Monday Morning by Mark Twain

 

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.