Dialogue and Juxtaposition

Posted on by mattb2020

Mark Twain’s style of writing in his novel Tom Sawyer includes a plethora of juxtaposed characters and unusual dialogue. For example, Huckleberry Finn, son of the infamous town drunkard, although very respected by his peers, is juxtaposed in many scenes next to Tom Sawyer himself. An example of this is when the two plan a rescue Jim, an escaped slave. Their two plans are extremely different and the reader gets to see the the differences in their personalities and intelligence levels. While neither may have the greatest IQ or EQ, both characters are evidently different, and placed together to create such an effect.

On the other hand, Dialogue is a very important part to Tom Sawyer.  Twain uses dialogue as his primary way to express the true personalities of the characters. By doing so, characters such as Aunt Polly, Tom’s Aunt, receive an added layer of depth. By using a colloquial tone, Twain is able to bring life to his characters and enrich this book through a bunch of people seemingly brought to life with their own unique personalities.

 

 

Mischief and Whitewash

Posted on by mattb2020

From the moment you open the book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain makes you sneer at how clever teenage boys can actually be. Tom Sawyer, an infamous kid genius is a truly inspiring character to those as sarcastic, witty, and lazy as myself. Through his mischievous acts of defiance, such as playing hooky to go swimming, or tricking a peer into whitewashing a fence for him,  Sawyer establishes himself as a very cunning teenage boy. While parts may often feel incomplete, with a second read over to clear things up, it’s easier to see that Twain typically does an adequate job explaining his book. On a more deep level, the average reader, especially myself, is able to find some sort of connection with Sawyer, ranging from his positive attitude towards life, or his family and relationships which have their own troubles.

Although I am thoroughly enjoy this book, I do have my own critiques. Despite being less than halfway through the book, I have reread many parts over and over out of pure misunderstanding of what Twain was saying. Given it’s age, however, it makes sense that understanding might be weak; the current generation is vastly different than the mid 1800’s generation. As aforementioned, the book is someone hard to follow which is a growing problem since vocabulary is ever changing. Many words in this book have been long out of use, and although you can make sense of most of them, it still adds a layer of difficulty to the book. Overall, reading parts of this book have been a positively challenging experience, which I would recommend to anyone who wants a humorous or enjoyable read. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain has created a wonderfully constructed classic novel that appeals to everyone.