6. Does the community of St. Petersburg, as Twain describes it in the novel, have a class system? If so, how is it organized and whose interests does it serve? What is its relation to democratic social values?
7. Carl Van Doren says that at the end Mark Twain “must have felt that the poetry and satire of Tom Sawyer outranked the narrative, and he was right.” Is Van Doren correct? Can these elements be separated?
8. In the years following the publication of Tom Sawyer, Twain’s works expressed an increasingly pessimistic view of human nature. Do you see hints of this view in Tom Sawyer? If so, which scenes in particular come to mind?
FOR FURTHER READING
Biographical Studies
Emerson, Everett. Mark Twain: A Literary Life. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
Geismar, Maxwell. Mark Twain: An American Prophet. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970.
Gerber, John C. Mark Twain. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1988.
Hill, Hamlin. Mark Twain: God’s Fool. New York: Harper and Row, 1973.
Hoffman, Andrew. Inventing Mark Twain: The Lives of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. New York: William Morrow, 1997.
Howells, William Dean. My Mark Twain: Reminiscences and Criticisms. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1910.
Kaplan, Justin. Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966.
Lauber, John. The Making of Mark Twain: A Biography. New York: American Heritage Press, 1985.
Messent, Peter B. Mark Twain. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.
Miller, Robert Keith. Mark Twain. New York: F. Ungar, 1983.
Paine, Albert Bigelow. Mark Twain: A Biography; The Personal and Literary Life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. 4 volumes in 2. New York: Harper, 1935.
Powers, Ron. Dangerous Water: A Biography of the Boy Who Became Mark Twain. New York: Basic Books, 1999.
Wecter, Dixon. Sam Clemens of Hannibal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1952.
Composition and Development of the Novel
Blair, Walter. Mark Twain and Huck Finn. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960.
DeVoto, Bernard. Mark Twain at Work. 1942. Reprinted in Mark Twains America, and Mark Twain at Work. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967.
Doyno, Victor A. Writing “Huck Finn”: Mark Twain’s Creative Process. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.
Norton, Charles A. Writing “Tom Sawyer”: The Adventures of a Classic. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1983.
Scharnhorst, Gary, ed. Critical Essays on “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” New York: G. K. Hall, 1993.
Interpretative and Scholarly Studies
Budd, Louis J. Mark Twain, Social Philosopher. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1962.
Covici, Pascal, Jr. Mark Twain’s Humor: The Image of a World. Dallas, TX: Southern Methodist University Press, 1962.
Cox, James M. Mark Twain: The Fate of Humor. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1966.
DeVoto, Bernard. Mark Twain’s America. Boston: Little, Brown, 1932. Reprinted in Mark Twain’s America, and Mark Twain at Work. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967.
Fishkin, Shelley Fisher, ed. A Historical Guide to Mark Twain. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2002.
—. Was Huck Black? Mark Twain and African-American Voices. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Foner, Philip S. Mark Twain: Social Critic. New York: International Publishers, 1958.
Gibson, William M. The Art of Mark Twain. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.
Harris, Susan K. Mark Twain’s Escape from Time: A Study of Patterns and Images. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1982.
Lynn, Kenneth. Mark Twain and Southwestern Humor. Boston: Little, Brown, 1959.
Michelson, Bruce. Mark Twain on the Loose: A Comic Writer and the American Self. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995.
Robinson, Forrest, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Mark Twain. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Scott, Arthur L., ed. Mark Twain: Selected Criticism. Revised edition. Dallas, TX: Southern Methodist University Press, 1967.
Sloane, David E. E., ed. Mark Twain’s Humor: Critical Essays. New York: Garland Publishers, 1993.
Smith, Henry Nash. Mark Twain: The Development of a Writer. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1962; Atheneum, 1967.
Stone, Albert E., Jr. The Innocent Eye: Childhood in Mark Twain’s Imagination. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1961.
Sundquist, Eric J., ed. Mark Twain: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994.
Wonham, Henry B. Mark Twain and the Art of the Tall Tale. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
a Short jacket.
b the Devil.
c Short for allow; here meaning “assert.”
d Act in a cunning manner.
e Cent pieces.
f Wooden protective structure surrounding a tree trunk.
g Popular song in the 1840s, originally a minstrel song.
h Marble.
i Short for “alabaster,” an especially desirable marble.
j Large “shooting” marble.
k Appeared in view (a riverboat expression).
l ‘“Starboard” is the right side; “drawing nine feet of water” refers to the flotation depth of a boat; the “hurricane deck” was the upper deck of a riverboat.
m “Headway” is the remaining space ahead of a boat; “Ship up to back!” is the command to stop and reverse the sidewheels (paddle wheels on the sides of a riverboat) before backing toward the wharf
n “Your outside” refers to the outer sidewheel; a “bight” is a loop; the “stage” is the gangplank.
o Small, lyre-shaped musical instrument, placed between the teeth and plucked with a finger to produce a twanging sound.
p Tax or exert himself.
q Sofa to the rear of the pulpit.
r Dressed in fine summer clothing, usually of linen or cotton.
s Thrust before them as an example.
t Roll their eyes.
u Box that contains caps for a rifle of percussion-lock construction.
v Snap made when the finger is released from the thumb, as when shooting a spitball.
w Large barrels.
x Rainwater that gathers in a hollowed-out stump.
y Flat stick or ruler used for punishing children.
z It’s a deal.
aa Cowardly
ab Tom misunderstands the meaning of “backhanded.”
ac Small insect, especially a beetle, that produces a ticking sound said to portend death.
ad Screeching.
ae Extension or wing at right angles to the main structure of a house.
af Reprobate.
ag Slang for “doctor” or “surgeon.”
ah Isn’t convincing.
ai Red chalk for marking rough objects such as lumber.
aj That is, verdigris; a green, poisonous pigment that forms on brass, copper, and bronze.
ak Stream.
al Ignore, or dismiss, her. See Shakespeare’s Othello (act 3, scene 3), in which Othello says of Desdemona “I’d whistle her off, and let her down the wind / To prey at fortune.”
am Ointment known for its healing properties.
an Baths taken while sitting down in the tub; thought to have curative powers.
ao Bed curtain.
ap Bully, badger.
aq Melody for the Doxology, otherwise known as “Praise God.”
ar Deceived.
as Usually spelled Milam; a dessert apple.
at Revealing herself.
au To commence.
av Drunk.
aw Schoolmaster.
ax A phrase from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (act 3, scene 1), in which Ophelia laments Hamlet’s madness: “Th’ observ’d of all observers, quite, quite down!”
ay Ceiling hatch to the attic.
az “Scientist” who claimed the ability to read people’s cha
racters from the shape of their skulls.
ba Hypnotist.
bb Richard III, king of England (1483-1485).
bc Groom a person.
bd Fine person.
be Glasses.
bf Great amounts.
bg Fevers.
bh Loot or plunder.
bi Pair.
bj Dilapidated.
bk Set of steps for climbing over a fence or wall.
bl Share.
bm It’s a deal.
bn Depart.
bo Yawn.
bp Leave.
bq Splinters or fragments.
br Dragged.
Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Page 27
