What Is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer About? Mark Twain's Classic Explained

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a novel by the American writer Mark Twain, published in 1876, about a clever, mischievous boy growing up in a small town on the Mississippi River in the 1840s. Tom skips school, plays pirates, falls in love, witnesses a murder in a graveyard and finally finds hidden treasure. It is one of the best-loved American books about childhood, and it introduced Tom's friend Huckleberry Finn, who later got his own, even more famous novel.

The writer

Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835–1910). He grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, a river town that became the model for Tom's fictional town of St. Petersburg. As a young man he worked as a printer and as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi; his pen name comes from a river call meaning the water is two fathoms deep, safe for boats. He became famous for his humour and is often called the father of American literature.

The story in brief

Tom lives with his strict but loving Aunt Polly, his half-brother Sid and his cousin Mary. He hates school and church and loves adventure. In the most famous scene, Aunt Polly punishes him by making him whitewash a long fence on a Saturday. Tom pretends the job is a rare privilege, and soon the other boys are paying him, with apples, toys and marbles, for the chance to do his work.

Tom falls for Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town. One night he and Huck Finn sneak into a graveyard and secretly witness a murder committed by Injun Joe, who then blames the drunk Muff Potter. Frightened, the boys swear to keep silent.

Tom, Huck and their friend Joe run away to an island to play pirates. The town thinks they have drowned, and the boys secretly return to attend their own funeral, to everyone's amazement. Later, Tom's conscience wins: at Potter's trial he tells the truth, and Injun Joe escapes through a window.

In the final part, Tom and Becky get lost in a huge cave, where Tom sees Injun Joe hiding. After days in the dark, Tom finds a way out. The cave is then sealed, and Injun Joe is later found dead inside. Tom and Huck return to the cave and find the treasure, making them rich.

The fence lesson

The whitewashing scene is often quoted as a lesson in human nature. Twain himself draws the moral: work is what a person is obliged to do, and play is what a person is not obliged to do. Make something look rare and desirable, and people will want it. Teachers and business writers still use the story to talk about motivation.

Childhood and its shadows

The book is funny and nostalgic, but it also includes violence, fear, death and the hypocrisy of adults. It shows a world of small-town respectability on the surface and danger underneath. Twain later explored the darker side of that world, including slavery, more seriously in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884).

Huck Finn, the boy outside the rules

Huckleberry Finn is the son of the town drunk. He sleeps in barrels, does not go to school, wears cast-off clothes and is free to do as he likes, which makes the respectable mothers of the town forbid their sons to play with him and makes every boy, including Tom, envy him. At the end of the book, the kind Widow Douglas takes Huck in and tries to "civilise" him with clean clothes, regular meals and church, which he finds almost unbearable. Tom persuades him to stay by promising that he can join a gang of robbers only if he is respectable. That restless, free spirit is the starting point for Twain's next great novel about Huck.

Learn with Tom Sawyer: English phrases

Phrase	Meaning	Example
to play hooky	to skip school	Tom played hooky to go swimming.
to get into mischief	to cause small trouble	The kids got into mischief all summer.
to whitewash	to cover up faults (figurative)	The report whitewashed the mistakes.
to have a guilty conscience	to feel bad about something you did	He couldn't sleep with a guilty conscience.
a tall tale	an exaggerated story	Grandpa loves telling tall tales.

Try this: Write three English sentences about a childhood adventure, using "to play hooky" and "to get into mischief".