Ok guys, so leik for spring break my English homework is to write an Essay and make it 20/20 (Damn English honours!). Because I'm hopless at doing this, I decided to post my current essay up here and see if anyone can help me in making it better! :D
I can also post the marking criteria if anyone want. =3
Question: Create an Essay on writer's craft in Tom Sawyer.
When we are young, we act immature and know only of games and fun and cannot comprehend responsibilities; but as we grow, we begin to gain responsibility and maturity. This theme is expressed in Mark Twain’s book “Tom Sawyer.” The story speaks of a cunning and mischievous boy named Tom’s journey from an irresponsible young to lad to a somewhat responsible adolescent. Mark Twain, throughout his story, uses a series of techniques to define his characters; most notably through satire and authorial speech. Throughout the book, Tom encounters events which gradually lead him to a grown up character.
In the ninth chapter, Twain uses setting to create an eerie atmosphere suitable for introducing a vengeful man; Injun Joe. The graveyard, to the reader, is described as a terrible place: Twain creates this image by describing the tombstone as “worm eaten boards staggered over the graves leaning place for support and finding none”. As Tom and Huck first enter the graveyard, they are characterised as superstitious children from their fear that a slight wind might be “the spirits of the dead complaining at being disturbed.” The boys, scared by their superstitions “talked little, and only under their breath.” When the boys see the doctor, Muff Potter and Injun Joe, they even fear that the three figures are may be “devils”. In this chapter, Injun Joe is also characterised as a sly and vengeful character from his speech; we are told that after the doctor is tricked into paying Injun Joe in advance, Joe takes revenge of himself from “five years ago” when he was “[driven] away from [the doctor’s] father’s kitchen” by the Doctor . Injun, even when he was young was the way he was today. He swore that he’d “get even with [the doctor] even if it took one hundred years.” It also seems that vengeance and hatred also ran through “Injun blood,” Near the end of the chapter Twain makes Injun talks about how he “won’t go back” on Muff potter, hinting that the opposite will happen in the future and creating a sense of irony.
In the seventeenth chapter, the boys are approached by a terrifying storm. The storm is in a way, a metaphor for what happens to one when he is away from society; unprotected, fragile, and unsafe. This also reflects Huck’s life in contrast to that of the other boys’ lives, as Huck has already lived like this for a long time. By making the storm take place in midnight, Twain creates a frightening atmosphere to the storm. Twain also uses extended metaphor to describes the storm as a “battle”, when “every now and then, a tree yielded the fight and crashed through the younger growth”, to describe how intense this storm was. Twain’s use of diction such as the verbs “stumbling” and “struggled” describes how clumsy and unprepared the boys were. When ‘at last the battle was done”, the boys “sat by the fire and expanded the glorified and midnight adventure till morning,”. Here the word “adventure” suggests that the storm was not at all frightening, but just a exciting experience: Twain uses this to satirise the boys as children who “expand” things to cover up their fear and defeat. When the boys finally feel “a little homesick once more.” Twain once again characterises Tom as here as an irresponsible child by making him try to act tough and “[fall] to cheering the pirates as well as he could”. Tom’s brilliant idea of “knock[Ing] off being a pirate for a while, and be Indians for a change” attracted the boys so much that “it was not long before they were stripped and striped from head to toe with black mud,” The boys settle back to their old playful selves and decide to “smoke a little without having to go and hunt for a lost knife”, Twain here once again satirises them as immature young “lads” who make excuses for their failure. In this chapter, Twain to punish the boys for being selfish and playing like Indians despite the worried people in the village.
In chapter 21 Twain uses diction to characterise Tom as noble and responsible boy. At the beginning of the chapter Twain makes Tom apologise to Becky for being “mighty mean” to characterise Tom in his speech and show that he has learnt to be responsible. Becky’s stubborn rejection of Tom’s apology makes her seem like a spoiled princess. Tom “moped into the schoolyard wishing she were a boy, and imagining how he would trounce her if she were.” Here we discover that Tom, though a little bit more grown-up, still has a “boy-ish” mind. But even after finding a perfect time to take revenge to Becky, “[h]e could get up no exultation that was really worthy the name” Here Twain shows us that Tom has grown more responsible. And after seeing Becky’s nervousness Tom’s conscience kicks in and tells him that “something must be done”. Tom’s final decision to cover up for Becky is Twain’s way of showing his newly found maturity.
Although during the end of the book, Tom still has not fully matured, but dramatically improved from the beginning of the book.
He has gone from a boy who only knew of games and fun to a noble, responsible character.