One of the things I found particularly interesting about Tom Sawyer is that it’s the first time that we get to see the boy’s point of view of getting a girl’s attention and being ‘in love’. When he first encounters the unknown girl outside her house, he tries “to ‘show off’ in all sorts of absurd boyish ways, in order to win her admiration” (Twain 23). Although the idea of the boy showing off to win the girl’s heart isn’t new, I find it hilarious that a boy, not a teenager or a man, is trying to show off with “some dangerous gymnastic performance” (23). Also when Tom is in Sunday School and the little girl and her whole family shows up, every one in the class begins to try and make themselves look better, but it’s very different for the girls than for the boys. “The little girls ‘showed off’ in various ways, and the little boys ‘showed off’ with such diligence that the air was thick with paper wads and the murmur of scufflings” (38). This highlights that the way that boys and girls think about “being the best” is quite different. For girls it seems to be about the whole picture and being the best overall; being good, smart, and accomplished. While for boys, it’s being the best at one particular skill; being the loudest, the fastest, or the toughest.
Also, another point I found interesting is that the ‘wealth’ of a boy is equal to the amount of junk he can accumulate. When he is painting the fence and tricks the boys of the neighborhood into paining it for him, “Tom was literally rolling in wealth” (18). But his ‘wealth’ is really just a bunch of junk from four pieces of an orange peel, to a kitten with only one eye, to a dilapidated old window-sash (18). Who caries all this around in their pockets? It’s as if boys during this time period were constantly on the hunt to trade their junk with another boys junk to see who could have the most junk. Even at church, Tom trades a “piece of lickrish and a fish-hook” (33) for a yellow ticket.
Devon
ReplyDeleteI love how you pointed out that this is the first time we have seen a young boy trying to win the affections of a girl. The way Mark Twain portrays "young love" is hilarious and fun to read. Like we said in class today, it really makes the reader relate to their "young love" experiences. I enjoyed reading your post!
I really enjoyed reading your post. I like how you adress the issue of the differences between boys and girls and how they show off and flirt. I do find it interesting that you think its odd that Tom has these behaviors and ways of flirting, that sounds like a typical 12-13 old boy to me.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, I enjoyed reading it. I think it is so cute how we see Tom doing all these foolish things to get the girls attention.He thinks that the more foolish he behaves the more the girl will like him. I also think it is interesting the differences between boys and girls in this novel, I thought it was funny that you point out how boys value junk,things such as orange peels.
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