Character of Protagonist in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Essay Example

?Character Essay on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer In the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, the protagonist (Tom Sawyer) is the most interesting character. I have chosen Tom Sawyer for this character analysis essay because he is a rebellious boy with full of enthusiasm towards life. Besides, the focal point of this work is Tom Sawyer who is able to manipulate others, but not to fulfill any selfish motive. At the same time, personal problems do not hinder him from amalgamating adventure to his life. From a different angle of view, Tom’s life philosophy is simple because he is ready to accept good and bad things as the part of day to day life. Thesis statement: The character analysis of Tom Sawyer, the protagonist in the work The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, proves that the protagonist’s unending aspiration towards success is the foundation of his strengths that overtakes his main weakness of taking decisions without considering the consequences. Strengths and weaknesses Tom Sawyer’s most important strength or quality is his sense of humor. One can see that it was sense of humor that helped him consider problems as usual incidents in day to day life. Besides, he did not consider personal problems as serious issues in life. Oatman (1985) made clear that “One of Tom’s great strengths is his ability to turn everything - from fence painting to death - play” (p. 12). The other strengths in Tom Sawyer’s character include adventurous attitude, leadership quality and love towards Aunt Polly. From a different angle of view, Tom Sawyer’s adventurous attitude helped him to be beyond his peers. Furthermore, this quality made him free from silly problems in life. At the climax of the novel, adventurous attitude assisted him to entrap a robber and to be a local hero. At the same time, leadership quality yielded him to be the leader of his group and influence others. Besides, Tom Sawyer’s protest against the elders does not hinder him from loving and admiring Aunt Polly. He is aware of the fact that Aunt Polly is the only one individual in the world who can accept him with his strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, Tom Sawyer’s weaknesses include superstitious nature, hyper activeness and arrogant attitude towards elders. One can observe that Tom Sawyer’s superstitious attitude forced him to undergo a number of problems in his life. At the same time, his hyper activeness and arrogant attitude towards elders forced others to consider him as a naughty boy. The character’s aim Tom Sawyer’s core quest is to gain the acceptance of the adults. Within this context, the friction between him and his opponents is interconnected with this core quest. One can notice that he considers his aim as utmost important because he is aware of the fact there is no other way to gain acceptance in the society. If he is able to fulfill his aim, he can gain acceptance in the society, gain his lover’s heart, and be rich. One can see that Tom Sawyer is ready to suffer to achieve his ultimate aim. He is aware of the fact that he needs to sacrifice his childishness to achieve his aim. I think that gaining acceptance in the society as an individual is the most important for an individual. Consequently, Tom Sawyer’s deeds can be considered as an attempt by an immature child to gain social acceptance. The character’s actions and its relationship with his/her individuality Tom Sawyer’s actions prove that he is aware of his low esteem in the society, as a poor boy who depends upon his aunt. Accordingly, his adventurous attitude towards life can be evaluated as an escape mechanism. It is obvious that Tom Sawyer is a hyper active boy. Besides, he is aware of his influence among his friends. As an individual, Tom Sawyer is a nice boy who is aware of the problems in his life. From a different angle of view, the personal problems deeply influenced Tom Sawyer’s individuality. Therefore, his actions are interconnected with his personality as a boy who is adventurous in nature. The character’s interaction with others As pointed out earlier, Tom Sawyer’s attitude towards elders proves that he is not ready to subdue to the rules and regulations in the society. On the other hand, leadership quality helps him to be the leader of his group. But he is ready to give up anything to gain acceptance from his lover (Becky Thatcher). At the same time, he does not like to treat his friends as equal to him. Conversely, he considers himself as an individual who is under control of Huckleberry Finn, another character in the novel. But he does not like to ignore his aunt because he is aware of the fact that she is the only one person who can understand his feelings. Hence, Tom Sawyer’s interaction with others prove that he is able to change his attitude towards others. Kruger (2011) opined that if the authorities were present in the most crucial moments and could help Tom or solved his problems without his contribution, he would not be in the position to mature due to the adventures” (p. 8). Besides, change in attitude towards others is the crucial aspect of Tom Sawyer’s transformation from immaturity to maturity. Tom Sawyer’s dress code proves that he is not from a rich family and he does not like to be under the influence of the elders. To be specific, his dress code is symbolic for his protest against the elders. One can see that all his deeds are interconnected with his desire to escape from personal problems. From a different angle of view, Tom Sawyer’s careless attitude towards proper dress is related to his individual decision to be free from the strict rules and regulations in the society. The character’s actions and its relation with the work’s historical/cultural context In the book, Tom Sawyer’s actions are interconnected with the historical/cultural context of the American society. For instance, the imaginary city in the novel, St. Petersburg, is symbolic of a typical American city. Besides, this imaginary city is related to the writer’s childhood memories about Hannibal, which is a city in the US state of Missouri. So, the writer adopted his own city’s historical/cultural context to portray the protagonist’s development. At the same time, the writer made use of Tom Sawyer’s actions to pay homage to the historical/cultural significance of his city within the context of the American society. Conflict resolution The techniques used by writer to resolve the protagonist’s personal problems prove that the protagonist was able to gain maturity through the process of conflict resolution. Mark Twain (2006) stated that “within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles” (p. 13). From a different angle of view, the protagonist used to read a number of books which helped him to dream about a bright future. But he was aware of the fact that his personal problems will not be helpful for him to be rich in the future. So, he decided to join Huck and Joe Harper. But this initiative forced him to face the realities of life. On the other hand, the protagonist’s attempt to unearth hidden treasures in the haunted houses became unsuccessful. In the end, he was able to entrap a notorious robber and it helped him to gain social acceptance. So, the conflict resolution methods adopted by the writer helped the protagonist to have emotional development from immaturity to maturity. Personal opinion I like the character Tom Sawyer because he is not ready to yield to the problems faced by him in his private circle. Instead, he is ready to fight against fate. The above mentioned unending aspiration towards success in life is his best quality that can be adopted by anyone. Besides, he is not ready to give up his dreams for a bright future. At the same time, he does not cheat on others to fulfill his aim. Instead, he does best to be in the limelight of the mainstream society. The qualities of leadership and adventurous attitude towards life can be helpful for an individual to be successful in life. In short, Tom Sawyer proves that one need not to be worried about hardships in life, but should be optimistic about future. Works Cited Kruger, Raul Gaston. The Role of Authority in Tom Sawyer's Maturation. Norderstedt : GRIN Verlag, 2011. Print. Oatman, Eric F. Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer. New York: Barron's Educational Series, 1985. Print. Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: A Kaplan Vocabulary-Building Classic for Young Readers. New York: Kaplan Publishing, 2006. Print. Read More