Synopses & Reviews
ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP
The classic tale of a carefree and courageous boy's coming-of-age in a rural Mississippi River town.
EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES:
A concise introduction that gives readers important background information
A chronology of the author's life and work
A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context
An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations
Detailed explanatory notes
Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work
Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction
A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience
Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.
SERIES EDITED BY CYNTHIA BRANTLEY JOHNSON
Synopsis
Enriched Classics
offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work.
Originally published in 1876, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the classic tale of a carefree and courageous boy’s coming-of-age in a rural Mississippi River town. Tom and his best friend, Huckleberry Finn, are two of literature’s most enduring and treasured creations.
Enriched Classics enhance your engagement by introducing and explaining the historical and cultural significance of the work, the author’s personal history, and what impact this book had on subsequent scholarship. Each book includes discussion questions that help clarify and reinforce major themes and reading recommendations for further research.
Read with confidence.
About the Author
Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, published more than thirty literary works, including satire, historical fiction, short stories, and nonfiction. At the age of twelve, Twain left his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, to seek work. His career encompassed a wide variety of occupations -- printer, Mississippi riverboat pilot, journalist, travel writer, and publisher -- which combined to furnish him with a wide knowledge of humanity and the perfect grasp of local customs and speech manifested in his writing. It wasn't until 1885, with the publication of
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, that Twain was recognized by the literary establishment as one of the greatest writers America would ever produce.
Toward the end of his life, plagued by personal tragedy and financial failure, Twain grew more and more cynical and pessimistic. Though his fame continued to widen -- Yale and Oxford awarded him honorary degrees -- he spent his last years in gloom and desperation. But he lives on in American letters as "the Lincoln of our literature."
Table of Contents
ContentsIntroduction
- Tom Plays, Fights, and Hides
- The Glorious Whitewasher
- Busy at War and Love
- Showing Off in Sunday School
- The Pinch Bug and His Prey
- Tom Meets Becky
- Tick-Running and a Heartbreak
- A Pirate Bold to Be
- Tragedy in the Graveyard
- Dire Prophecy of the Howling Dog
- Conscience Racks Tom
- The Cat and the Painkiller
- The Pirate Crew Set Sail
- Happy Camp of the Freebooters
- Tom's Stealthy Visit Home
- First Pipes -- "I've Lost My Knife"
- Pirates at Their Own Funeral
- Tom Reveals His Dream Secret
- The Cruelty of "I Didn't Think"
- Tom Takes Becky's Punishment
- Eloquence -- and the Master's Gilded Dome
- Huck Finn Quotes Scripture
- The Salvation of Muff Potter
- Splendid Days and Fearsome Nights
- Seeking the Buried Treasure
- Real Robbers Seize the Box of Gold
- Trembling on the Trail
- In the Lair of Injun Joe
- Huck Saves the Widow
- Tom and Becky in the Cave
- Found and Lost Again
- "Turn Out! They're Found!"
- The Fate of Injun Joe
- Floods of Gold
- Respectable Huck Joins the Gang
Literary Allusions and Notes
Critical Excerpts
Mark Twain on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Suggestions for Further Reading