s works. -------------------------------------------- [ 2 ]. www.sparknotes.com/lit/tomsawyer/context.html [ 3 ]. www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/The-Adventures-of-Tom-Sawyer-Character-Analysis-Tom-Sawyer.id-2,pageNum-299.html [ 4 ]. www.helium.com/items/155203-book-reviews-tom-sawyer-by-mark-twain [ 5 ]. www.novelguide.com/theadventuresoftomsawyer/themeanalysis.html [ 6 ]. www.novelguide.com/theadventuresoftomsawyer/essayquestions.html