Tom Sawyer Ch. 31-43

Tom Sawyer

Huck Finn's best friend. Tom loves make believe games and sets up a band of robbers. Later he and Huck live together with Tom's Aunt Sally and Huck pretends to be Tom while Tom pretends to be his younger brother Sid.

When Tom arrives at Aunt Sally's, he pretends to be Sid, as they already assume Huck is Tom. Tom then comes up with an elaborate plan to break Jim out of his prison (he plans to dig him out).

In this section, Twain's writing style also returns to that of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Tom's return signifies that logical thinking will disappear, and an excessive sense of adventure and fantasy will take over. Huck quickly takes a backseat when Tom's unlimited creativity is released upon the Phelps home.

Tom's willingness to steal a slave is surprising to Huck. It is somewhat of a surprise to the reader too, considering the long moral journey Huck experience to decide he would risk hell for his friend. Thus, Huck questions Tom's motives, and finally concludes it is simply Tom's juvenile love for adventure that is spurring him on. The reader must recognize this as a false assumption. Tom has never committed a true crime with serious moral repercussions, and is thus unlikely to do so now. As the reader discovers in later chapters, Tom knows that Jim is already free, although Jim is unaware. Therefore, Tom knows he and Huck aren't breaking the law, but keeps this information from Huck so he will continue to play the prisoner game.

Thank you!