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Disenchantment: Tom Sawyer in Huckleberry Finn

1972; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 87; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/460786

1938-1530

Judith Fetterley,

American Literature and Humor Studies

Mark Twain's disenchantment with the boy hero of his first novel is revealed in a series of significant changes which distinguish the Tom Sawyer of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the Tom Sawyer of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In Tom Sawyer, Tom's cruelty is essentially a by-product of his failure to consider the consequences of his actions; when he does consider, he feels remorse. In Huckleberry Finn, cruelty is a primary motive in all Tom's plans. Tom's interest in rules in Tom Sawyer is a minor aspect of his character and in fact supports his larger role of exposing the rigidities and hypocrisies of the rule- ridden society of St. Petersburg; in Huckleberry Finn , Tom's interest in rules is an obsession which makes him the butt rather than the agent of exposure and intensifies his cruelty. Tom is the natural leader of the world of Tom Sawyer because each of his schemes provides pleasure for those concerned. In Huckleberry Finn, Tom has nothing of value to offer; he maintains his control instead through a series of tyrannies. The ending of Huckleberry Finn is a major exposure of Tom's cruelty and of the connection between cruelty and pleasure in his mind.