Yes, leave it to Tom to insist on doing everything by the book, and not just when playing make-believe. I vaguely remember a scene near the end of Huckleberry Finn in which Tom has been locked up in a farmer's shed for trespassing or something. Huck and Jim are trying to break him out, but they aren't going about it "by the book," which may have involved tunneling into the shed with spoons or something. Nearby shovels are not permitted. Progress with the spoons is understandably slow. So in frustration Tom breaks himself out of the shed in order to help them with the tunneling, then breaks back in, so they can rescue him the correct way. Twain may have been satirizing certain romantic novels popular at the time, such as those by Sir Walter Scott.
Now Mark! Don't get Tony going on Scott novels! I came upon a set of 28 volumes of those novels in an antique shop and gave them to Tony for Christmas in 2022, and I thought he'd never come up for air! Regarding the end of Huck Finn, some scholars find it frustrating (and it IS), but it is just like Tom Sawyer all over, for he knows that Miss Watson has given Jim his freedom, but he withholds that information to prolong "the fun" of arranging Jim's "escape." It's Jim who has to put up with the boyish shenanigans, too, not Tom, for he and Huck are both staying in the comfortable home of Tom's aunt.
Ah, yes, that makes much more sense. Thanks for the gentle correction. It's obviously been a while since I've read the book, and a re-reading is long overdue. I'll have to take a break from Anthony Trollop and make time for Twain. I do, I think, correctly remember that the name of the wrecked river boat in which Jim finds the body of Huck's evil father is the "Sir Walter Scott." My English professor theorized that this symbolized to Twain the end of the genteel image of the American South's ruling class. I think Jim also holds off on telling Huck his father is dead and that he is also, in a sense, free -- from the threat of being killed by "Pap."
I read this book eons ago when I was about 13, this post made me go dig it up to reread it!
Thank you for the healthy laugh! I needed it. There surely are a lot of valuable nuggets scattered about…Glad you are around to dig them up.
Yes, leave it to Tom to insist on doing everything by the book, and not just when playing make-believe. I vaguely remember a scene near the end of Huckleberry Finn in which Tom has been locked up in a farmer's shed for trespassing or something. Huck and Jim are trying to break him out, but they aren't going about it "by the book," which may have involved tunneling into the shed with spoons or something. Nearby shovels are not permitted. Progress with the spoons is understandably slow. So in frustration Tom breaks himself out of the shed in order to help them with the tunneling, then breaks back in, so they can rescue him the correct way. Twain may have been satirizing certain romantic novels popular at the time, such as those by Sir Walter Scott.
Now Mark! Don't get Tony going on Scott novels! I came upon a set of 28 volumes of those novels in an antique shop and gave them to Tony for Christmas in 2022, and I thought he'd never come up for air! Regarding the end of Huck Finn, some scholars find it frustrating (and it IS), but it is just like Tom Sawyer all over, for he knows that Miss Watson has given Jim his freedom, but he withholds that information to prolong "the fun" of arranging Jim's "escape." It's Jim who has to put up with the boyish shenanigans, too, not Tom, for he and Huck are both staying in the comfortable home of Tom's aunt.
Ah, yes, that makes much more sense. Thanks for the gentle correction. It's obviously been a while since I've read the book, and a re-reading is long overdue. I'll have to take a break from Anthony Trollop and make time for Twain. I do, I think, correctly remember that the name of the wrecked river boat in which Jim finds the body of Huck's evil father is the "Sir Walter Scott." My English professor theorized that this symbolized to Twain the end of the genteel image of the American South's ruling class. I think Jim also holds off on telling Huck his father is dead and that he is also, in a sense, free -- from the threat of being killed by "Pap."