Summary Tom Sawyer is a troublemaker. After Tom gets in trouble, he is ordered by Aunt Polly, with whom he lives, to whitewash their fence. When his friends see him painting the fence, Tom pretends like he loves the chore to make his friends jealous. They beg him to let them help. This is a prime example of the type of trouble Tom Sawyer is always getting up to. Part of the novel is devoted to Tom's romance with Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town. They like each other, but Becky is hurt when she finds out that Tom liked someone else before her. Eventually, he takes the blame for a book she ruined, making her like him again. Tom is always getting into trouble, usually with his friend, Huckleberry Finn. Together they sneak out to a graveyard at night, where they witness Injun Joe murder Dr. Robinson. Tom, Huck, and their friend, Joe Harper, run away for a little while, making the town think they are dead. Eventually they come back, though, and Tom testifies against Injun Joe in court. Afterward, Injun Joe runs away and Tom is terrified for his life. His terror does not stop him from making trouble, though. While he and Huck are hunting for treasure one night, they discover that Injun Joe, who is disguised as a deaf-mute Spaniard, has treasure of his own to bury. Huck agrees to spy on Injun Joe to see where he buries the treasure, while Tom goes on a picnic with his class to McDougal's Cave. During the picnic, Tom and Becky wander off and get lost. Huck figures out that Injun Joe plans on hurting Widow Douglas. He reports the crime and Injun Joe runs away to McDougal's Cave. Meanwhile, Tom and Becky are lost for several days in the cave. Eventually they stumble across Injun Joe, but hide before he sees them. Shortly after, Tom figures out how to get out of the cave with Becky. He tells Judge Thatcher about Injun Joe being inside and the town decides to seal Injun Joe inside the cave. Later, Tom returns to the cave, where he discovers Injun Joe's starved corpse. Shortly thereafter, he and Huck discover where Injun Joe hid his gold. The Widow Douglas adopts Huck, who is unhappy about this development. Tom convinces him to give it a try, promising that it won't stop them from getting up to the occasional mischief.

Tom Sawyer Tom Sawyer is a cunning and playful boy of about twelve years of age, and the protagonist of the story. His best friends include Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn. He has a half-brother, Sid, a cousin, Mary, and an Aunt Polly, the sister of his and Sid's dead mother. He lives with them in the town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. In addition, he has another aunt, Sally Phelps, who lives considerably farther down the Mississippi River, in the town of Pikesville. Tom loves to go on adventures and wants to become an Indian pirate. He falls in love with his classmate Becky Thatcher, and was once "engaged" to Amy Lawrence. Tom is imaginative and obsessed with stories. Tom's relatives Mary Mary is Tom's "saintly" cousin. She helps Tom memorize his Bible verses, and has memorized enough herself to receive two Bible prizes in Sunday school. Even when Tom's at his most incorrigible, she can usually find something nice to say on his behalf. She's the antidote to Tom's poisonously annoying brother Sid. Sally and Silas Phelps Tom and Sid's other aunt, Sally Phelps, lives considerably farther down the Mississippi River, in the town of Pikesville. She is married to Silas Phelps. Aunt Polly Mary's mother and Tom & Sid's aunt, who is the sister of their dead mother. Tom and Sid live with Aunt Polly and her daughter/niece Mary. Despite the relentless discipline and spiritual guidance she dispenses, she comes off as a caring and noble character. When Tom points out that nobody seems to care about Huck's being alive after they were both presumed dead, Aunt Polly generously gives her love to Huck as well -"And so they shall. I'm glad to see him, poor motherless thing!" and the loving attentions Aunt Polly lavished upon him were the one thing capable of making him more uncomfortable than he was before". In fact, the last impression we get of Aunt Polly is of a similar nature - "There was something about aunt Polly's manner, when she kissed Tom, that swept away his low spirits and made him light hearted and happy again". Sid Sawyer Tom's whiny half-brother, who also lives with Aunt Polly and Mary. He behaves well but enjoys getting Tom into trouble and tattles on Tom. He appears to be around nine years old, and lies; he also seems to annoy Tom frequently. He is always on Aunt Polly's "good side" while Tom is on Aunt Polly's "bad side". Huckleberry Finn Tom's friend. A boywho never has to go to school, or go to church. Because of this Tom is VERY jealous of him. Pap Finn Huck's abusive, drunken father and the main antagonist of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He had vanished but shows up at the beginning of the story and forcibly takes his son to live with him. He also tries to sue Judge Thatcher to get the six thousand dollars Huck had given the Judge for safekeeping and confiscates whatever money Huck has in his pocket, using it to get drunk. He is infuriated that his son would try to amount to more than he did and live in better conditions. He demands that Huck quit school, threatening him with whipping. Soon after Huck escapes, Pap Finn leaves to search for him and doesn't return. At the end of the book, Jim reveals to Huck: the corpse they found in the abandoned house early in the book was actually that of Huck's father. Pap Finn's backstory is explored in Finn: A Novel (2007), by Jon Clinch.[citation needed] Joe Harper Joseph "Joe" Harper is Tom's friend; he joins Tom and Huck as a pirate when they run away from home to Jacksons Island. He does not appear in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer other than on this adventure. His mother is Sereny Harper and his sisters are Susie and Faith Injun Joe Injun Joe is the main antagonist of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and is feared by the town. He is a half Native American, half white man who was whipped by Mr. Douglas, a police officer. After Tom Sawyer witnesses the murder of Doctor Robinson and the framing of Muff Potter, Huck Finn overhears Injun Joe plotting the mutilation of Widow Douglas. Towards the end of the book, Tom sees Injun Joe inside the cave, but Injun Joe is unable to see Tom's face. At the end of the book, Injun Joe is found dead behind the newly sealed cave entrance. Jim Jim flees slavery with Huck, who was escaping his drunken father, but he may have chosen to accompany Huck out of mere boredom. Jim hopes to reach the free states and buy his family's freedom. At the end of the book, Tom reveals that his owner had died since they left home, and she had freed Jim in her will. Of Jim, Russell Baker wrote: "The people whom Huck and Nigger Jim encounter on the Mississippi are drunkards, murderers, bullies, swindlers, lynchers, thieves, liars, mows, frauds, child abusers, numbskulls, hypocrites, windbags and traders in human flesh. All are white. The one man of honor in this phantasmagoria is 'Nigger Jim,' as Twain called him to emphasize the irony of a society in which the only true gentleman was held beneath contempt."[1] (The words "nigger" and "Jim" appear side-by-side only once in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in Chapter XXXI, in a letter Huck writes to Mrs. Watson, but they are not used as a name. After "nigger Jim" appeared in Albert Bigelow Paine's 1912 Clemens biography, it continued to be used by twentieth-century critics, including Leslie Fiedler, Norman Mailer, Ernest Hemingway, and Russell Baker.)[citation needed] The King and the Duke Two con men whom Huck meets in his adventures down the Mississippi. They join Huck and Jim on the raft to escape an angry mob that was chasing them out of a town. The younger one initially claims to be the true heir of the Duke of Bilgewater, and the older one the lost son of Louis the XVI and the rightful king of France. Thus, Huck refers to them as "the king" and "the duke" throughout the narration of the book. During their time in the story, they collaborate to stage many shenanigans, including pretending to be the brothers of a deceased man so they can steal the money left to them in the will. They are later separated from Huck and Jim, tarred and feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail. Amy Lawrence Amy is Tom's love. She is Becky Thatcher's rival for most of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and dislikes Becky. Amy is Tom's first love, but is swept from his thoughts the moment he laid eyes on Becky. After a little slip up from Tom he returns to Amy in order to make Becky jealous. Muff Potter Muffren "Muff" Potter is a drunk fisherman who loves children and is a close friend of Tom's. He often mends the children's kites and helps them fish. Muff Potter is falsely accused of murdering Dr. Robinson in the beginning of the story. In fact, Injun Joe killed the Doctor and managed to convince Muff that Muff committed the murder. Tom saves Muff's life, while endangering his own, by telling the truth about the Robinson murder. Dr. Robinson The doctor who wanted the grave dug up. He was subsequently murdered by Injun Joe, who framed Muff Potter for the crime. A different character of the same name in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was the only man who recognized that the King and Duke were phonies when they tried to pretend to be British. He warned the townspeople, but they ignored him. Ben Rogers Another child, Tom's age. In chapter 2, Tom convinces Ben to whitewash the fence for him. Tom wants Ben to be in his crew of robbers. Becky Thatcher Becky is Judge Thatcher's daughter, known for her love interest with Tom Sawyer. Her long blonde hair is always worn in braids. She wins Tom's love from the first moment he sees her. When Becky first encounters Tom, she gives him a purple pansy to show her love. Becky Thatcher soon becomes "engaged" to Tom Sawyer by swearing to love only him and sealing their engagement with a kiss on the lips. When Tom mentions that he used to be with Amy Lawrence, Becky believes Tom still loves Amy and gets angry at him. Tom wins her back by telling a lie and takes the whipping for the vandalization of their teacher's anatomy book, which Becky accidentally ripped. In "Huckleberry Finn", she is also referred to as "Bessie".[2] The character Becky was based on Laura Hawkins, an actual friend of Samuel Clemens.[3] Judge Thatcher Although Judge Thatcher, Becky Thatcher's father, plays a minor role in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, he plays a substantial role in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". Judge Thatcher shares responsibility for Huckleberry Finn with Widow Douglas, and it is to Judge Thatcher that Huckleberry Finn signs over his fortune in order to keep it from his father. Mr. Dobbins The hated superintendent at Tom's Sunday school. He is easily angered and is described as "short tempered