The Contrasting Personalities of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
Uploaded by AEmmons on Oct 12, 2002
Samuel Clemens begins his great American novel by stating “You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of ‘Adventures of Tom Sawyer’, but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly”. Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are two friends growing up in the Mississippi Valley around 1835 to 1845- well before the Civil War. The two friends have very different personalities, each bringing their own unique characteristics into this exciting and ironical story.
Tom and Huck are both adventurous and energetic young boys but in very different ways. Huck’s idea of adventure is to escape from society, its beliefs and all of its restraining and contradicting conformities, but he does it in a way that is both level-headed and sensible. Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are both compulsive liars. This is continuously seen throughout the book as Huck makes up all kinds of wild tales pertaining to who he is and where he has come from, when questioned by the people he meets. With Mrs. Judith Loftus (who was going to try and catch Jim for the reward money), he had dressed up as girl by the name of Sarah Mary Williams, a young lass who had walked seven miles from her town. After being caught in his lie, he covered it up with another and became George Peters, an apprentice from the country. When caught sneaking on a boat full of raftsmen, he became Alec James Hopkins, a boy from a trading scow. His lies however, did occasionally catch up with him. In one instance while staying with the Grangerford family, Huck recalls “ When I waked up in the morning, drat it all, I had forgot what my name was”, being resourceful, he bet his new roommate Buck that he couldn’t spell his name. After Buck spelled out G-o-r-g-e-J-a-c-k-s-o-n for him, Huck tells his readers “I set it down, private, because somebody might want me to spell it, next, and so I wanted to be handy with it and rattle it off like I was used to it.” Huck Finn lies for survival of himself and others. He shows he has compassion for his nigger companion several times by using his skills and deceit to keep them both safe.
Tom Sawyer, on the other hand, is more likely to make up an adventure based...