How does Aunt Polly get the better of
the irresponsible Tom Sawyer?
About the Author:
Mark Twain (1835-1910) is one of the
greatest of the American novelists and his masterpiece, “Huckleberry Finn” is a
great world-book. His three great novels are really parts of one masterpiece,
“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (1876), “Life of the Mississippi” (1883) and
“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
(1885) bring to literary life his own boyhood. The novels paint an
unforgettable picture of Mississippi frontier life. Mark Twain’s popularity rests
largely upon his humour.
Introduction:
Tom is an eight-year old boy, who like
most children hates going to school, especially on the first day of the week,
Monday. After enjoying the holiday on Sunday, Tom is reluctant to go to school
on the next day. He is of the opinion that Monday brings with it a whole series
of troublesome working days. To escape from attending school he devises many
excuses.
Tom invents excuses:
Tom lies in bed for a long time. Being
Monday he has to go school but he does not wish to go. He wants to enjoy
staying at home. But to stay at home he has to invent a valid excuse, otherwise
he will be sent to school by his strict aunt, Aunt Polly. First, he imagines
himself suffering from colicky disorder.
Second, he pretends that one of his toes in mortified. Finally he feigns that
the loose tooth is giving his unbearable pain.
Tom’s excuses embrace failure:
When Tom thinks of feigning illness
from colicky disorder, he thinks that this reason for abstains from class is
not worthy. So he gives up the idea. Secondly, Tom pretends that one of his
toes is mortified. He groans and says to his younger brother, Sid that he is at
the point of dying due to the severe pain. Hearing this Sid takes up the matter
to Aunt Polly. Aunt Polly hurries upstairs followed by Sid and Mary. The old lady
instead of taking it seriously laughed a little and then cried at Tom to stop
all that nonsense and order him to climb out of the bed. Thus Tom’s drama turns
out to be failure.
Tom’s troublesome tooth pulled out:
Next Tom invents another idea to
escape from going to school. One of Tom’s upper front teeth is really loose but
he has no pain of it. However, he fakes that the loose tooth is giving him
unbearable pain. Aunt Polly attends on him and devises a way out of this
problem. She asks Mary to get her a silk thread and a chunk of fire.
Immediately Tom understands that Aunt Polly is going to pull his tooth. So he
requests her to leave him and promises her that he will never try to stay away
from school. But Aunt Polly does not listen to his appeals. She ties one end of
the silk thread to Tom’s tooth and the other end to a bed pole. She brings the
fire very close to Tom’s face and when Tom pushes back his face the tooth
suddenly comes out of its place. Now she tells Tom, that his tooth is out and
he can very well proceed to school. Thus, Tom’s fake dramas are exposed.
Conclusion:
The psychology of children and their
enjoyment of the holiday mood at home, their reluctance in going to school,
especially on Monday is humorously pictured by Mark Twain in this essay. The
character of Tom is that of every child in our homes.
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