The Adventures of Tom SawyerHarper & Brothers, 1920 - 290 pages The book that introduced the world to the iconic American characters of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, this 1876 novel by Mark Twain follows the mischievous exploits of the two young boys, who find themselves in situations both humorous and dangerous. Never short of ways to stir up trouble in his hometown on the Mississippi River, Tom uses his wits to get both in and out of tight spots, often with Huck at his side. Featuring moments of significant social commentary, these interconnected tales essentially served as a dry run for Twain's notably weightier sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. |
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Common terms and phrases
adventure ain't Amy Lawrence anyway Aunt Polly auntie awful awhile Becky Thatcher Becky's becuz began bout boys breath candle cave CHAPTER dark dead door dream eyes face fell felt fence fool girl gone hand head hear heart hope Huck Huck's Huckleberry Finn Injun Joe Innocents Abroad Joe Harper Joe's Johnny Miller keep keep mum knew knife light looked Lordy maow Mark Twain Mary mighty mind minute morning Muff Potter never night once pirates poor presently reckon Sawyer seemed silence sleep smoke stood stopped Sunday-school talk tavern tears tell there's thing thought tick told Tom and Huck Tom Sawyer Abroad Tom's took town treasure trouble turned village voice wait warn't watch Welshman What's whispered Widow Douglas William Dean Howells word
Popular passages
Page xvii - You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly.
Page 11 - Bringing water from the town pump had always been hateful work in Tom's eyes, before, but now it did not strike him so. He remembered that there was company at the pump. White, mulatto, and Negro boys and girls were always there waiting their turns, resting, trading playthings, quarreling, fighting, skylarking.
Page 177 - You'd scarce expect one of my age, To speak in public on the stage ; And if I chance to fall below Demosthenes or Cicero, Don't view me with a critic's eye, But pass my imperfections by.
Page ix - Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual — he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, and therefore belongs to the composite order of architecture.
Page 288 - She makes me git up just at the same time every morning; she makes me wash, they comb me all to thunder; she won't let me sleep in the woodshed; I got to wear them blamed clothes that just smothers me, Tom; they don't seem to any air git through 'em, somehow; and they're so rotten nice that I can't set down, nor...
Page 3 - Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down ; he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not.
Page 11 - Can't, Mars Tom. Ole missis, she tole me I got to go an' git dis water an' not stop foolin' 'roun
Page 17 - He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it, namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.
Page 118 - ... down.' It was conscience. They began to feel a vague fear that they had been doing wrong to run away; and next they thought of the stolen meat, and then the real torture came. They tried to argue it away by reminding conscience that they had purloined sweetmeats and apples scores of times; but conscience was not to be appeased by such thin plausibilities. It seemed to them, in the end, that there was no getting around the stubborn fact that taking sweetmeats was only 'hooking...
Page 290 - Can't let me in, Tom? Didn't you let me go for a pirate?" "Yes, but that's different. A robber is more high-toned than what a pirate is — as a general thing. In most countries they're awful high up in the nobility — dukes and such.