The first half of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer left me bewildered and amazed. It was really astounding that Tom and his friends could let everyone believe they were dead then show up at their own funeral. One of the themes in this novel is freedom and how far you can take it. Tom always finds a way to get into trouble and is constantly getting on his aunts nerves; "Umph! Well, you didn't get a lick amiss", [Aunt Polly] reckoned. "You'd been into some other owdacious mischief when I wasn't around, like enough."(Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 22) But for some reason, she keeps forgiving him. This is opposite to our world today where kids are coddled and watched at all times and can be punished for a lifetime for one mistake.
Throughout this section I often found myself wanting Tom to succeed even though he was not following the rules. I am usually annoyed by characters that continually ignore the rules just to have fun. But I somehow feel in love with Tom's cunning ways and his caring nature; "He thought of his flower. He got it out, rumpled and wilted, and it mightily increased his dismal felicity."(23) He is also a very free spirit which stops him from listening to his conscience. Even though he is a troublemaker, he does what he thinks is best and it usually works out in the end.
He also goes to a lot of trouble to achieve freedom. He is always scheming and coming up with ways to make life more challenging and exciting for himself. A very clear example of this is shown in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; "What's the good of a plan that ain't no more trouble than that...it wouldn't make no more talk than breaking into a soap factory."(Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 190) His impulsive nature creates a lot of excitement and I am always left wondering what he will do next.
When I first started reading my book and was learning about all of Tom's adventures, I thought he had it all. He did what he wanted when he wanted and he had so much fun. But as I got farther into the book, I realised that his freedom wasn't that great. When he ran away from home, he had to hide so that no one would find him; "[they] were cautioned to 'be mum and wait.' (Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 73) He also didn't have the trust of his family.
What I learned from this section was that it is okay to break some rules but there are limits on how far you can take them. With freedom comes responsibility and sometimes the distrust of others. But you can find adventure and fun in it when you know how to limit yourself.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Welcome
When I learned that we were going to be reading classic novels, I thought it was going to be really boring and I admit, I was a little intimidated. I had always assumed that classic novels would be about uninteresting things that would be confusing to read. And when I thought about writing this introduction I had no idea what to say because I seriously didn't understand the purpose of reading books that got the label 'classic'. So when I went to chose my book, I chose titles that I had heard of before. I eventually decided on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer after recognising the title from and episode of "The Fairly Odd Parents". I do also enjoy some aspects of history and thought that this would be a good fit for me. As I got into the book, I really started to enjoy it.
So basically this book is about a boy named Tom who goes on these amazing adventures and gets himself into a lot of trouble. He lives in the southern United States with his brother, sister and aunt. This book is also set in the time before the Civil War when there was slavery. I have also chose to read the sequel to this book called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which as about one of Tom's closest friends who is even more adventurous than him.
The author of this book Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), grew up around the same place and time that this book is set in. The adventures that Tom goes on are based on some of Twain's childhood experiences as well as what he heard people do. When this book was first published, only 24,000 copies were sold in the first year. But it went on to become an American classic and Twain's most famous book.
As I have completed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and am half way through The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I have realised the importance of reading classic novels. The purpose of this project is to broaden our minds to new types of literature and to encourage us to read different types of books. We often only read 'teen' novels that do not help us to increase our understanding of english. There is also history in a lot of the classic novels which will help us with our History of English unit. Lastly, it is important to read classic novels because as our understanding of the world increases, so should our difficulty of books.
Over the course of this project I hope to learn about the lives of people from years before me. Even though our lifestyles have changed, I know there will be something to learn about friendship and equality in both of the book I have chosen to read. I hope to use that knowledge to better understand why these books are important to english literature and to society.
So basically this book is about a boy named Tom who goes on these amazing adventures and gets himself into a lot of trouble. He lives in the southern United States with his brother, sister and aunt. This book is also set in the time before the Civil War when there was slavery. I have also chose to read the sequel to this book called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which as about one of Tom's closest friends who is even more adventurous than him.
The author of this book Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), grew up around the same place and time that this book is set in. The adventures that Tom goes on are based on some of Twain's childhood experiences as well as what he heard people do. When this book was first published, only 24,000 copies were sold in the first year. But it went on to become an American classic and Twain's most famous book.
As I have completed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and am half way through The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I have realised the importance of reading classic novels. The purpose of this project is to broaden our minds to new types of literature and to encourage us to read different types of books. We often only read 'teen' novels that do not help us to increase our understanding of english. There is also history in a lot of the classic novels which will help us with our History of English unit. Lastly, it is important to read classic novels because as our understanding of the world increases, so should our difficulty of books.
Over the course of this project I hope to learn about the lives of people from years before me. Even though our lifestyles have changed, I know there will be something to learn about friendship and equality in both of the book I have chosen to read. I hope to use that knowledge to better understand why these books are important to english literature and to society.
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