The reading report of theAdventure of Tom Sawyer

The reading report of theAdventure of Tom Sawyer

The adventure of Tom Sawyer is one of the four best-written

novels of Mark Twain,introducing two immoral images-- Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn to AmericanLiterature, as

well as frontier tale, which brings the fresh recollections ofMark Twain’s memory of his childhood.

Thebook Tom Sawyer revolves around the youthful adventure

of a schoolboy—ThomasSawyer who is always causing mischief and troubles, but sets a new and originalimage which is totally different from other tales of children. In the novel, TomSawyer with Huck Finn leads a typical American-style life with innocence andhappiness. In order to get rid of the restrains of formalism, the boredom ofschool work and the control of contemporary moral values, Tom and Huck makechances for adventures and have fun in realizing their boyish dream withnaughtiness and heroic

justiceto eradicate evil.

The theme ofthe book is childhood which is the best time for me, and maybe the best timefor most people. That’s the reason why Tom Sawyer has become one of the mostimpressive images in world literature which enjoys

lots of reputation andpopularity. It also should be one of the most memorable time for Mark Twain himself,and we can dig out his values for kids and his past childhood. Written in about1870, the story started from some letters of Mark Twain to his old friendsabout his boyhood pranks and schooldays.

I am faithfulreader of Mark Twain, and without any falseness, I have covered all of hisshort stories, most of his novels, his autobiography and even some Englishversions. So I think I understand and know his values and judgment to someextent especially his attitude towards morals at that time, satirizing and

criticizingthe role-model kids produced from the boring regulations and religiouseducation. You can find in his famous short stories that there are two shortnovels named and written in a similar structure--that is The Story of the Good Little Boy(1870) and The story of badlittle boy(1865). In thesetwo stories, Twain cruelly gave each

boy a totally different ending—the badsinful kid named Jim has a streak of luck and leads a charmed life and the goodinnocent boy Jacob who never tells lies, obeys all the rules and is appreciatedby all the adults did not prosper

anddied young and bitter. With these over and exaggerated descriptions, I thinkthat Twain straightly give out his ironies and hatred to these products of the religiousdogma and his admiration of free childhood and pure children’s nature.

Althoughnowadays people usually regard the book as kids’ classic, Twain held adifferent idea—“It is not a boy's book,at all. It will only be read by adults.” It

is only written foradults.\" It seems that Mark Twain had much more to express except for thegolden memories for childhood and the exciting adventures of immoral kids, and Ireckon that he did. Being overshadowed by the sequel—The Adventure ofHuckleberry Finn, the book has nothing dealt directly with slavery and racism, forexample, in the murder, and, we can smell the signs of discriminations, butTwain seemed to be unwilling to make it clear. But the book applied moretouches on an idyllic picture of boyhood life along the Mississippi River, trying to use Tom Sawyer as a bridge between the adulthoodand childhood to explore the weak natures of human beings—people’s

selfishnessand obsession with the value of money. Tom is the idealist with his immaturityto find the result of a

war between the society where justice is served and asocial community without all the scruples. It is the deepest lesson which Twaintried to tell all the adult readers。

Many peoplehave different comments on this book including some particular and sharpcritics. I admit that this novel cannot compare with The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn which I have read before thisnovel and

even some short stories he wrote in the later part of his writingcareer in some area, but as a piece of his early age, he wrote it with all theenthusiasm of tracing his great memories and with a sense of humor. Accordingto my reading Mark Twain’s Autobiography andthe preface of The Adventure of TomSawyer, Twain carefully built all the

characters and all of them were originatedfrom his past experience of living Hannibal, a river town near the Mississippi with amedium population. Mark Twain started a literary departure by using humorouswords, applying the vivid suspicion and folklore of the Mississippi

Valleywhich added the highlights and charms of the novels.

I love the writingskills and Twain’s application of “natural speech”, increasing the reality tothe whole story. This success is not just by chance but with Twain’s efforts incollecting the firsthand information. But after all nothing can rob the shinesof Tom Sawyer the image itself. He sends us back to the gorgeous memories ofchildhood, and wakes us up from the numbness in the world of adult. His justiceand bravery to the evil always tells us that we can never forget the purenature of human beings. His dreams though tender-minded still remind us of theforgotten wishes we used to hold.

Although Iam a girl, I still can smell the fragrance and sweetness of my lost childhood--a time you can make mistakes, a time you can have impossible dreams, a time youenjoy the passing-by of time and tides, a time you can keep away from thedirtiness and oppressiveness of adulthood, a time you will keep missing butkeep losing. As time goes by, we are maturing while we are losing ourselves. Whatwe think is less and less, though we are traveling farther and father. What we wishis less and less, though we are doing better and better. What we appreciate isless and less, though we are living greater and greater.

Gradually, we lost allthe good feelings we used to have and we lost all the fascinate dreams we usedto own, but Tom uses his incredible power to present the lost beauty in ourvague mind. He dreams the dreams we had and succeed in fulfill them, heexperiences the experiences we were dying to have and them even more exciting.Every time I read the book, I can’t help remembering a deja vu-- a similar mischievousgirl made troubles and giggled with

farcicality, keeping wild dreams, ignorant but pure and clear.