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MARK TWAIN
Prepared by: teacher of Russian language and literature Mytnik Valentina Gavrilovna

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"All American literature came from one book - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain." American writer E. HEMINGWAY
“I received my purest pleasure from the charming epics of my youth - Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.” English writer D. GALSWORTHY

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MARK TWAIN (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)
“Even the most serious, most businesslike American, when they talk about this worldwide famous boy, begins to smile, and his eyes become kinder.” I. ILF and E. PETROV about Tom Sawyer
“I’m reading your “The Prince and the Pauper” for the fourth time. And I know: this best book for youth of all those ever written." American writer Harriet Beecher Stowe
Go

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Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) was born on November 30, 1835 in America, in the small village of Florida, Missouri. He was a lively, inquisitive boy and passionately loved the river. The parents knew that if Sammy disappeared, they needed to look for him on the river. Not far from the Clemens' house flowed a small river that flowed into the Mississippi. He was not yet five years old when he fell into the water and began to drown. Fortunately, some black boys were swimming by. They dragged the wet, shivering Sammy into their boat.
"Teacher River"
House in Florida, Missouri, where Samuel Clemens was born

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Soon the family moved to the town of Hannibal on the Mississippi River. This great American river is called Mark Twain's teacher. Rich passengers sported fashionable clothes on the ships. Black musicians entertained passengers. As a child, Mark Twain had no greater desire than to become a sailor, to put on a white cabin boy's uniform or an oiled mechanic's jacket, to learn the words used by river wolves, and someday to walk through the streets of Hannibal with the swaying gait of a pilot accustomed to pitching and storms.
"Teacher River"
School in Hannibal

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For five years, Mark Twain worked as a river pilot. He took his nickname from the river: “Mark Twain - mark two” - this meant that the depth was sufficient so that the ship would not run aground. Navigating the river at night, during high water, when it changes its course, was a challenge for the young pilot. The river opened the way to a huge world.
"Teacher River"
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Mark Twain traveled a lot around America, mined silver and gold, and worked for newspapers. And most importantly, he looked closely at people, studied their characters. In 1865, he wrote his first story, "The Famous Jumping Frog of Calaveras." And he immediately became famous.

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The cover of his very first book was decorated with a huge bright yellow frog. Such frogs do not exist in nature. But Twain wrote about an extraordinary frog - it could jump especially far. This story has been making readers laugh for the second century.
"And a frog can make a man famous"
“A Leap to Glory” - this is a funny caricature I drew on young writer American artist W.J. Welch
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In 1876 the most famous book Mark Twain - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Tom is a mischievous boy, an inventor, a lover of adventure, and has remained the most beloved hero of many generations of readers. He knows how to turn everyday life into a true fireworks display of fiction and fantasy, romance and games.
Artist V. Sergeev

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Tom is kind and sensitive to other people's misfortunes. It is necessary to save Becky from the rods - and he, a real knight, takes the blame upon himself and endures the flogging without a single groan. It is necessary to protect the innocent Muff Potter, who is facing execution - he speaks at the trial, feeling the heavy gaze of Injun Joe on him. Huck Finn is not behind Tom in any way.
Tom and Huck will never grow old

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It is not for nothing that a monument was erected to friends - literary heroes - in the town of Hannibal.
Tom and Huck will never grow old
Monument to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in Hannibal
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In 1884, the book “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was published in England, about which the American writer Ernest Hemingway said: “All American literature came from one book - “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Huck's meeting with the black Jim moves the reader from the situation of the game to another situation where a moral choice is necessary. For the first time, the runaway slave Jim felt like an equal with an equal here, on the raft, next to Huck.

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Orphan Huck understands life incomparably more subtly than Tom. It is not for nothing that Mark Twain narrates this novel in the first person, from the perspective of Huck. Concentrated, like an adult, Huck thinks about the inability of people to organize their affairs fairly and wisely, so as not to deceive each other, not to pursue dishonest earnings, not to persecute a person just for the color of his skin.
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
Artist V. Goryaev

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Having begun as a game, as a fun adventure, swimming became a fight for justice, for fairness. arranged life when all people are free and all people are brothers.
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
Artist A. Vlasova
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“Do you think Tom has calmed down after all the adventures that we had on the river - well, those when we freed the Negro Jim and when Tom was shot in the leg? Nothing happened. He got even more upset - that's all. This is how the story “Tom Sawyer Abroad” (1893) begins, where Tom, Huck and Jim hot-air balloon travel to Africa, spend the night in the desert, get acquainted with the pyramids in Egypt.
Artist A. Vlasova
Novels about Tom Sawyer

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Two years later, the book “Tom Sawyer - Detective” is published. And again, the book is written on behalf of Huck Finn, telling how Tom managed to solve a complicated case involving diamond theft and murder.
Novels about Tom Sawyer
Artist A. Vlasova
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Twain always loved honest mischief-makers. So he places the ragged Tom Canty, the main character of the novel “The Prince and the Pauper,” on the English throne.
"Prince and the Pauper"
Tom only wanted to look at the prince, but chance gave him the opportunity to meet the real Prince of Wales, very similar to Tom, exchange clothes with him and become the English king for a while.

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Tom is not a fraudster at all, he tries to explain to the courtiers that he accidentally ended up in the palace, but they don’t want to listen to anything and declare him mentally ill. And the boy is having a hard time in the palace, he wants to go back to his beggarly courtyard, but he is gradually getting used to his new position and is even embarrassed to scratch his nose himself, because there are servants for that. The royal wardrobe seems meager to him. And he orders new outfits by the thousands. And the royal seal finds a worthy use: he cracks nuts with it.
"Prince and the Pauper"

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Only chance puts everything in its place. And the real prince who has suffered, having become acquainted with the life of ordinary people, returns to the palace. Why did Mark Twain write this fascinating fairy tale? Not just for the sake of entertaining your readers. He wanted them to understand: at all times, people have suffered injustice, and at all times there have been people who rebelled against injustice. By telling a tale about the distant past, Mark Twain wanted readers to think about what the inhabitants of medieval England and people of the modern world had in common.
"Prince and the Pauper"
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"IN notebooks We read Mark Twain: “I imagined myself as a knight errant in armor in the Middle Ages. The needs and habits of our time; the resulting inconveniences. There are no pockets in the armor. I can’t scratch myself, I have a runny nose - I can’t blow my nose, I can’t get a handkerchief, I can’t wipe my nose with an iron sleeve. My armor heats up in the sun, lets in moisture when it rains, and turns me into ice in frosty weather. As I enter the church, an unpleasant clanging sound is heard. I can't get dressed, I can't undress. Lightning strikes me. I’m falling and can’t get up.” This is the poor guy the writer dreamed of, and he decided to write the novel “A Connecticut Yankee at the Court of King Arthur.”

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The novel begins with an absolutely incredible event. During the fight, someone grabbed the main character Hank Morgan on the head. When the victim woke up, it turned out that he had moved from the American city of Hartford to British Isles, and from the nineteenth century - to the sixth, during the time of King Arthur, the knights Round table, Lance-lot, Guinevere and the sorcerer Merlin.
"A Yankee in King Arthur's Court"
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Mark Twain considered the book about Joan of Arc the main work of his life. The author introduces the novel with the words of Lajos Kossuth: “Let us pay attention to one important feature. Since history has been written, Joan of Arc is the only one among women and men who has ever held the post of commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces at the age of seventeen. Sieur de Comte, on whose behalf the story is told, is a fictitious figure.
"Personal memories of Joan of Arc"

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Louis de Comte explains Joan's strength this way: “She came from the people and knew the people.” Great in battle, she was even greater in her ability to inspire the despairing. She turned the tide of the Hundred War, fought for her desecrated homeland, for justice, so that the war would stop devastating French soil. Zhanna, Maid of Orleans, was burned at the stake in May 1431 at the age of nineteen.
And almost all the other characters have names real persons and are depicted as they appear from the pages of court records and chronicles of the 15th century. Let us live in such a way that even the undertaker will feel sorry when we die. Go

While working on Tom Sawyer, Twain himself did not know well whether he was writing it for adults or for children. Having put his cherished thoughts and aspirations into this perky, mocking, cheerful book, the writer was inclined to think that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer “will only be read by adults.” However, enthusiastic letters from young readers, as well as responses from recognized luminaries of children's literature, convinced Twain that, unexpectedly for himself, he had become the author of a children's book. This point of view was supported by many representatives of contemporary Twain American literature and critics. Thus, W. D. Howells wrote to Twain: “A week ago I finished reading Tom Sawyer. I didn’t get up until I reached the end of the manuscript - I simply couldn’t put it down. This best story for boys that I have ever read. The book will be an unlimited success. But you should definitely treat it as a book for boys. If this is so, then adults will enjoy it equally, but if you proceed to study the character of the boy from the point of view of an adult, it will be wrong."

Mark Twain considered his first independently created novel to be the poetry of childhood. “This is just a hymn, arranged in prose in order to give it a verbal shell,” he said.

John Galsworthy confessed: “Indeed, of all the books I have ever read, I received the purest pleasure from the charming epics of my youth - Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. They enlivened my childhood and continue to bring joy into adulthood - to this day."

It is appropriate here to recall the thought of V. G. Belinsky that a children's book is literary work, written "for everyone". Mark Twain solved the problem of the specifics of children's literature in approximately the same way.

“I believe,” said Mark Twain, “that correct method writing a work for boys - writing in such a way that it is interesting not only for boys, but extremely interesting for anyone who has ever been a boy. This expands the audience enormously."

With captivating artlessness, telling about the life, adventures and experiences of boys, remaining truthful and simple in revealing children's psychology, Mark Twain creates a realistic picture of the reality that surrounds his little heroes.

The poetry of the purity of children's feelings and boyish rebellion has for him social meaning. In the world he described, only in childhood and adolescence does a person retain the integrity and purity of the soul, the freshness and spontaneity of feelings, which become dull and deformed in adults.

"Tom Sawyer" is not an autobiographical book, but it contains a lot of direct impressions of childhood, real facts the author's own biography, which give the story a charming charm. However, this material is subjected in the artist’s mind to a peculiar selection and restructuring, dictated by a loving-elegiac attitude towards the past.

In the preface to the story about Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain writes: “Most of the adventures described in this book really happened: two or three adventures were with me, the rest were with my school friends. Huck Finn really existed. Tom Sawyer too. But not as a separate entity: they united in it features of three boys I knew." It was later established that they were the author himself, his school friend Will Bowen and a boy from Shawneetown. This lively, cheerful twelve-year-old boy told Twain about his school pranks; his name was Thomas Sawyer Spivey. Many years later, Spivey met Twain in New York. Spivey was a farmer who tried to write novels. He died in 1938. Each of the other characters also had a certain prototype.

Mark Twain lived for 13 years in the small cozy city of Hannibal on the west bank of the Mississippi. He would later transfer this city to the pages of his stories under the name St. Petersburg. For Twain, Hannibal became the source of those life experiences that later played such a huge role in his creative life. Here he spent his childhood, here, together with his peers, he spent time in games and mischief, swam in the Mississippi, deceived teachers Sunday school, wandered in caves located near the city. Here, in the crowd of barefoot boys who flooded the narrow streets of Hannibal, he first met the prototypes of his future heroes. Twain's friendship with the little tramp Tom Blankeship, later immortalized by him under the name of Huckleberry Finn, became one of the most vivid memories of his life. The prototype of Huck's father was a simple Hannibal townsman. Injun Joe was also in Hannibal, and one day he almost died of hunger after getting lost in one of the caves. “In the book called Tom Sawyer,” writes Mark Twain in his Autobiography, “I starved him to death in a cave, but only in the interests of art - in fact this did not happen.” Becky Thacher was based on the girl Laura Hawkins. She lived just opposite Twain's house. It was here, in front of her window, that little Twain tried his hand at simple acrobatics in order to attract Laura’s attention, just like Tom Sawyer did. Judge Thacher was modeled after Laura's father. Tom's younger brother, quiet and sneaky, Sid is Henry, younger brother Twain, who died in the explosion of the steamship Pennsylvania; cousin Mary - Twain's sister Pamela; Aunt Polly - the writer's mother; Negro Jim is based on "Uncle Dan" - a slave on the plantation of John Quarles - the writer's uncle.

Twain's childhood memories are surrounded by a poetic aura, and he repeatedly refers to them in his works. To see what impressions make up the pictures drawn in the book, you should turn to the pages of Twain's Autobiography, written in the same vein as the book about Tom Sawyer:

“I can recall the solemn darkness and mystery of the depths of the forest, the smells of the earth, the light fragrance of forest flowers, the shine of rain-washed leaves, the sound of falling raindrops...”

“I know what wild blackberries look like and taste, I know what a good watermelon looks like when it warms its fat round belly in the sun...”.

"I see a large hearth, in winter evenings full to the top of flaming nut logs, at the ends of which sweet juice bubbles... a lazy cat, stretched out on the uneven stones of the hearth..."

This is Twain remembering his uncle's farm, where he spent a lot of time during his childhood.

In the given autobiographical memories Twain says that such a life was "a boy's paradise."

But the bright, cheerful impressions of Hannibal's life were inseparable from the terrible and tragic ones. Echoes of the violent, noisy life of the West often interfered with the peaceful existence of Hannibal. One day, Mark Twain witnessed a murder that took place in broad daylight on one of the main streets of the city. Twain subsequently captured this picture on the pages of his story “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

Many of Twain's difficult childhood experiences are associated with the slavery that existed in Hannibal. He grew up surrounded by Negro slaves, in close communication with them and had friendly affection for many of them.

And yet, the future writer repeatedly happened to witness brutal reprisals against black slaves. He saw how six men beat an exhausted, exhausted fugitive, how a slave owner killed a black man who belonged to him for a minor offense.

The older brother of his friend Tom Blenkkenship, Ben, hid the fugitive black man in the reeds for two weeks, slowly delivering him food. When the black man was tracked down, he helped him escape. Subsequently, Mark Twain captured this childhood memory on the pages of the story about Huck Finn.

The hatred that Mark Twain felt throughout his life for all manifestations of racial discrimination undoubtedly first arose in his soul in connection with early impressions of childhood.

There is no specific hero-narrator in Tom Sawyer. But he, an adult, the writer Mark Twain, is invisibly present in the story, and this “presence effect” is the source of both the special barely audible nostalgic note of the story and its lyrical humor. The events taking place in the book are illuminated by the smile of the author, contemplating the “lost paradise” of his childhood from the depths of time. It is this look from afar, from another era of both the world and his own life that allows Twain to see much that was not previously seen, and to find the cause of the conflict of generations not only in the characteristics of their age, but also in the living conditions of America past and present. The correlation between these two time dimensions is established here by the very idea of ​​the story, which is based on the facts of the author’s biography.

Finishing the story about Tom Sawyer, Twain will write: “Most of the heroes of this book are healthy to this day; they are successful and happy.” Laura Hawkins lived to advanced years. In 1902, along with another of Mark Twain's schoolmates, John Briggs (Joe Harper in the novel), she greeted Mark Twain when he came to Hannibal to receive an advanced degree from the University of Missouri. They took a photo together, and Mark Twain wrote touchingly on the card below: “Tom Sawyer and Becky Thacher.”

Long and happy journey for these literary heroes, favorites of readers around the world.

Characters

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Character Groups

Total characters - 119

"Archangel"

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Mad hermit. He was once a monk, but when Henry VIII began to impose Protestantism in England, the Catholic monasteries were destroyed, and the brethren were dispersed, he turned into nothing. He hates the late king, believes that by the grace of Henry he became homeless and homeless and therefore was going to deal with his son.

Lawyer Thatcher

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Local lawyer, brother of Judge Thatcher.

Alisande a la Carteloise

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Wife of Yankee, who calls her Sandy.

Alfred Temple

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Classmate of Tom and Becky. He considers himself, according to Tom Sawyer, an aristocrat and is dressed to the nines. He came to St. Petersburg from St. Louis and on the first day had a fight with Tom, who sincerely hated Alfred and called him a dandy. Temple reciprocates his feelings, and when Becky Thatcher, during a quarrel with Tom, decided to make her admirer jealous with the help of Alfred, he, in retaliation, without hesitation, spoils his happy rival by filling his textbook with ink.

Buck Grangerford

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The youngest son of Colonel Grangerford, he became friends with Huck during his stay with the Grangerfords.

Ben Rogers

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Tom Sawyer's classmate, his friend. Tom is most afraid of Ben's ridicule.

Ben Rucker

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Friend of the Wilkes family.

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Bandit and murderer from the gang from the half-sunken ship "Walter Scott". He wanted to shoot Jim Turner, but was dissuaded from it by his friend Jake Packard.

Billy Fisher

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Bob Grangerford

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Eldest son of Colonel Grangerford.

Bob Tanner

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The same age as Tom Sawyer, an “expert” in removing warts using rotten water.

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A drunkard, “the biggest fool in all of Arkansas, but not at all evil, he wouldn’t hurt a fly.” He staged a drunken swearing near the house of Colonel Sherborne, for which he was shot dead with a gun.

The widow Douglass

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The owner of the only manor house in the whole city, a hospitable hostess and organizer of the most brilliant holidays; beautiful woman forty years old kind soul, known to everyone for her generosity and wealth.

Willie Mufferson (The Model Boy)

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An exemplary child, a favorite of city ladies and the object of universal hatred of all city brats

Harvey Wilks

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English preacher, uncle of the three Wilkes orphan girls: Mary Jane, Suzanne and Joanna. Was supposed to attend the funeral of the deceased rich man Peter Wilkes. The Dauphin pretended to be him, tricking him into extracting all the information from a local boy.

Harney Shepherdson

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Lover of Miss Sophia Grangerford. Together with her he escaped from his native place, managed to cross the river and found himself out of reach.

Huckleberry Finn (Huck)

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The son of a homeless drunkard, he grows up as a homeless child and a ragamuffin. He spends the night in an empty sugar barrel, smokes a pipe, does not go to school, is idle, and he likes this life.

Henry VIII Tudor

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King of England, second English monarch from the Tudor dynasty. Known as a typical representative of European absolutism. He completely subjugated parliament and carried out religious reform in England after a break with the Roman Catholic Church, which occurred due to a divorce from his wife, the Spanish Catherine of Aragon, who was rejected for the lack of male heirs. Known for his violent temper, cruelty, suspicion, and merciless eradication of his ideological opponents. He was married six times: he divorced two wives (Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves), two of the king's wives (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard) were executed allegedly for adultery, Jane Seymour died of puerperal fever, and only Catherine Parr survived the king, remaining a widow . The only son Henry - Edward - was the long-awaited and dearly beloved child of the king. It happened that Henry scolded his son, but never raised a hand to him.

The duke

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A tramp about thirty years old; a clever swindler with pretense of intelligence and cunning. He loves Shakespeare and drama theatre, loves to “play roles,” but complains that in such a wilderness “no one understands” him and takes pleasure in fooling people in all the towns along the Mississippi. When meeting Huck and Jim, he introduces himself as the “Duke of Bridgewater” in order to gain all the conveniences of traveling comfortably on a raft.

the Duke of Norfolk

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Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, an English statesman and military leader, held the positions of Lord Treasurer and Marshal at court, and after the resignation of Cardinal Wolsey, he accepted the great royal seal. An ardent Catholic. Norfolk's son, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, had the intention of pulling the king back to the side of strict Catholicism, and within a few days he was arrested along with his father and ended up on the scaffold. Norfolk was saved only by the death of the king.

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Baptist preacher, friend of the late Wilkes family.

Count Hertford

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Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp, Earl of Hertford - brother of Queen Jane Seymour and uncle of the prince and later King Edward VI. After the death of Henry VIII, he bribed the executors of the late king and became Lord Protector and “guardian of the king’s person,” and soon, on behalf of his young nephew, the sovereign, assigned himself the title “Duke of Somerset.”

Gracie Miller

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Same age as Tom Sawyer, sister of Johnny Miller.

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A young robber from the gang that “sheltered” John Canty and Edward. Beaten by Edward with a stick according to all the rules of fencing, for which, in revenge, he deceives the young king into the hands of the law - for stealing a pig.

Hugh Hendon

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Younger brother of Miles Hendon. He slandered him in front of his father, achieved expulsion, and he himself brought his father and older brother Arthur to the grave and forced his father’s pupil, the rich heir to the earldom, Lady Edith, who loved Miles, to marry him. He was exposed by King Edward, after which he abandoned his wife and fled to the continent, where he soon died.

Jake Packard

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The killer from the gang from the half-sunken ship "Walter Scott". He was against shooting Jim Turner, proposing to leave him tied up and wait for him to go down with the ship.

Jeff Thatcher

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Son of Thatcher's lawyer and cousin of Becky. Tom Sawyer's classmate.

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A black man who ran away from his mistress - Miss Watson. Together with Huck, he rafted along the Mississippi to the North in the hope of freeing himself from slavery. Not too smart, but kind and loyal.

Jim Turner

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Bandit from the gang from the half-sunken ship "Walter Scott". He was tied up by his own accomplices who wanted to kill him.

Jim Hollis

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Same age and classmate of Tom Sawyer.

Joe Harper

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Classmate and bosom friend of Tom Sawyer. “The boys were friends all week, but on Saturdays they fought like enemies.” During the times of “piracy” on Jackson Island, he was nicknamed “The Storm of the Oceans.”

Joanna Wilks (The hare-lip)

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Orphan, youngest (13 years old) daughter of the late carpenter George Wilkes; "The one with the cleft lip and wants to do good deeds."

John Canty

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Tom Canty's father is a thief from the Garbage Court, an ignorant, rude drunkard who beats his wife and children.

Johnny Miller

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Same age as Tom Sawyer, classmate.

Doctor Robinson

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Local doctor. Forced to illegally dig up recently buried corpses from graves for medical purposes. Was killed by Injun Joe in the cemetery.

Dr. Robinson

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Friend of the Wilkes family, " A tall man with a square jaw." Direct and honest, he exposed the fraudsters - the Duke and the Dauphin - as "English uncles" and called for them to be expelled, but no one listened to him.

The dauphin

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A tramp about seventy years old; a swindler and a first-rate swindler. At the meeting he introduces himself as "the unfortunate, missing Dauphin of Louis the Seventeenth, the son of Louis the Sixteenth and Marie Antoinette." Not particularly smart, but cunning, greedy and very greedy for money. He does not hesitate to use any means in pursuit of profit.

Dunois (Bastard of Orleans)

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This is his title. Also a French military leader. A royal bastard, but not Karla.

Joan of Arc

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National heroine of France, Virgin of Orleans and de Rais' dream. In the novel she had the gift of clairvoyance.

"Adventures of Tom Sawyer" - wonderful book, magical, mysterious. It is beautiful primarily for its depth. Every person at any age can find something of their own in it: a child - fascinating story, adult - Mark Twain's sparkling humor and memories of childhood. Main character the novel, during each reading of the work appears in a new light, i.e. The characterization of Tom Sawyer is always different, always fresh.

Tom Sawyer is an ordinary child

It is unlikely that Thomas Sawyer can be called a hooligan; rather, he is a mischief-maker. And, more importantly, he has the time and opportunity to do everything. He lives with his aunt, who, although she tries to keep him strict, is not very good at it. Yes, Tom is punished, but despite this, he lives quite well.

He is smart, resourceful, like almost every child of his age (about 11-12 years old), you just have to remember the story with the fence, when Tom convinced all the children in the area that work is a sacred right and privilege, and not a heavy burden.

This characterization of Tom Sawyer reveals that he is not a very bad person. Further, the personality of the most famous inventor and mischief-maker will be revealed with more and more new facets.

Friendship, love and nobility are not alien to Tom Sawyer

Another virtue of Sawyer - the ability to love and sacrifice - appears before the reader in all its glory when the boy discovers that he loves. For her sake, he even makes a sacrifice: he exposes his body to the blows of the teacher's rods for her misconduct. This is a wonderful characteristic of Tom Sawyer, which highlights his sublime attitude towards the lady of his heart.

Tom Sawyer has a conscience. He and Huck witnessed a murder, and even despite the not at all illusory danger to their lives, the boys decided to help the police and rescue poor Muff Potter from prison. The act on their part is not only noble, but also courageous.

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as a confrontation between the world of childhood and the world of adulthood

Why is Tom like this? Because he's doing relatively well. Tom, although difficult, is a beloved child, and he knows it. Therefore, almost all the time he lives in the world of childhood, in the world of dreams and fantasies, only occasionally looking into reality. The characteristics of Tom Sawyer in this sense are no different from those of any other prosperous teenager. Such a conclusion can be made only if we correlate the two images - For Sawyer, fantasy is like the air he breathes. Tom is full of hope. There is almost no disappointment in him, so he believes in made-up worlds and made-up people.

Huck is completely different. He has a lot of problems, no parents. Or rather, there is an alcoholic father, but it would be better not to have him. For Huck, his father is a source of constant worry. His parent, of course, disappeared several years ago, but it is known for certain that he did not die, which means that he can appear in the city at any moment and begin to abuse his miserable son again.

For Huck, fantasies are opium, thanks to which life is still somehow bearable, but an adult cannot live in a world of illusions all the time (and Finn is exactly like that).

Sawyer is even a little sorry because he doesn’t know how things really are. His world manages without tragedy, while Huck's existence is a constant struggle. Just like an ordinary adult: he leaves the world of childhood and realizes that he has been deceived. Thus, another characterization of Tom Sawyer is ready.

What kind of adult would Tom be?

A tempting question for all those who have read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. But it seems that it is not for nothing that the story about the boys does not say anything about their adult lives. There may be at least two reasons for this: either there will be nothing remarkable in these lives, or for some, life will not present any pleasant surprises. And all this can happen.

What will Tom Sawyer be like? The characterization could be like this: in the future he is an ordinary, ordinary person without any special achievements in life. His childhood is full of various adventures, but by and large they always happened in some comfort zone, and this allowed Tom to constantly fabricate fantasies.

With Huck it's a different story. At the end of the adventures, Finn leaves the bourgeois world, where satiety and morality reign, into the world of the streets, where freedom reigns, in his opinion. The tramp boy does not tolerate boundaries. But it is impossible to live forever outside the framework and breathe only the air of freedom, because any life needs one form or another. If a separate vessel (person) is not limited, it will break out, destroying the vessel itself. Simply put, if Huck does not choose a certain value system for himself, he may well become an alcoholic and die under the fence, like his dad, or perish in a drunken brawl. Adulthood It’s not as bright as a child’s life, but it’s a pity.

On this not very happy note, Tom Sawyer says goodbye to us. The characterization of the hero ends here.

Twelve-year-old boys, residents of the small provincial American town of St. Petersburg, playmates and amusements that their indefatigable imagination gives birth to every now and then. Tom Sawyer is an orphan. He is raised by his late mother's sister, the pious Aunt Polly. The boy is completely uninterested in the life that flows around him, but he is forced to follow generally accepted rules: go to school, attend church service on Sundays, dress neatly, behave well at the table, go to bed early - although every now and then he breaks them, causing the indignation of his aunt.

Tom is no stranger to enterprise and resourcefulness. Well, who else, having received the task of whitewashing a long fence as punishment, could turn things around so that other boys would paint the fence, and besides, pay for the right to take part in such an exciting event with “treasures”: who dead rat, and who is a fragment of a dental buzzer. And not everyone will be able to receive the Bible as a reward for the excellent title of its content, without actually knowing a single line. But Tom did it! Playing a prank on someone, fooling someone, coming up with something unusual is Tom’s element. Reading a lot, he strives and own life make it as bright as the one in which the heroes of the novels act. He launches into " love adventures", arranges games of Indians, pirates, robbers. Tom finds himself in all sorts of situations thanks to his bursting energy: either at night in a cemetery he witnesses a murder, or he is present at his own funeral.

Sometimes Tom is capable of almost heroic actions in life. For example, when he takes the blame for Becky Thacher - the girl he awkwardly tries to look after - and endures the teacher's spanking. He is a charming guy, this Tom Sawyer, but he is a child of his time, of his city, accustomed to leading double life. When necessary, he is quite capable of taking on the image of a boy from a decent family, realizing that everyone does this.