The Key Concepts of Loyalty and Friendship in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a Novel by Mark Twain

Analysis on ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’

In the Adventures of Tom Sawyer written by Mark Twain, friendship and loyalty are concepts that are important in the lives of humans. In this novel, Tom makes new friends and new experiences. However, he especially treasures the bonds that he has with Huckleberry Finn and Becky Thatcher. With Huckleberry Finn, the author, Mark Twain shows how simple adventures, blood oaths and more can bring two people close together. Also, Twain illustrates how meaningful the feeling of love can be and how loyal Tom and Becky must be to build a relationship that will last for a long time. Therefore, the theme of this book is friendship and loyalty and can be recognized through many scenes and characters in this book.

One of the strongest points of friendship and loyalty between Tom and Huck is portrayed in the scene where the friends make a blood oath. Their friendship blossomed when they began sharing various superstitions that could cure warts. One particular superstition which they spoke about was entering a graveyard with a dead cat at midnight. According to Huck, eventually the “Devil follow corpse, cat follow devil, warts follow cat.” This led them to the scene where they entered the graveyard to try and put this superstition to the test and ended up witnessing the murder of Doctor Robinson. Later, they managed to escape the place they were in and forged a blood oath to keep mum or quiet about this unfortunate incident. “Now look-a-here, Tom, less take and swear to one another- that’s what we got to do- swear to keep mum.” “but there orter be writing ‘bout a big thing like this. And blood.” Here in these two quotes from the text, one could understand that the two friends exchanged much trust and loyalty to believe that each of them would keep mum about this dangerous murder after a blood oath. Therefore, the heights of friendship and loyalty between Tom and Huck could be understood well in this chapter.

Friendship and loyalty between Tom and Huck is also demonstrated when the two friends decide to run away from home on another adventure to Jackson’s Island. One night, Tom decides to return home and check on how his family members, Aunt Polly, Mary and Sid are coping. While he is hiding under the bed at home, Tom finds out that there will be a funeral for Huck, Joe and himself on a Saturday afternoon. As a result, on a Saturday afternoon, there was rustling in the gallery and the church door opened slightly; Tom, Huck and Joe had returned. Everyone was eccentric and Aunt Polly, Mary and the Harpers began to welcome Tom and Joe with warm hugs and kisses. Meanwhile, Huck was looked upon with many unwelcoming eyes and began to uncomfortably move away from the present situation. At this moment, Tom said, “Aunt Polly, it ain’t fair. Somebody’s got to be glad to see Huck.” He understood how Huck was feeling left out. When Tom stood up for Huck, their true friendship and loyalty were proved yet again. As a result, Huck was welcomed as well and also received Aunt Polly’s loving attention. Therefore, there was true friendship and loyalty that Tom felt towards Huck deep down in his heart.

Mark Twain also exhibits the friendship and loyalty between Tom and Becky. He first begins his conversation with Becky Thatcher when he is punished for playing hooky and is asked to sit next to her. Eventually, he admits that he loves her and becomes engaged to her. However, their relationship comes to an abrupt end, and as a result they make many attempts to make each other feel jealous by being with friends who are from the opposite genders. Later, they make up and go to an island together where they become lost. “Becky cried, and Tom tried to think of some way of comforting her.” Here, one can understand that Tom tries his best to support and look out for Becky. He was also willing to drown his fear in love in order to help his one and only Becky feel better. Also, “Tom said they must go softly and listen for dripping water- they must find a spring.” This example displayed the leadership that Tom wanted to show towards the suffering Becky. Overall, the friendship and loyalty of Tom and Becky were well illustrated in these chapters, truly and meaningfully.

In conclusion, Mark Twain successfully illustrated the theme of friendship and loyalty in this book. The friendship of Tom and Huck was exceptional and profound. They were willing to support each other in every situation and trust each other 100%. Additionally, whereas the friendship between Tom and Becky was rocky in the beginning, it improved gradually as they spent more time together. In fact, Tom was able to become mature enough to look after Becky and show loyalty to her all the way on the island when they were lost. Therefore, in the book, The adventures of Tom Sawyer, the author, Mark Twain was able to effectively display the importance of friendship and loyalty in a person’s life and how special it can make someone feel.