本科生毕业论文设计
题目：汤姆索亚的人物性格分析
作者姓名： 洛可可
指导教师： 苏文妙
所在学院： 外国语学院
专业（系）： 英语教育
班级（届）： 2013届
完成日期 2013 年 5 月 6 日
An Analysis on the Character of Tom Sawyer
BY
Yu Haixia
Su Wenmiao, Tutor
A Thesis Submitted to Department of English
Language and Literature in Partial
Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of B.A. in English
At Hebei Normal University
May 6th, 2013
Abstract
As one of Mark Twain’s representative works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an 1876 novel about a young boy, Tom Sawyer, growing up along the Mississippi River. Since the book was published, it is greatly reviewed by thousands of Americans, both children and grown-ups, as this novel is not solely a description of children, but also a symbol of the author’s ironic attitude to the hypocritical of the adult world. Undoubtedly, Tom is a clever, playful, and adventurous child. He dares to fight with the social rules, the adult’s authority and hypocrisy. He never stops making efforts to get free and live in his own way . The reason why people worship Tom Sawyer from generation to generation is that people’s dream for freedom and goodness never die easily. His character has a unique charm. But based on precious research ,this paper probes into the analysis of Tom Sawyer’s character in three aspects, namely, innocence and romance, wit and leadership, rebellion and heroism, all of which shapes Tom Sawyer’s unique charm.
Key words: child; character; analysis; charm
摘要
作为马克吐温的代表作品之一，汤姆索亚历险记是一部关于一个生长在密西西比河畔的小男孩，汤姆索亚的小说。这部作品一问世，就受到成千上万美国读者的关注，不光孩子们喜欢，成年人也不例外。因为这不仅仅是一部儿童读本，更是作者从一个孩子的角度，对虚伪的大人世界的讽刺。无疑，汤姆是一个聪明淘气敢于冒险的孩子。他敢于和现有的社会规则，大人世界的权威和伪善作斗争。他从来没有停止过对自由的追求的努力。之所以汤姆索亚受到许多人的佩服在于人们对于自由和善良的渴望没有消失。他的性格有着独特的魅力。基于之前学者的研究，本文从性格方面着手，分三个章节来分析出汤姆·索亚的性格，分别是天真浪漫、聪明机智、叛逆勇敢，这三方面的性格特点使得汤姆·索亚极具个人魅力。
关键词：儿童 性格 分析 魅力
Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................1
Chapter1Tom Sawyer’s Innocence and Romance.............................................5
A. Tom Sawyer’s Innocence............................................................................5
B. Tom Sawyer’s Romance............................................................................8
Chapter 2 Tom Sawyer’s Wit and Leadership...................................................10
A. Tom Sawyer’s Wit......................................................................................10
B. Tom Sawyer’s Leadership.........................................................................12
Chapter 3 Tom Sawyer’s Rebellion and Heroism............................................ 14
A. Tom Sawyer’s Rebellion............................................................................14
B. Tom Sawyer’s Heroism.............................................................................17
Conclusion.............................................................................................................19
Notes......................................................................................................................21
Bibliography ........................................................................................................22
Introduction
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), well known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author, humorist and outstanding representative of realism.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was finished in 1876 when the United States ended the Civil War. The nation had thousands of things to do to rebuild their country; people were inspired to try their best to create a new country. At the same time, President Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Emancipation Proclamation made the Negro slaves free from the oppression of Capitalists. The traditional economic model was corrupting, and doomed to be replaced by Capitalism coming from the North. People in this country all lived with new hopes.
Tom Sawyer, a naughty and brave boy, soon become one of the well-known characters through American literary history. In writing about childhood experiences, Mark Twain shows the trustworthiness of the heart as seen in children, the pleasure of rural American as seen through children’s eyes, the moral decline that could accompany growing up and the sense of loss when childhood is gone. If Mark Twain does not criticize the social directly as a theorist, the fact more effective in that he shows a genuine hatred for social maturation, society’s hypocrisy, authority, and illiberality in the big society background through his skilled use of humor. He is relentless with his humor in exposing the importance of religious teaching in the face of temptation and the iniquity of slavery. In sum, Mark Twain’s assault of the hypocrisy in the adult world shows that he always keeps children’s Innocence and goodness in his heart.
However, Mark Twain is not a good romanticist because he knows that child-like innocence and goodness is not exists in the real world. The innocent character built by Mark Twain always aims to irony the hypocrisy in the adult world. As an ironist, Mark Twain allows us to see the adult through the eyes of a child, and to see the child through the adult’s perspective. His greatest gift is therefore his multidimensional understanding of innocence. This understanding of innocence in Mark Twain has been deeply extended to Americans encountering Europe. In much encounters, the irony of “innocence” mocks both the American naivety and the European pretentiousness. America and Europe take on the same ironic dynamisms that involve a child and an adult.
So far, there have been many writers or literary lovers studied Mark Twain's The adventures of Tom Sawyer. Either writers, literary enthusiasts, or the ordinary readers, are impressed by Tom. On Tom's personality everyone has different interpretation and analysis. No matter what kind of interpretation and analysis, undoubtedly, Tom is a clever, playful, adventurous child. The adventures of Tom Sawyer is so welcome, because Tom's character has a unique charm. Liu Xiaodan said that Tom is full of fantasy and adventure, not willing to endure the individuality, boring life, hope to do a heroic career, give readers a deep impression. He overcomes fear to save the innocent people. Therefore, he became a little hero in people’ heart. Tom is a collection of multiple roles. He epitomized the wisdom, strategy, justice, courage and leadership. The story of Tom, fold Author Mark Twin from childhood personality -- rebellious, lively, active, machine Spirit. This is not just a description of a child, the child can see the agency Will defects -- backward in education system, education method to the extreme and pedantic, on the children caused harm to the soul. But Tom's move, it reflects the social Background, with a new generation of or the man with a new idea to the social system challenges the positive significance, it makes the society full of hope. Wang Disheng said that He is not a good child in adults' heart. He knows what the real good children like, and hate the real good children. In the novel, he made a lot of mistakes those good children are not willing to make. He stole, lie, truancy and even fight. All behavior shows that he is a bad boy in adults’ heart. But readers like him very much. Tom played a bad boy, but he is not really a bad boy. After he went missing, his aunt who is usually very strict with him said he is not really bad, he just was too naughty. He is only a child, he was not to blame. Indeed, he did not do real bad things, his behavior was completely normal . He also did some good, and became a hero in people’ heart. Wu Juan said that under the pen of Mark Twin,Tom Soya is so lively and lovely. He is not only in the minds of the people of the United States, and across the border, across the ocean, as the world’s children's partner, the world's people’s love son. Almost everyone can find the same with your dream picture from Tom's story. Tom Soya is not only a multifaceted character, but also a fairy in people’s dream of childhood. Tom is one of American literature history the most mischievous child image. He is innocent and lively, clever and sensible, mischievous, and full of fantasy. He stole, lie, truancy and even fight. Aunt Polly said I have never seen more naughty children than him. After The adventures of Tom Sawyer published, Tom was known as one of the most famous urchin image in the literature history. Lu Huiping said that Tom Soya is a very attractive young boy, not simply as a good boy or a bad boy. He was "good and evil" image. He is naughty, but also has developed into normal adults’ heart. Not everyone will like Tom so naughty, but read the book, everyone hopes that he is Tom sawyer. This is the nature of human beings: desire romance, adventure and freedom life. For practical reasons, people hide their nature. When reading the novel, human nature is recovered. So, Tom has caught the world's sympathy. Tom longed for freedom, his desire for hoping to climb the fence is very lovely, in fact, the fence itself represents the shackles, the fetters of his spiritual shackles. Even if Tom did not want to go out, but when he saw the fence, he had the idea to over it. Everyone longs for freedom, Tom's desire for liberty reflects the human instinct .Shi Lanhua said that He is an ordinary boy, have a unique personality. Tom's first experience is to fight with his aunt battle of wits, he always made mistakes to let aunt poly angry. Even though he always makes troubles, fortunately, he always can escape punishment. This behavior also shows his mature. Tom is a romantic person, at the same time is also a thoughtful young man. In order not to let the girl be punished, He is willing to replace her. His care of Becky also proved this point. In general, Tom is not a bad child, instead, he became a hero in the hearts of the people. His smart, honest passionate and have some superstitious all represent the typical American children’ Personality characteristics. His rebellion is the inevitable result of the civil war .His rebellion is the general children dare not do. So his image has eternal charm in the history of American Literature.
Based on the above research scholars, we found that Tom has a multiple personality. However, previous studies was not very good for the Tom‘s character classification. His character has many characteristics, such as innocent ,romance, clever rebellion and so on. Therefore, if we want to know the deep meaning of Tom's character, we still need more effort.
This paper dedicates to analyze Tom Sawyer’s character in three aspects, namely, innocence and romance, wit and leadership, and rebellion and heroism. Among those characters, no matter innocence or rebellion, Mark Twain aims at nothing but describing Tom’s eagerness for freedom. To Mark Twain, rebellion is not to blame, because everyone has a rebellious side, especially adolescent children. The hypocrisy and dark of adult world, forced children became more rebellious Tom is a fighter, and his enemy is the complicated adult world. Tom is restrained by the social rules; he is tired and even feels hard to breathe. He performs impolitely in the Sunday school, he dislikes the teacher, and never has been able to recite a few lines of The Bible, he seldom listen to what Aunt Polly asks him to do, and always walks on the road with his feet naked. In adults’ eyes, he is not a good boy.
Tom Sawyer’s individuality is interesting. He wants to do everything in his own way, which is quite different from what is supposed to be, but somewhat similar to the knight novel. He admires pirate very much. This is understandable if we pay attention to the difference between the life of a pirate and a child, especially when the child has little freedom in choosing his lifestyle.
Anyhow, Tom Sawyer is a tough and persistent boy. He dares to fight with the social rules, the adult’s authority and hypocrisy. He never stops making efforts to get free and live in his own way .The reason why people worship Tom Sawyer from generation to generation is that people’s dream for freedom and goodness never die easily.
Chapter 1 Tom Sawyer’s Innocence and Romance
Like every child, Tom Sawyer is innocent and carefree. Also like every child, He has a good, pure, and clean world in his heart. Mark Twain puts emphasize on describing his innocence and romance. He did is innocence, even he can do nothing but to play in adults’ eyes. However, his innocence is full of romance.
A. Tom Sawyer’s Innocence
The world in children’s eyes is pure and simple. They always explain the things happened around them with their innocent mind, and they think with their unique simplicity. In this novel, Mark Twain has skillfully shaped Tom Sawyer as a standard bad boy, one who owns the traits that can be seen in the other average kids. Whatever situation Tom meets, he can successfully solve them by his own means.
Generally, children indulge themselves in playing games, which is true for both boys and girls. In their opinion, there is nothing in the world that is more attractive and exciting than being allowed to play as long as they possibly can. Tom Sawyer owns various kinds of toys, and he takes much pride in showing his wealth in front of his pals. He prepares for exchange whenever he finds there is something better than he has on hand. One Saturday morning，Aunt Polly orders Tom to whitewash the board fence which stretches for almost thirty yards. This is a hard punishment for Tom’s naughty behavior happened the day before. He thought the task almost impossible for him. Moreover, his friends would be crazy to make fun of him, and this thought of it burnt him like fire. “He got out his worldly wealth and examined it—bits of toys,marbles,and trash; enough to buy an exchange of work, maybe ,but not half enough to buy so much as half an hour of pure freedom.” [1] He signs to Jim, a little slave, with a tin pail. Jim knows that Tom’s most hateful work is to bring water from the town pump before. However, at this time, he would like to try to make a deal with him. He says that he will fetch the water if Jim will whitewash some. However, Jim refuses Tom’s proposal, because Aunt Poly has already told him that he must do his job by his own and leave Tom away. Tom fails in this exchange, after he wants to try to persuade Jim again .Then he begins to tempt Jim with his toy, which would be a big lure to Jim. He tells Jim his bargaining chip is a white alley, what’s more, he will show Jim his sore toe, which is truly a powerful attraction for Jim. The deal is done, only if Aunt Polly does not notice. “In another moment he was flying down the street with his pail and a tingling rear, Tom was whitewashing with vigor, and Aunt Polly was retiring from the field with a slipper in her hand and triumph in her eye.” （P308） To//8m’s reaction against Aunt Polly’s punishment perfectly shows his innocence, eagerness for freedom, and loveliness. Mark Twain describes the children’s innocent and pure inner world from the adult’s viewpoint, and makes us recall our childhood where no hypocrite exists.
In this novel, Tom Sawyer’s ability of making himself happy is impressive. Anything can become his toys, such as stone, tooth, frog, and even a tick. In a sleepy noon, the air is dead, and no wind outside. Tom feels deserted, then his hands search for a box in his pocket, he opens the box, there is a tick inside. Tom sets the tick free, and the tick begins to move around the desk. Tom’s bosom friend, Joe Harper, feels like just as the same. He is desperately eager to join Tom’s entertainment. Tom allows Joe to join in the entertainment, and he then draws a line in the middle of the desk, which means they will play it in sequence. Tom says: “as long as he is on your side you can stir him up and I’ll let him alone; but if you let him get away and get on my side, you’re too alone as long as I can keep him from crossing over.” (P362)Tom makes this rule to guide their entertainment. However, the game goes out of their prediction, because the tick does not run cross the line to Tom’s side. By and by, Tom sits there angrily, as the tick remains at Joe Harbor’s desk. He glowers at Joe having a lot of fun and he could do nothing but watching what is happening. In the end, Tom breaks the rule and fight against Joe. “A tremendous whack came down on Tom’s shoulders and its duplicate on Joe’s; and for the space of two minutes the dust continued to fly from the two jackets and the whole school to enjoy it.”(P363)
It is very difficult to describe children’s behavior so vividly from the adult perspective, but Mark Twain has done it well. In the story Tom fights against his bosom friend, we can realize that the friendship is quite different for children when comparing with the adult friendship. What makes the children’s friendship tight is they can share the happiness. When it is impossible for them to share fun, the friendship will break up. In this regard, Mark Twain expresses his desire for true, pure friendship. But this relationship may not exist in the adult world, as adults are hypocritical and snobbish, even some of them are trained to be, and the rests are forced to be.
B. Tom Sawyer’s Romance
Every adult has his own memory of childhood. And every adult has his own way of romance. Such as, the first time to see a girl ,the first time to talk with the girl he liked, even the first time to kiss . All of this is unforgettable and romance. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain managers his delicate pen well to delineate Tom’s romance with Becky Thatcher, a beautiful girl who attracts Tom at their first encounter. Tom immediately falls in love with her and he forgets Amy Lawrence, with whom Tom makes engagement before. After Tom finishes his whitewashing, Aunt Polly allows him to go out to play. That is really a good day, because he meets a girl like an angle he thinks when he is passing by where Jeff Thatcher lived. “A lovely little blue-eyed creature with yellow hair plaited into two long tails, white summer frock, and embroidered pantalets.”(P316) That beautiful girl ruins Tom’s heart, he thinks himself has fell in love with the girl, and he regrets his engagement with Amy Lawrence .Then Tom tries to do everything to show off to draw Becky’s attention. For some reason, Becky seems a little hard-hearted; she does not show any interests in Tom’s performance. Tom keeps his showing off with all his efforts until night. Finally he is failed and goes back home with a lot of disappointment. That night, Tom cannot sleep well, because Becky always wandering in his mind.
From that day on, Tom Sawyer becomes more and more sensitive .He cannot stop thinking about Becky, he cares everything he acts in front of her. He thinks that maybe this is love, and hopes Becky will love him in return, thus they can make an engagement. In order to get closer to Becky, he deliberately sat on her right in class, teach her how to draw a picture, and even take the punishment for her. Tom has done all for her intentionally. By and by, he wins Becky’s heart. Their engagement seems to be possible. When school breaks up at noon, Tom has figured out a plan. He whispers in Becky’s ear to ask her pretending to go home, therefore they could be together without others’ attention. The children sit in the classroom alone, quietly they has a good time. Tom tells Becky he wants to engage himself to her. Tom seems like knowing everything about love, which is hard for us to believe. He knows a boy and a girl have to kiss if they have engaged. From this point, we can find that Tom is not merely a carefree boy, but also a romantic man. He proposes to his beloved girl, and kisses her in her face. Tom’s way of loving Becky is similar to the way adults do. He acts as a grow-up in front of Becky; he feels happy when Beck does, and he becomes depressed when Becky is facing difficulty. They will be jealous when either of them is playing with others of opposite sex, which is an interesting but an essential part of love.
All people fell in love are romantic, even a boy. The first time Tom sits with Becky is interesting. Tom is late for class, and because of this, he gets punishment from the teacher, but that could not be a punishment to Tom, because he is used to it. Not long after that, the teacher requires Tom to sit with girls, which is exactly what he wants, as he notices Becky is sitting alone there. He inches towards her and sit down. He glances at the girl and she makes a mouth as reply. In a minute, he takes out a peach and lays it on Becky’s desk when she cautiously faces around. In this plot, we can see Tom is considerate and good at pleasing girls.
Love is a very important part in one’s life. It helps to build one’s value of life, and makes one mature and charm. True love is beautiful. Poets never feel tired to express their praise and longing for true love. Man always falls in love with a woman unconsciously, and it may take his whole lifetime to forget. Love is pure, and it is weak too. Actually, love is always twisted by the outside world, such as, family restrains, class status, power, racial discriminations, and etcetera. In this regard, the relationship between Tom and Becky is far from love. It is a kind of special friendship, since they are too young to know the true meaning of love--responsibility.
Tom is romantic, and his understanding of romance is originated from the medieval romance he read. He imitates the books, for example, the way of he make engagement with Becky. Tom does not know what a kiss truly mean, but he kisses Becky. Thus, the romance between Tom and Becky is substantially different from adults. For the children, love is pure and is not related to sex or money. In this novel, Mark Twain portrays Tom Sawyer’s innocence and romantic gift, which deeply impressed the readers.
Chapter 2 Tom Sawyer’s Wit and Leadership
A good leader must be a wise man. He can always make right decision at the crucial moment. He has the ability to reverse the situation even people in trouble. No doubt that In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom is a good leader. Therefore, he was admired by his partners, and loved by so many readers.
A. Tom Sawyer’s Wit
Tom Sawyer is a wit boy, even if always behaviors impolitely in daily life. He can hardly recite a few lines of The Bible, but the fact is that he was the only one to have a new Bible. He can always easily find ways to escape from Aunt Polly’s punishment, and even makes Aunt Polly live in distress. His whitewashing scenes left a deep impression on us. We are attracted by Tom’s smartness when we see him tactfully makes other children to help him to whitewash the board fence. They voluntarily do as whitewashers, and they are convinced that is a special honor.
When Tom cannot persuade Jim to replace his job, he begins to find for other means. He thinks that it would be a shame if his friends saw him, because they would make fun of him for having to work in such a beautiful day. He then plans to buy an exchange of work with his toys, but he soon finds his prosperity is too poor to buy half an hour. In a moment, he gets an idea. He thinks that he must work like an artist; he pretends to be obsessed with his job when he saw Ben Rogers is coming towards him. Ben Rogers is commanding his steamboat, the Big Missouri, and considers himself to be drawing nine feet of water. He is playing the captain, the sailor, and the steamboat all by himself. He believes Tom would be eager to join his play, but to his surprise, Tom does not show any interests to that. Tom does not show his real feeling, because he really knows that once accept his disadvantage, the initiative goes away. Tom tells Ben that one cannot get a chance to whitewash without a hitch, so it is much more valuable than being a captain if one obtains the chance. Tom can not only make Ben interests in his whitewashing but also make Ben be pride of this special work.
Tom contemplated the boy a bit ,and said“What do you call work?”
“Why, ain’t that work?”
Tom resumed his whitewashing ,and answered carelessly:“Well ,maybe it is ,and maybe it ain’t .All I know is ,it suits Tom Sawyer.”
“Oh come, now, you don’t mean to let on that you like it?”
The brush continued to move.
“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day？”(p310--p311)
Ben is not able to see through the tricks; he gradually retracts his scornfulness and asks Tom if he could try some of them. That is exactly what Tom wants. He grants Ben a chance with bargaining chip, the apple. He successfully makes a deal with Ben and many other boys.
That afternoon, being a poor, poverty-stricken boy in the morning, Tom is literally rolling in wealth. However, the most important is that the whole board fence has been whitewashed. At last, Tom discovers a great law of human action: in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make it difficult to attain. Mark Twain here uses Tom’s whitewashing to express his own thoughts. The difference between play and work, Mark Twain points out that work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do and play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. He powerfully criticizes the luxury of the aristocratic life. The wealthy gentlemen do not work but indulge themselves in wasting wealth.
To portray a hero, Mark Twain intentionally enlarges Tom Sawyer’s wit. For example, when Tom and Becky get lost in the cave, Tom behaves not like a child; he is calm, brave and not scared at all, meanwhile, he comforts Becky that there must be ways to survive. He searches for the path with a candle, and uses the kite strings to mark their trace. Everything seems to be useful for him. Tom’s potential of being a hero is stimulated by the tough situation, the situation of choosing life or death.
B. Tom Sawyer’s Leadership
Tom’s wit is embodied not only in play, but also in something more significant. He is a good commander, which is testified in the whole process of adventure to an island named Jackson. The island is narrow but long, lies in the middle for Mississippi.
Tom makes up his mind when his affection is trampled by Becky. He feels like being abandoned by the world, he thinks the best choice is to disappear from their sight. Tom has always wanted to be a pirate, and now it is the time. He tells his best friend the plan, and they soon draw an agreement. Tom suggests that maybe Huckleberry would like to join them. The night they set off under the command of Tom, they bring food, and each of them is granted a title. Tom’s title is Black Avenger of the Spanish Main, Joe Harbor the Terror of seas, Huck Finn the Red-Handed. It is interesting when we judge the children’s dream. Actually, the title shows their dream, their sense of justice. Children always admire hero, since hero is the one that enjoys freedom, and sacrifices to save the people.
Tom tells them that a pirate should do things as a pirate. On their way to the Jackson Island, Tom’s desire of being captain is entirely satisfied when crossing the river. “They shoved off, presently, Tom in command, Huck at the after oar and Joe at the forward. Tom stood amidships, gloomy browed, and with folded arms, and gave his orders in a low, stern whisper that Luff, bring her to the wind. Tom is a captain of the small boat, but it shows his will of being a leader. In the movie Pirates of The Caribbean, we love captain Jack Sparrow for his wit, his way of doing things, and his leadership.
When Tom and the other boys reach the destination, they immediately settle down, spread the tent as their bed. Since it is dark, they light a fire, with which they are capable of roasting food. Huck is smoking, which makes Tom and Joe jealous a lot, then they resolve to acquire. Tom thinks a real pirate should be able to smoke. He knows a lot about pirate, the way they work, talk and the rule they obey. He talks perkily when Joe asks him what pirates have to do. Tom says: “Oh, they have just a bully time--take ships and burn them, and get the money and bury it in awful places in their island where there is ghosts and things to watch it, and kill everybody in the ships--make them walk a plank.” (p420)The first night of the adventure makes them excited very much; they do not sleep well except Huck who has nothing to concern.
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