"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer": reviews. Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"

Most of the adventures described in this book are taken from life: one or two were experienced by myself, the rest by boys who studied with me at school. Huck Finn is copied from life, Tom Sawyer too, but not from one original - he is a combination of features taken from three boys I knew, and therefore belongs to a mixed architectural order.

The wild superstitions described below were common among the children and Negroes of the West at that time, that is, thirty or forty years ago.

Although my book is intended primarily for the amusement of boys and girls, I hope that grown men and women will not disdain it either, for it was my design to remind them of what they themselves were once like, how they felt, how they thought, how they spoke, and how they what strange adventures they sometimes got involved in.

There is no answer.

There is no answer.

“It’s amazing where this boy could have gone!” Tom, where are you?

There is no answer.

Aunt Polly pulled her glasses down her nose and looked around the room over the top of her glasses, then lifted them onto her forehead and looked around the room from under her glasses. She very rarely, almost never, looked through her glasses at such a trifle as a boy; These were ceremonial glasses, her pride, purchased for beauty, not for use, and it was as difficult for her to see anything through them as through a pair of stove dampers. She was confused for a minute, then she said - not very loudly, but so that the furniture in the room could hear her:

- Well, wait, just let me get to you...

Without finishing, she bent down and began poking under the bed with a brush, catching her breath after each poke. She didn't get anything out of it except the cat.

- What a child, I’ve never seen anything like this in my life!

Approaching the wide open door, she stopped on the threshold and looked around her garden - beds of tomatoes overgrown with dope. Tom wasn't here either. Then, raising her voice so that she could be heard as far as possible, she shouted:

- Sooo, where are you?

There was a slight rustle behind her, and she looked back - just in time to grab the boy's arm before he slipped through the door.

- Well, it is! I forgot about the closet. What were you doing there?

- Nothing.

- Nothing? Look what you have in your hands. And the mouth too. What is this?

- I don’t know, aunt.

- I know. This jam is what it is! Forty times I told you: don’t you dare touch the jam - I’ll tear it out! Give me the rod here.

The rod whistled in the air - it seemed that trouble was imminent.

- Oh, auntie, what’s that behind your back?!

The old woman turned around, picking up her skirts to protect herself from danger. The boy jumped over the high fence in an instant and was gone.

Aunt Polly was taken aback at first, and then laughed good-naturedly:

- So go with him! Am I really not going to learn anything? Does he play a lot of tricks on me? It's time for me to wise up, I think. But there is no worse fool than an old fool. No wonder they say: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” But, my God, every day he comes up with something, where can I guess? And it’s as if he knows how long he can torment me; he knows that as soon as he makes me laugh or confuses me even for a minute, I give up and I can’t even spank him. I’m not fulfilling my duty, to be honest! After all, the Scripture says: whoever spares a child destroys him. Nothing good will come of this, it’s just a sin. He is a real devil, I know, but he, poor thing, is the son of my late sister, I somehow don’t have the heart to punish him. If you indulge him, your conscience will torture you, but if you punish him, your heart will break. It is not for nothing that the Scripture says: the human age is short and full of sorrows; I think this is true. These days he's shirking school; I'll have to punish him tomorrow - I'll put him to work. It’s a pity to force a boy to work when all the children have a holiday, but it’s the hardest work for him, and I need to do my duty - otherwise I’ll ruin the child.

Tom didn't go to school and had a great time. He barely had time to return home in order to help Negro Jim cut wood for tomorrow and chop kindling for kindling before dinner. In any case, he managed to tell Jim about his adventures while he was three-quarters of the way through the work. Tom's younger (or rather half-brother), Sid, had already done everything he was supposed to (he picked up and carried wood chips): he was an obedient boy, not prone to pranks and pranks.

While Tom was having dinner, taking lumps of sugar from the sugar bowl at every opportunity, Aunt Polly asked him various tricky questions, very cunning and tricky - she wanted to catch Tom by surprise so that he would let it slip. Like many simple-minded people, she considered herself a great diplomat, capable of the most subtle and mysterious tricks, and believed that all her innocent tricks were a miracle of resourcefulness and cunning. She asked:

– Tom, wasn’t it very hot at school?

- No, aunt.

- Or maybe it’s very hot?

- Yes, aunt.

“Well, didn’t you really want to take a bath, Tom?”

Tom's soul sank to his feet - he sensed danger.

He looked incredulously into Aunt Polly’s face, but didn’t see anything special and so said:

- No, aunt, not really.

She reached out and felt Tom's shirt and said:

- Yes, perhaps you didn’t sweat at all. “She liked to think that she was able to check whether Tom’s shirt was dry without anyone understanding what she was getting at.

However, Tom immediately sensed which way the wind was blowing and warned the next move:

“At our school, boys poured water over their heads from the well. I still have it wet, look!

Aunt Polly was very upset that she had lost sight of such an important piece of evidence. But then I was inspired again.

“Tom, you didn’t have to rip your collar to get your head wet, right?” Unzip your jacket!

Tom's face lit up. He opened his jacket - the collar was tightly sewn.

- Come on! Get out! I must admit, I thought that you would run away from class to go swimming. So be it, this time I forgive you. You're not as bad as you seem.

She was both upset that her insight had deceived her this time, and she was glad that Tom had at least accidentally behaved well.

Then Sid intervened:

“It seemed to me as if you sewed up his collar with white thread, and now he has black thread.”

- Well, yes, I sewed it up with white! Volume!

But Tom did not wait for the continuation. Running out the door, he shouted:

“I’ll remember this for you, Siddy!”

In a secluded place, Tom examined two thick needles stuck into the lapels of his jacket and wrapped with thread: one needle had a white thread threaded into it, the other a black thread.

“She wouldn’t have noticed anything if it weren’t for Sid.” Damn it! Sometimes she sews it up with white thread, sometimes with black thread. At least one thing, otherwise you won’t be able to keep track of it. Well, I’ll beat Sid. Will remember!

Tom was not the most exemplary boy in the city, but he knew the most exemplary boy very well - and could not stand him.

In two minutes, or even less, he forgot all his misfortunes. Not because these misfortunes were not as difficult and bitter as the misfortunes of an adult, but because a new, stronger interest displaced them and expelled them from his soul for a while - in exactly the same way as adults forget their grief in excitement. starting some new business. Such a novelty was a special way of whistling, which he had just learned from a black man, and now he wanted to practice this art without interference.

It was a very special bird trill - something like a flooded twitter; and in order for it to work out, it was necessary to touch the palate with the tongue every now and then - the reader probably remembers how this is done if he was ever a boy. Having applied diligence and patience to the matter, Tom soon acquired the necessary dexterity and walked down the street even faster - music sounded on his lips, and his soul was filled with gratitude. He felt like an astronomer who had discovered a new planet - and, without a doubt, if we talk about strong, deep, unclouded joy, all the advantages were on the side of the boy, and not the astronomer.

The beginning of this amazing book Everyone remembers from childhood: “Tom! There is no answer. - Volume! There is no answer. “It’s amazing where this boy could have gone!” Having already read the first lines, I want to know who this tomboy is, what he has done and how he will be able to get out of this situation.

However, the 21st century has given eight-year-old children a lot of interesting things, and enticing them to read a book is not an easy task.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", reviews

Everything that will be said about this work can be combined with words such as “funny”, “humor”, “adventure”. The book can rightfully be called one of Mark Twain's best creations.

The plot of the novel describes the provincial life of the southern American town of St. Petersburg in the 19th century, before the Civil War.

The main character of this book is the charming boy Tom Sawyer, an inventor and daredevil. He often goes on adventures with his friend, the orphan boy Huckleberry Finn. Tom is in love with the lovely girl Becky and hates his half-brother Sid, whom Aunt Polly constantly sets as an example to him.

This work has received more than one rave review. Books "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" in Soviet era stood on the shelves in almost every family.

By the way, Tom Sawyer was not a very positive example for future pioneers, because he did not like school, and used his talent for writing in a very unique way: he told his aunt and comrades so captivatingly about what happened to him that he always convinced the simple-minded the elderly lady in the truthfulness of his words and became the idol of his friends.

How Tom Sawyer came to be

How did the charismatic boy created by Mark Twain come about? “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” reviews from many readers indicate this, is a work where the character of the main character was based on the traits of three guys with whom the author had to communicate. For this reason, it is easy to explain the contradictions in the character’s character: for all his restlessness, for example, he loved to read.

There is also an assumption that the prototype of Tom Sawyer was the author himself and his childhood friends.

Mark Twain allegedly borrowed the name of his character from a real person - Thomas Sawyer, whom he met in California.

Why is the book popular among many generations?

The book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" is a classic of children's literature, that is, its example. Why is a novel written more than a hundred years ago still popular today?

The work “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, reviews of which are filled with delight from many people, will not lose its relevance for the following reasons.

Firstly, the book is distinguished by humor, which makes even adults laugh at the boy’s antics.

Secondly, the book is distinguished by its genuine sincerity, and, as you know, you cannot deceive a child unless he wants to. The author achieves this effect thanks to the veracity of the events that became the basis of the plot.

Thirdly, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, reader reviews indicate this, is distinguished by an unusually vivid plot. The book is written in an unusually lively and engaging manner. The novel, in addition to the main climax, is amazing because it is permeated with certain small climaxes, which makes us read it, even when the clock hands show long after midnight.

Fourth, although Mark Twain was not a diligent churchgoer, his work can certainly be called moral. The novel's author's hostility to religion is explained by his negative attitude towards bigotry in American society of that time. Tom Sawyer also did not like Sunday school classes, but at the same time he was a conscientious boy, as indicated, for example, by his condition before the trial of Muff Potter, whom he ultimately saved from the gallows.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." Musical. Reviews

This book is so well remembered by children that even when they become adults, they cannot forget about the little tomboy and help the current younger generation get to know their favorite hero. Composer Viktor Semenov probably brought back unforgettable impressions of this novel from his childhood, because only bright emotions could become the foundation for creating such lively and memorable melodies for the musical.

Adult viewers who were lucky enough to hear the musical performance of this book note that it helped them remember the adventures of the restless boy, relive them and, of course, look at Mark Twain’s work in a new way.

Children are certainly delighted with the musical version of the novel. Comes to life right on the stage in front of them main character books, who lived in America in the thirties of the nineteenth century - Tom Sawyer. Little viewers immediately understand that he is inventive, curious, lazy, but at the same time he has a responsive heart, a rich imagination and an honest soul.

No child will remain indifferent to the amazing adventures of the main character and his best friend Huckleberry Finn, who went together to Jackson Island. Tom and Huck will wander through Douglas's cave and tell you how to remove warts with dead cats.

All the young beauties, of course, will fall under the charm of the main character and will be slightly jealous of Becky Thatcher, with whom Tom fell in love.

This musical will be of interest to all young spectators from 6 years old, as well as adults, because they will again be able to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of a distant and cheerful childhood.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" in the theater

The story of the American boy has not bypassed the childhood of those who are now staging plays at (RAMT). “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, reviews can be proof of this, delights both children and adults.

This American boy- an absolutely unique character who is interesting to watch for the audience. The performer of the role of Tom unusually accurately conveys the traits inherent in a teenager of 12-14 years old: energy, ingenuity, love of adventure. Artists of the RAMT Theater help young viewers immerse themselves in an unforgettable journey through the time when there was no Internet in the lives of children, social networks, computer games, and they could find happiness in the most ordinary things, and also see adventure where, at first glance, it would not even occur to them to look for it.

The role of Tom Sawyer at the RAMT Theater is brilliantly performed, and in the second cast is Prokhor Chekhovsky, who conveys the character of this amazing character no less accurately and talentedly.

It should be noted that the play “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” always receives the best reviews, and this production is a huge success among young viewers.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" in Russian cinema

The film, which was released in 1981, was watched by all Soviet children. When it was shown on television, not a single child between the ages of seven and thirteen could be seen on the street.

This is a true classic of Russian children's cinema, which, oddly enough, is based on the plot of a novel by an American writer.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" in foreign cinema

The 2011 film adaptation of the novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by German director Hermini Huntgeburch, reviews note this, is also very successful. The film is very good for family viewing. Many who have seen the film adaptation want to watch it again.

What a book can teach adults

The modern age with its fast pace dictates to us the need to be optimistic and find a way out of any situation. life situation. If we imagine that Tom Sawyer grew up, then he could very well turn out to be a successful entrepreneur: just look at the cost of painting a fence, which he managed to turn into a profitable enterprise for himself.

But the most important thing is that by re-reading this book, you can get the opportunity to again plunge into a sunny, mischievous, cheerful childhood, where everyone dreams of returning at least for a moment.

TOM PLAYS, FIGHTS, HIDES
- Volume!
No answer.
- Volume!
No answer.
- Where did he go, this boy?.. Tom!
No answer.
The old woman lowered her glasses to the tip of her nose and looked around the room over her glasses; then she pulled her glasses up onto her forehead and looked out from under them: she rarely looked through her glasses if she had to look for such a trifle as a boy, because these were her ceremonial glasses, the pride of her heart: she wore them only “for importance”; in fact, she didn’t need them at all; she might as well have been looking through the stove dampers. At first she seemed confused and said, not very angrily, but still loud enough for the furniture to hear her:
- Well, just get caught! I...
Without finishing her thought, the old woman bent down and began poking under the bed with a brush, stopping each time because she was short of breath. From under the bed she did not take anything out except the cat.
“I’ve never seen such a boy in my life!”
She approached open door and, standing on the threshold, peered vigilantly into her garden - tomatoes overgrown with weeds. Tom wasn't there either. Then she raised her voice so that it could be heard further and shouted:
- That's it!
A slight rustling sound was heard behind me. She looked around and at the same second grabbed the edge of the boy’s jacket, who was about to sneak away.
- Well, of course! And how could I forget about the closet! What were you doing there?
- Nothing.
- Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What did you stain your lips with?
- I don’t know, aunt!
- I know. It's jam, that's what it is. Forty times I told you: don’t you dare touch the jam, otherwise I’ll skin you! Give me this rod here.
The rod flew into the air - the danger was imminent.
- Ay! Aunt! What's that behind your back?
The old woman turned on her heel in fear and hurried to pick up her skirts in order to protect herself from a terrible disaster, and the boy at that very second started running, climbed onto a high plank fence - and was gone!

Aunt Polly was dumbfounded for a moment, and then began to laugh good-naturedly.
- What a boy! It seemed like it was time for me to get used to his tricks. Or did he not play enough tricks with me? Could have been smarter this time. But, apparently, there is no worse fool than an old fool. It’s not without reason that they say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. However, my God, this boy’s things are all different: every day, then another - can you guess what’s on his mind? It’s as if he knows how long he can torment me until I lose patience. He knows that if he confuses me for a minute or makes me laugh, then my hands give up, and I am unable to whip him with the rod. I am not fulfilling my duty, what is true is true, may God forgive me. “Whoever does without a rod destroys a child,” says the sacred. I, a sinner, spoil him, and for this we will get it in the next world - both me and him. I know that he is a real devil, but what should I do? After all, he is the son of my late sister, a poor fellow, and I don’t have the heart to flog an orphan. Every time I let him evade beatings, my conscience torments me so much that I don’t even know how to give it, but if I whip him, my old heart is literally torn to pieces. It is true, it is true in scripture: the human age is short and full of sorrows. That's how it is! Today he did not go to school: he will be idle until the evening, and it is my duty to punish him, and I will fulfill my duty - I will make him work tomorrow. This, of course, is cruel, since tomorrow is a holiday for all the boys, but nothing can be done, more than anything in the world he hates working. I have no right to let him down this time, otherwise I will completely ruin the baby.
Tom really didn't go to school today and had a lot of fun. He barely had time to return home so that before dinner he could help Negro Jim cut wood and chop wood for tomorrow, or, more precisely, tell him about his adventures while he was doing three-quarters of the work. Tom's younger brother, Sid (not a brother, but a half-brother), by this time had already done everything that he was ordered (collected and carried all the chips), because he was an obedient quiet one: he did not play pranks and did not cause trouble for his elders.
While Tom was eating his dinner, taking every opportunity to steal a piece of sugar, Aunt Polly asked him various questions, full of deep slyness, hoping that he would fall into the traps she had set and spill the beans. Like all simple-minded people, she, not without pride, considered herself a subtle diplomat and saw miracles of malicious cunning in her most naive plans.
“Tom,” she said, “it must have been hot at school today?”
- Yes, .
- It's very hot, isn't it?
- Yes, 'm.
- And didn’t you really want to swim in the river, Tom?
It seemed to him that something evil was happening - a shadow of suspicion and fear touched his soul. He looked inquisitively into Aunt Polly's face, but it told him nothing. And he answered:
- No, ’m... not particularly.
Aunt Polly reached out and touched Tom's shirt.
“I didn’t even break a sweat,” she said.
And she thought smugly how cleverly she had managed to discover that Tom’s shirt was dry; It never occurred to anyone what kind of trick she had in mind. Tom, however, had already managed to figure out which way the wind was blowing, and warned further questions:
“We put our heads under the pump to freshen up.” My hair is still wet. Do you see?
Aunt Polly felt offended: how could she miss such important indirect evidence! But immediately a new thought struck her.
- Tom, in order to put your head under the pump, you didn’t have to rip your shirt collar in the place where I sewed it up? Come on, unbutton your jacket!
The anxiety disappeared from Tom's face. He opened his jacket. The collar of the shirt was sewn tightly.
- Well, okay, okay. You'll never understand. I was sure that you didn’t go to school and went swimming. Okay, I’m not angry with you: although you are a decent rogue, you still turned out to be better than you might think.
She was a little annoyed that her cunning had led to nothing, and at the same time pleased that Tom at least this time turned out to be a good boy.
But then Sid intervened.
“I remember something,” he said, “as if you were sewing up his collar with white thread, and here, look, it’s black!”
- Yes, of course, I sewed it up in white!.. Tom!..
But Tom did not wait for the conversation to continue. Running out of the room, he said quietly:
- Well, I’ll blow you up, Siddy!
Having taken refuge in a safe place, he examined two large needles, tucked into the lapel of his jacket and wrapped in thread. One had a white thread and the other had a black thread.
“She wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for Sid.” Damn it! Sometimes she sewed it up with white thread, sometimes with black thread. I’d better sew by myself, otherwise you’ll inevitably get confused... But I’ll still piss Sid off - it’ll be a good lesson for him!
Tom was not a Model Boy that the whole town could be proud of. But he knew very well who was an exemplary boy, and he hated him.
However, after two minutes - and even sooner - he forgot all the troubles. Not because they were less difficult and bitter for him than the adversities that usually torment adults, but because at that moment a new powerful passion took possession of him and drove all worries out of his head. In the same way, adults are capable of forgetting their sorrows as soon as they are captivated by some new activity. Tom was currently fascinated by one precious novelty: he had adopted a special style of whistling from a negro friend, and he had long wanted to practice this art in the wild, so that no one would interfere. The black man whistled like a bird. He produced a melodious trill, interrupted by short pauses, for which he had to touch the roof of his mouth with his tongue often, often. The reader probably remembers how this is done - if he was ever a boy. Persistence and diligence helped Tom quickly master all the techniques of this matter. He walked merrily down the street, his mouth full of sweet music and his soul full of gratitude. He felt like an astronomer who had discovered a new planet in the sky, only his joy was more immediate, fuller and deeper.
In summer the evenings are long. It was still light. Suddenly Tom stopped whistling. A stranger stood in front of him, a boy slightly larger than him. Any new face of any gender or age always attracted the attention of the residents of the wretched town. In addition, the boy was wearing a smart suit - a smart suit on a weekday! It was absolutely amazing. A very elegant hat; a neatly buttoned blue cloth jacket, new and clean, and exactly the same trousers. He had shoes on his feet, even though it was only Friday. He even had a tie - a very bright ribbon. In general, he had the appearance of a city dandy, and this infuriated Tom. The more Tom looked at this wondrous wonder, the more shabby his own miserable suit seemed to him and the higher he lifted his nose, showing how disgusted he was with such smart outfits. Both boys met in complete silence. As soon as one took a step, the other took a step, but only to the side, to the side, in a circle. Face to face and eye to eye - they moved like this for a very long time. Finally Tom said:
- If you want, I'll blow you up!
- Try!
- And here I am, blowing it up!
- But you won’t blow it!
- I want to and I’ll swell!
- No, you won’t blow it!
- No, I'm bloating!
- No, you won’t blow it!
- I'll blow it up!
- You won’t blow it!
Painful silence. Finally Tom says:
- What is your name?
- What do you care?
- Here I will show you what I care!
- Well, show me. Why don't you show it?
- Say two more words and I’ll show you.
- Two words! Two words! Two words! Here you go! Well!
- Look how clever he is! Yes, if I wanted, I could give you pepper with one hand, and let them tie the other - I’ll describe it to me.
- Why don’t you ask? After all, you say that you can.
- And I will ask you if you pester me!
- Ay-yay-yay! We've seen these!
- You think, how dressed up he is, he’s such an important bird! Oh, what a hat!
- Don't like it? Knock it off my head, and you'll get your money's worth from me.
- You're lying!
- You yourself are lying!
- He’s just intimidating, but he’s a coward himself!
- Okay, get out!
- Hey, listen: if you don’t calm down, I’ll break your head!
- Why, you’ll break it! Oh-oh-oh!
- And I’ll break it!
- What are you waiting for? You scare and scare, but in reality there is nothing? Are you afraid, then?
- I don’t think so.
- No, you're afraid!
- No, I'm not afraid!
- No, you're afraid!
Silence again. They devour each other with their eyes, mark time and make a new circle. Finally they stand shoulder to shoulder. Tom says:
- Get out of here!
- Get out yourself!
- I don’t want to.
- And I don't want to.
So they stand face to face, each with one foot forward at the same angle. Looking at each other with hatred, they begin to push as hard as they can. But victory is not given to either one or the other. They push for a long time. Hot and red, they gradually weaken their onslaught, although everyone still remains on guard... And then Tom says:
- You are a coward and a puppy! So I’ll tell my older brother - he’ll beat you off with one little finger. I'll tell him - he'll beat him!
- I'm very afraid of your older brother! I myself have a brother, even older, and he could throw yours over that fence. (Both brothers are pure fiction).
- You're lying!
- You never know what you say!
Tom draws a line in the dust with his big toe and says:
- Just dare to step over this line! I'll give you such a beating that you won't get up! Woe to those who cross this line!
The strange boy immediately hurries to cross the line:
- Well, let's see how you inflate me.
- Leave me alone! I'm telling you: you better leave me alone!
- Yes, you said that you would beat me. Why don't you hit?
- Damn me if I don't beat you up for two cents!
The strange boy takes two large coppers out of his pocket and hands them to Tom with a grin.
Tom hits him on the hand, and the coppers fly to the ground. A minute later both boys are rolling around in the dust, clinging together like two cats. They pull each other's hair, jackets, pants, they pinch and scratch each other's noses, covering themselves in dust and glory. Finally, the indefinite mass takes on a distinct shape, and in the smoke of the battle it becomes clear that Tom is sitting astride the enemy and hammering him with his fists.
- Beg for mercy! - he demands.
But the boy tries to free himself and roars loudly - more from anger.
- Beg for mercy! - And the threshing continues.
Finally, the strange boy mutters indistinctly: “That’s enough!” - and Tom, releasing him, says:
- This is science for you. Next time, watch who you mess with.
The strange boy wandered away, shaking the dust off his suit, sobbing, sniffling, turning around from time to time, shaking his head and threatening to brutally deal with Tom “the next time he catches him.” Tom responded with ridicule and headed towards the house, proud of his victory. But as soon as he turned his back to the stranger, he threw a stone at him and hit him between the shoulder blades, and he began to run like an antelope. Tom chased the traitor all the way to the house and thus found out where he lived. He stood for a while at the gate, challenging the enemy to fight, but the enemy only made faces at him at the window and did not want to come out. Finally, the enemy's mother appeared, called Tom a nasty, spoiled, rude boy and ordered him to get away.
Tom left, but as he left, he threatened that he would wander around and give her son a hard time.
He returned home late and, carefully climbing through the window, discovered that he had been ambushed: his aunt was standing in front of him; and when she saw what had become of his jacket and trousers, her determination to turn his holiday into hard labor became as hard as a diamond.

« The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"(eng. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) - a story by Mark Twain published in 1876 about the adventures of a boy living in the small American town of St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg) in Missouri. The novel takes place before the events of the American Civil War, while a number of points in this book and its sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as well as the circumstances of the author’s life, which largely formed the basis of the books, confidently point to the first half of the 1840s.

There are at least 9 translations into Russian, one of which belongs to K. I. Chukovsky ().

Plot

Characters

Main characters

Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Becky Thatcher, Aunt Polly, Injun Joe, Joe Harper, Sid Sawyer, Mary Sawyer, Jim

Tom Sawyer

A boy aged 9 to 14 years, more often called 12 years old. Witty, cunning, lazy, but kind and sympathetic, an adventurer by nature. Loves to read, mostly adventure literature. He is short, has brown, curly hair and blue eyes. The ears stick out a little to the sides.

Huckleberry Finn

First appearance: Chapter 6 "Tom Meets Becky."

A tramp boy, Tom's best friend, who does not attend school and has no permanent residence. Of his relatives, his only father is an alcoholic (at the beginning of the book “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” the boy becomes an orphan because his father dies).

Aunt Polly

First Appearance: Chapter 1 "Tom Plays, Fights, Hides"

A woman who is the sister of Tom's late mother. Raises Tom and Sid. She is very strict with Tom, punishing him with rods twice within a short period of time.

Rebecca (Becky) Thatcher

A girl who is Tom's classmate and then the object of his love. “... A lovely blue-eyed creature with golden hair braided in two long braids, wearing a white summer dress and embroidered pantaloons.”

Injun Joe

First appearance: Chapter 9 "Tragedy in the Cemetery." Dies in chapter 33 "The Death of Injun Joe".

Antagonist. Metis. Murderer.

Joe Harper

First appearance: Chapter 3 "Busy with War and Love"

A boy who is a classmate and best friend Tom. "Great military leader." Arranges war games with Tom.

Sid Sawyer

First Appearance: Chapter 1 "Tom Plays, Fights, Hides"

A boy who is Tom's half-brother (in the original "half-brother", that is, having only one common parent with Tom). Quiet, good boy and sneak.

Mary Sawyer

First appearance: Chapter 3 "Busy with War and Love"

Tom's cousin.

History of writing

The texture and, partly, the event outline of the story are based on the author’s own memories of his childhood; his hometown of Hannibal in Missouri is a prototype of San Petersburg (even its position relative to the real St. Louis is derived there, 200 km up the Mississippi). Initially, the author intended his work for adult readers, but the book became popular among teenagers. There are four stories in total about Tom Sawyer: “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “

Mark Twain Mendelssohn Maurice Osipovich

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"

After writing about pilots, Twain was able to return to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Soon the story was completed and published. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Twain shows himself to be a master of adventure literature. The book is full of humor, sometimes causing a smile or loud laughter. At the same time, the author of the story appears before the reader as an amazing expert on human psychology, a writer of everyday life and a subtle lyricist - a poet of nature and people.

The question that tormented Twain was: for whom, in fact, are “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” intended - for children or adults? - found an unexpected solution. This is a book for children that is also popular with adult readers. Everyone knows the facts when books for adults become children's favorite books (let's remember the classic novels by Swift about Gulliver and Defoe about Robinson Crusoe). Twain created a work of a different nature. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” is one of the few highly artistic children's books in world literature that are close to the heart of readers of any age.

The story attracts young souls with its most entertaining story about amazing incidents in the lives of the inhabitants of St. Petersburg. Twain put into the book his characteristic liveliness of invention and ability to construct a dynamic plot. It makes the reader wait anxiously further development events.

And how much genuine fun there is in the story, delighting everyone who has a sense of humor!

Aunt Polly wants to punish Tom for another prank.

“The rod shot up in the air - danger was imminent.

Ay! Aunt! What's that behind your back?

The old woman turned on her heel in fright and hurried to pick up her skirts in order to protect herself from a terrible disaster, and the boy at that very second began to run, climbed onto a high plank fence - and was gone!”

A poodle ran into the church during the sermon. And Tom had a beetle. The poodle “began to nod off; Little by little his head drooped onto his chest, and his lower jaw touched the enemy, who grabbed onto it. The poodle squealed desperately, shook his head, the beetle flew two steps to the side and fell on its back again. Those sitting nearby were shaking with silent laughter, many faces were hidden behind fans and handkerchiefs; and Tom was immensely happy.”

Then the poodle “forgot about the beetle and calmly sat down on it! An insane squeal was heard, the poodle rushed down the aisle and, without ceasing to squeal, rushed around the church; just before the altar he ran to the opposite aisle, rushed like an arrow to the doors, and back from the doors; he screamed at the whole church, and the more he rushed about, the more his pain grew; finally the dog turned into some kind of comet overgrown with hair, spinning with the speed and brilliance of a light beam... By this time everyone in the church was sitting with crimson faces, choking with suppressed laughter. Even the preaching has stalled a bit.”

Twain not only entertains the reader. There are not as many puns, comic hoaxes, parodies in the story as in some of his early works. But even now, laughter helps the writer realistically show different sides of American life.

The realistic nature of those episodes of the story in which outright satire dominates is absolutely obvious. Twain softened, by his own admission, some particularly harsh satirical passages in the story when he finally decided that it was intended for children: “I reduced the boys’ fight to one paragraph; from the entire speech in Sunday school I left only the first two phrases so that there would be no hint of satire, since the book is intended for children; I softened all too harsh expressions so that nothing would offend the ear.”

One cannot help but see a significant difference, for example, between the speech filled with good-natured humor, which is delivered at Sunday school by the judge - the father of the charming girl Becky, and the self-exposing speech in a similar school by the notorious scoundrel Dilworthy from the novel "The Gilded Age".

And yet there is a lot of satire in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Twain mockingly depicts churchmen and exposes the falsehood of Sunday school. In St. Petersburg, he shows, there are many hypocrites. Widow Douglas all the time “prays for her to be empty!” and irritates Huck. There is no real piety in the church, the choristers are always giggling, and no one is able to listen to a boring sermon. Boys exchange tickets earned for memorizing Bible verses for fishhooks. As a result, Tom, who cannot name any of the twelve apostles, but managed to exchange the required number of tickets, is awarded a Bible for his approximate knowledge of the gospel.

The writer also makes fun of the sugary-sentimental poems and stories with their annoying morals, which are solemnly read by students at school evenings. Tom Sawyer compares school to prison. We learn that the teacher takes malicious pleasure in punishing children for the slightest offenses.

Yes, there are pages in the story where Twain appears as a satirist. But they do not determine the overall tone of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

No matter how much Twain ridicules the weaknesses, spiritual limitations, inertia, and hypocrisy of the inhabitants of the town where The Adventures of Tom Sawyer takes place, this quiet village brings a warm smile to his face. Let Aunt Polly demand from Tom what is unusual for his lively nature, let her be ridiculous with her passion for patent medicines and teachings, but her soul is simple and clear. For all the narrowness of their interests, the residents of Tomsoyer's town are not such bad people. When the boys fled to the island and it was feared they were dead, no one in the whole town was happy. The whole town rose to its feet when Tom and Becky went missing.

With gentle humor, the story reproduces many details of the daily life of the inhabitants of a small town: the morals of parishioners, the conversations of gossips are described; in the book you can find a whole catalog of superstitions characteristic of the inhabitants of Missouri cities and villages.

However, not only satirical scenes and pictures of everyday life are realistic. Twain is strongest as a realist artist where he reveals to us the soul of Tom Sawyer and his friends.

Tom Sawyer is a living image of a boy. We see Tom clearly and enjoy every meeting with him. We understand him both when he plays pranks and when, shedding tears, he looks at Aunt Polly praying for him. In his heart live joy and resentment, bitterness and fun, dissatisfaction with school, prohibitions, moral teachings, and at the same time the mischief of a healthy child, endowed with a wild imagination. Twain psychologically correctly conveys the feeling of self-pity that Tom willingly cultivates. There is something typical about his unbridled energy.

Tom Sawyer is still a boy. But other episodes in which he plays a central role cast a bright light on the experiences of both children and adults.

Tom Sawyer likes the girl Becky. He's always looking for her, but Becky hasn't come to school yet. Finally, “another dress flashed at the gate, and Tom’s heart skipped a beat. A moment - and he was already in the yard, furious like an Indian: he screamed, laughed, chased the boys, jumped over the fence in danger of his life, somersaulted, walked on his head - in a word, he performed all sorts of heroic deeds, all the while looking at Becky's side - is she looking? But she seemed not to pay any attention to all this and never looked in his direction. Doesn't she notice him? He began to perform his exploits closer to her. He ran around her shouting battles, tore off someone's cap and threw it onto the roof, crashed into a crowd of boys, threw them in different directions, sprawled on the ground right in front of Becky and almost knocked her off her feet. She turned away, turned up her nose and said:

Pfft! Some people imagine that they are the most interesting... and are always cocky...

Tom's cheeks flushed. He rose from the ground and, dejected and crushed, slowly walked away.”

The funny and touching are intertwined in the image of this boy, and the comic makes itself felt, perhaps, most often. Humor is, of course, not a hindrance for Twain the realist. On the contrary, it helps him penetrate deeply into the child’s heart, to see and show what is healthy, fresh, and beautiful that is in his hero.

Twain was well aware of the role of humor in revealing the true face of reality. He wrote:

“Only that humor will live that arose on the basis life truth. You can make the reader laugh, but this is a futile exercise if love for people is not at the root of the work.

Many people don’t realize that this requires from a humorist the same ability to see, analyze, and understand that is necessary for the authors of serious books.”

The realistic tendencies that have been felt in the writer’s work since the time of “The Famous Jumping Frog from Calaveras” have now received such in-depth development that, in fact, we have before us a new Twain.

The realistic value of the book is undoubted and significant. And yet, this does not exhaust the features of Mark Twain’s complex and polysemantic story. Re-reading “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” not at that very young age when our first acquaintance with the book usually occurs, but later, we begin to understand that in this story (even more clearly than in “Old Times on the Mississippi”) there is a touch of romanticism.

At the end of his life, returning in thought to the “vanished world” of childhood and youth, Twain wrote that he was like Adam, “who again visited his half-forgotten paradise and cannot understand how the desert world on the other side of the gates of heaven could ever seem fresh and beautiful to him.”

In “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” childhood is truly depicted as paradise, and it is given “paradise” features with particular insistence precisely because Twain already felt how much gloom and “desert” there was in the world of adults, “on the other side of the gates of heaven.”

One of the first chapters of the story begins like this: “The sun rose over the serene land and blessed the peaceful town with its bright radiance.” For the most part, the book is perceived as a story full of lyricism about a blessed town.

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” Twain himself said, “is a hymn, it’s like a church song, written in such a way as to give it a secular appearance. The story depicts beautiful virgin nature. And when school, church, and annoying moralizing make the life of children in St. Petersburg too boring, they run away to a “desert” island located near the city itself.

It is curious that here and there in the story Twain compares, albeit in a semi-humorous form, the bright world of patriarchal childhood, childhood in the lap of nature, with the world of civilization. The raft on which the boys sailed to Jackson Island was carried away by the current, and Twain writes that “it even brought joy to the boys: now it seemed as if the bridge between them and the civilized world had been burned.”

The writer directly condemns a civilization based on money and wealth. Tom and Huck, who accompanies the hero of the book in all his adventures, at first rejoice at the treasure they found, but then Huck says: “It turns out, Tom, being rich is not such a fun thing. Wealth is melancholy and care, melancholy and care...”

Finally, the same Huck rejects wealth, as well as “vile and stuffy houses,” in the name of life in the forest and on the river.

It is significant that these words were put precisely into the mouth of the homeless Huck, with whom children attending school are forbidden to even talk. The image of Huck in this story embodies the romantic ideal of a free life, which is dear to boys tormented by strict standards of behavior and the religious hypocrisy of their elders. Huck, as depicted by Twain, is free and happy, because he has the opportunity to walk in rags. He has everything necessary for happiness, since he does not need to “neither wash nor put on a clean dress.” This is truly a romantic tramp.

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” is the apotheosis of boyish freedom, a story about the beauty in the life of every person, about the naivety of childhood, full of ageless charm.

This bright narrative includes pictures of violent death and atrocities. Here's the scene in the cemetery. People with shovels appear and dig up the coffin. Then the treacherous Injun Joe kills the doctor. At the end of the story, Joe himself is told about his death. Let something in these horrors come from real life, from the actual past of the colonized areas of America with their lawlessness and bloody struggle for existence. To a much greater extent, these descriptions, piled up in the second part of the story, are inspired by “exciting” children's literature. The bad people depicted in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer are drawn so blackly that you can immediately distinguish them from all the others. The successful ending of the book - the children find the treasure - is perceived as a direct development of conventions complex plot and removes everything that chills the child’s soul, which was described earlier.

The attentive reader will remember, of course, that St. Petersburg is a slave-owning town. Twain tells us, for example, that a kind old Welshman kindly sent his three slaves to guard the house of the Widow Douglas. But the story says almost nothing about the terrible thing that slavery represents. Only in the mouth of Huck - the poor man, the renegade Huck - is a remark put that sheds some light on the fate of blacks. Having let Tom know that he is eating with a black man, Huck adds: “But please, don’t tell anyone. You never know what you can do from hunger!”

In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, realism and romanticism are presented in a complex fusion, which largely determines artistic originality books.

The age of gilding and rot is contrasted in the story with a wonderful poetic world fun, happiness and beauty, embodied, in particular, in Jackson's Island, on which Tom and his friends spent many joyful hours.

At the end of the century, Twain wrote that he would like to hide on Jackson Island from “the bustle of life.” "I suppose," he added, "we all have Jackson's Island somewhere and dream of it when we're tired."

Twain's infectious laughter and ingenuity, the richness of his realism and at the same time the romantic charm felt in the story - all this makes “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” a favorite work of children and adults on all continents of the earth, one of those books that cannot be read without a joyful smile.

Uncle Tom's Cabin Surely the concept of “negro work” once arose among writers. And somehow it became very firmly established in the language. Someone composed something, but this fruit of labor and inspiration appeared under the name of the one who paid for the work. Books have been written for many politicians

Uncle Tom's Cabin - 2 For some reason I understood then and felt that Negritude was a kind of funnel and I would be irrevocably sucked into it. I understood so much that I even mentally wondered who else I could write about with the same pleasure and interest. And vanity is not at all