Tom Sawyer
Titular character of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas "Tom" Sawyer (/ˈsɔː.jər/) is the title character of the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894), and Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896). He is around 12 to 13 years old.
Sally Phelps (aunt)
Mary (cousin)
Sid (younger half-brother)
| Tom Sawyer | |
|---|---|
1876 illustration by True Williams | |
| First appearance | The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
| Last appearance | Tom Sawyer, Detective |
| Created by | Mark Twain |
| In-universe information | |
| Family | Aunt Polly (aunt) Sally Phelps (aunt) Mary (cousin) Sid (younger half-brother) |
Sawyer also appears in at least three unfinished Twain works, Huck and Tom Among the Indians, Schoolhouse Hill, and Tom Sawyer's Conspiracy. While all three uncompleted works were posthumously published, only Tom Sawyer's Conspiracy has a complete plot, as Twain abandoned the other two works after finishing only a few chapters. It is set in the 1840s along the Mississippi.
Inspiration
The fictional character's name may have been derived from a jolly and flamboyant chief named Tom Sawyer, with whom Twain was acquainted in San Francisco, California, while Twain was employed as a reporter at The San Francisco Call.[1][2] Twain used to listen to Sawyer tell stories of his youth: "Sam, he would listen to these pranks of mine with great interest and he'd occasionally take 'em down in his notebook. One day he says to me: 'I am going to put you between the covers of a book some of these days, Tom.' 'Go ahead, Sam,' I said, 'but don't disgrace my name.'" Twain himself said the character sprang from three people, later identified as: John B. Briggs (who died in 1907), William Bowen (who died in 1893), and himself. However, Twain later changed his story saying Sawyer was fully formed solely from his imagination, but Robert Graysmith said, "The great appropriator liked to pretend his characters sprang fully grown from his fertile mind."[2]
Personality
Tom Sawyer is mischievous and sometimes gets himself and his friends into trouble. He is also superstitious but he actually has a pure heart.[3] He is not really a bad boy and is just capable of generosity and occasionally surprises even himself into bad situations.[4]
Portrayals
Actors who have portrayed Tom Sawyer in films and TV:
