Sample of reading report of the Adventure of Tom Sawyer

Tiffany Tang 07125457

The map is converted for the Mind Manger Map, made by Tiffany Tang

Contents:

Writing Reading Report of the Adventure of Tom Sawyer............................................ 1 1. Research ..................................................................................................................... 2

1.1 Background research .................................................................................. 2

1.1.1 Books ...................................................................................................... 2

The Selected Short Stories of Mark Twain ................................................................ 2 the autobiography of Mark Twain ............................................................................. 2 American Literature .................................................................................................... 2

1.1.2 Web site ................................................................................................... 2

Spark Notes................................................................................................................... 2

1.1.3 Supporting Data ...................................................................................... 2

Expert reports .............................................................................................................. 2 hird party research ...................................................................................................... 2

2 Content ........................................................................................................................ 2

2.1 IDEAS-Key words ..................................................................................... 2

2.1.1 Childhood .............................................................................................. 2 2.1.2 Autobiographical ................................................................................... 2 2.1.3 I ............................................................................................................... 2 2.1.4 Mark Twain ........................................................................................... 2 2.2 Supporting sources ..................................................................................... 2

2.2.1 Find examples ......................................................................................... 2

the Short Novels Of Mark Twain ................................................................................ 2

1.the Story of the Good Little Boy .................................................... 2 2.the Story of the Bad Little Boy ....................................................... 2

the Long Novels Of Mark Twain ................................................................................ 2

the Adventure of Huckleberry Finn ................................................. 2

2.2.2 Find relevant Quotes ............................................................................... 2

the writer- Mark Twain ............................................................................................... 2 the experts of American Literature ............................................................................ 2

2.2.3 References ............................................................................................... 2

The Selected Short Stories of Mark Twain ................................................................ 2 the autobiography of Mark Twain ............................................................................. 2 American Literature .................................................................................................... 2

3 Final Report ...................................................................................................... 3-5

3.1 Cover Page ........................................................................................................ 1 3.2 Table of Contents .............................................................................................. 2 3.3 Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 6

The reading report of the Adventure of Tom Sawyer

The adventure of Tom Sawyer is one of the four best-written novels of Mark Twain, introducing two immoral images-- Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn to American Literature, as well as frontier tale, which brings the fresh recollections of Mark Twain’s memory of his childhood. The book Tom Sawyer revolves around the youthful adventure of a schoolboy—Thomas Sawyer who is always causing mischief and troubles, but sets a new and original image which is totally different from other tales of children. In the novel, Tom Sawyer with Huck Finn leads a typical American-style life with innocence and happiness. In order to get rid of the restrains of formalism, the boredom of school work and the control of contemporary moral values, Tom and Huck make chances for adventures and have fun in realizing their boyish dream with naughtiness and heroic justice to eradicate evil.

The theme of the book is childhood which is the best time for me, and maybe the best time for most people. That’s the reason why Tom Sawyer has become one of the most impressive images in world literature which enjoys lots of reputation and popularity. It also should be one of the most memorable time for Mark Twain himself, and we can dig out his values for kids and his past childhood. Written in about 1870, the story started from some letters of Mark Twain to his old friends about his boyhood pranks and schooldays.

I am faithful reader of Mark Twain, and without any falseness, I have covered all of his short stories, most of his novels, his autobiography and even some English versions. So I think I understand and know his values and judgment to some extent especially his attitude towards morals at that time, satirizing and criticizing the role-model kids produced from the boring regulations and religious education. You can find in his famous short stories that there are two short novels named and written in a similar structure--that is The Story of the Good Little Boy (1870) and The story of bad little boy(1865). In these two stories, Twain cruelly gave each boy a totally different ending—the bad sinful kid named Jim has a streak of luck and leads a charmed life and the good innocent boy Jacob who never tells lies, obeys all the rules and is appreciated by all the adults did not prosper and died young and bitter. With these over and exaggerated descriptions, I think that Twain straightly give out his ironies and hatred to these products of the religious dogma and his admiration of free childhood and pure children’s nature.

Tiffany Tang 07125457

Although nowadays people usually regard the book as kids’ classic, Twain held a different idea—“It is not a boy's book, at all. It will only be read by adults.” It is only written for adults.\" It seems that Mark Twain had much more to express except for the golden memories for childhood and the exciting adventures of immoral kids, and I reckon that he did. Being overshadowed by the sequel—The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, the book has nothing dealt directly with slavery and racism, for example, in the murder, and, we can smell the signs of discriminations, but Twain seemed to be unwilling to make it clear. But the book applied more touches on an idyllic picture of boyhood life along the Mississippi River, trying to use Tom Sawyer as a bridge between the adulthood and childhood to explore the weak natures of human beings—people’s selfishness and obsession with the value of money. Tom is the idealist with his immaturity to find the result of a war between the society where justice is served and a social community without all the scruples. It is the deepest lesson which Twain tried to tell all the adult readers.

Many people have different comments on this book including some particular and sharp critics. I admit that this novel cannot compare with The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn which I have read before this novel and even some short stories he wrote in the later part of his writing career in some area, but as a piece of his early age, he wrote it with all the enthusiasm of tracing his great memories and with a sense of humor. According to my reading Mark Twain’s Autobiography and the preface of The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, Twain carefully built all the characters and all of them were originated from his past experience of living Hannibal, a river town near the Mississippi with a medium population. Mark Twain started a literary departure by using humorous words, applying the vivid suspicion and folklore of the Mississippi Valley which added the highlights and charms of the novels.

I love the writing skills and Twain’s application of “natural speech”, increasing the reality to the whole story. This success is not just by chance but with Twain’s efforts in collecting the firsthand information. But after all nothing can rob the shines of Tom Sawyer the image itself. He sends us back to the gorgeous memories of childhood, and wakes us up from the numbness in the world of adult. His justice and bravery to the evil always tells us that we can never forget the pure nature of human beings. His dreams though tender-minded still remind us of the forgotten wishes we used to hold.

Although I am a girl, I still can smell the fragrance and sweetness of

my lost childhood-- a time you can make mistakes, a time you can have impossible dreams, a time you enjoy the passing-by of time and tides, a time you can keep away from the dirtiness and oppressiveness of adulthood, a time you will keep missing but keep losing. As time goes by, we are maturing while we are losing ourselves. What we think is less and less, though we are traveling farther and father. What we wish is less and less, though we are doing better and better. What we appreciate is less and less, though we are living greater and greater. Gradually, we lost all the good feelings we used to have and we lost all the fascinate dreams we used to own, but Tom uses his incredible power to present the lost beauty in our vague mind. He dreams the dreams we had and succeed in fulfill them, he experiences the experiences we were dying to have and them even more exciting. Every time I read the book, I can’t help remembering a deja vu-- a similar mischievous girl made troubles and giggled with farcicality, keeping wild dreams, ignorant but pure and clear.

Bibliography:

1. The Selected Short Stories of Mark Twain, Twain. M, 2004. 2.the autobiography of Mark Twain, Twain. M, 2007. 3.American Literature, Hu.Y,2001, FLTR Press.

4. Sparknote: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/tomsawyer/ 5. Gradesaver:

http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/tomsawyer/about.html

6. Baidu Wiki and Zhidao:

http://zhidao.baidu.com/q?word=%CC%C0%C4%B7%CB%F7%D1%C7%C0%FA%CF%D5%BC%C7%D3%D0%B8%D0&ct=17&pn=0&tn=ikaslist&rn=10&srs=0&srsod=2