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Tom Sawyer: Summary
Tom Sawyer is a boy who is full of adventures. In his world there is an
adventure around every corner. Some of his adventures have lead him into
some bad situations but with his good heart and bright mind he has gotten
out of them. Tom lives with his aunt Polly, his cousin Mary and his bother
Sid.
One of the first things to happen in the book is a memorable one, the
painting of the fence. Tom's aunt Polly made Tom paint her fence on a
Saturday as a punishment. Tom just hated the idea of having to work on a
Saturday while all of the neighborhood could make fun of and harass him.
After Tom tried to trade some of his possessions for a few hours of freedom
he had a stroke of genius, instead of him paying people to work for him, he
made people pay him to paint. Tom managed this by telling people that it
isn't every day that you get a chance to paint a fence and he thought it
was fun. He had people begging him to paint by the time that he was
finished his story. He would have taken every boy in the town's wealth if
he had not run out of paint.
On June 17th about the hour of midnight, Tom and his best friend Huck were
out in the grave yard trying to get rid of warts, when they witnessed a
murder by Injun Joe. At the time Muff Potter was drunk and asleep so Injun
Joe blamed the murder him (Muff Potter). They knew if crazy Injun Joe found
out they knew, he would for sure kill them. Tom wrote on a wooden board
"Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer swear to keep mum about this and they wish they
may drop down dead in their tracks if they ever tell and rot", then in
their own blood they signed their initials TS and HF.
A few days after that incident Tom, Huck and Joe decided to go and become
pirates because no one cared for their company anymore. They stole some
food and supplies and then they stole a raft and paddled to an island in
the middle of the Mississippi River. They stayed and pirated for several
days, then they all became so home sick that they could not bear it anymore.
The next day Tom, Huck, and Joe showed up for their own funerals and there
was much thanks and praise.
The next big event in the town was the trial of Muff Potter for the murder
in the graveyard. The whole town believed Injun Joe, and poor Muff was sent
to a temporary jail cell for a week. At the end of the week he was to be
hung unless some one in court had proved him innocent. While Muff was in
jail temporarily he was not alone. Every day Tom and Huck would go and talk
to him through the jail cell bars and on occasion bring him food. On the
last day of court, to everyone's surprise they called Tom Sawyer to the
stand. Then the man asked him where he was on the 17th of June he said "In
the graveyard". Then when he asked who he saw do it he said with all his
courage he said "Muff didn't do it. It was Injun Joe!" and with that Injun
Joe jumped out the window and ran away.
Tom and Huck decided that they wanted to become rich so they went to go and
find buried treasure. Tom and Huck dug under trees all day and night but
found nothing, then Tom said that they should go and dig for treasure in a
haunted house. They went back two days later and went to a haunted house.
Both the boys were scared but they both went inside anyway. The boys dared
each other to go upstairs, so of course they went up and looked in closets
for treasure but found nothing. Suddenly the boys heard two men talking and
then come inside. Both of the boys got down on the floor and then they
heard the voice again, it was Injun Joe. Injun Joe and the other man had a
bag of money and decided to bury it there. Tom and Huck could hardly
contain themselves because they would steal it as soon as Injun Joe left.
Injun Joe was digging a hole with his knife when he hit something, it was a
box of money. Injun Joe decided to take all of the treasure and hide it in
number two under the cross. When Injun Joe and the other man left Tom and
Huck were furious because they thought that all of the treasure was
rightfully their's.
A few days later Becky had her long awaited picnic, and they all went to
McDougals cave. Tom showed Becky around and while they were exploring they
got lost, with only a small slice of cake to eat that Tom had shoved in his
pocket the day before along with several candles. When the town saw they
were not in church the next morning they realized that they must have
forgotten them. Tom and Becky were too far down for the search party to
find with no food left and no candles. Tom and Becky sat by a small stream
because they were tired from exploring and had no light. By that time Becky
had became ill and it was up to Tom to find the way out. While Tom was
looking for a way out he ran into Injun Joe who ran off when he herd Tom
yell for help. Tom ran away also because he feared Injun Joe would kill him.
Tom did find a way out through a small opening that lead out to the
Mississippi River. Tom went back and got Becky and he lead her out of the
cave and eventually got her home safely.
At the same time that Tom was in the cave with Becky, Huck was watching a
tavern where Injun Joe was watching to see if he would lead him to the
treasure. When Huck has just about given up, Injun Joe and another man left
the tavern with so bags. Huck followed them to Widow Douglas' house and
listened in on their plan. Injun Joe was going to hurt Widow Douglas
because of what her deceased husband did to him. Once Huck had heard the
plan he ran to the Welshman's house and he told the story to him. Old
Welshman and his sons went to Widow Douglas's house with their guns and had
a shootout with Injun Joe and his partner. In the end no one was hurt and
Injun Joe and his partner escaped.
A few days later Tom was at Becky's house where everyone was celebrating
the return of him and Becky. Becky's father was talking with Tom when he
mentioned that he had the entrance on the cave closed off so that no one
would ever get lost in it again. Tom's face went totally white. Becky's
father asked him what was wrong he said that Injun Joe was still in the
cave. Not long after all of the men went to the cave to investigate. They
made the gruesome discovery of Injun Joe's body. He had made his way to the
gate but he could not get it unlocked, he had starved to death. Tom was
finally at ease, and now he was ready to go treasure hunting again.
A few days later Tom was allowed to see Huck once again and he brought him
up to date on his adventures. Tom told Huck that he knew where the treasure
was an now all they had to do was go and get it. Huck agreed to the plan
and the both of the gathered the supplies that they needed and then stole a
raft. Tom took Huck down the river to the same place where he had gotten
out of the cave before and they both went inside. Tom took Huck to the
place where he ran into Injun Joe and the started looking for "number two".
Not after long Tom and Huck found a roman numeral two written in smoke on
the cave wall. Under the number two there was a cross. Tom and Huck were
ecstatic, they started to dig and Tom hit some boards. Tom took the boards
out, and then a ditch was revealed. Tom and Huck crawled into the ditch and
followed it as it turned into a tunnel. At the end of the tunnel there was
a cave. In the cave was the money, some food, guns, and some blankets and
other clothing. Tom and Huck filled the bags that they had brought with
them with the money and got out of the cave. Tom and Huck paddled their
raft back home and put their money in a wagon.
Tom and Huck then pulled the wagon to Mrs Widow Douglas's house. There they
were ushered inside by the old Welshman, and were told to go upstairs and
change there cloths. They did so, and when they came down stairs they were
informed that the party was for Huck to thank him for saving Widow Douglas'
life. During the party Widow Douglas said that Huck was going to live with
her and he was going to grow up the way that he should. Then Tom exploded
and said that Huck did not need Widow Douglas, because he was rich. At this
comment the room burst into laughter. Tom said that he and Huck would prove
it and went outside. When Tom and Huck returned they were carrying two
large bags. Tom and Huck walked to the table and dumped the bags, they were
full of money. Everyone was shocked, Tom and Huck explained their latest
adventure and then the money was divided evenly. Both of the boy's money
was deposited in a bank, and rationed out to them a dollar and a quarter
per week. This is basically how the story ends.
Likes:
I liked the way that the author seems to stay in the story the entire way
and is adding things as you go along.
I liked the way that the author uses his own memories and uses actual
places and events to make his book seem more realistic.
Dislikes:
I had no dislikes about this book I think that it is a very good story and
is written very well.
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