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Reckless, lazy, maddeningly inquisitive - yet forever repentent - Tom Sawyer, a universally recognizable character, is a classic literary hero. Tom Sawyer is Mark Twain's hymn to the secure and fantastic world of boyhood and adventure. From the famous episodes of the whitewashed fence and the ordeal in the cave to the trial of Injun Joe, the story is redolent of life in the Mississippi River towns in which Twain spent his own youth. A somber undercurrent flows through the high humor and unabashed nostalgia of the novel, however, for beneath the innocence of childhood lie the inequities of adult reality - base emotions and superstitions, murder and revenge, starvation and slavery. In his thoughtful and wide-ranging introduction, noted Twain scholar John Seelye considers Twain's impact on American letters and discusses the balance between humorous escapades and serious concern that is found in much of Twain's writing.
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