Today, at Off The Press, we decided to honor our proud American heritage by retelling a famous tale from long ago. A story that reminds us of the value of childhood and how we slowly mature into adults as we are constantly reminded of the world and the harsh realities that delve into it. A story of a conflicting moral view between the mischievous rascal and the good-hearted hero. We now present a retelling of Mark Twain’s classic, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
In an old house by the Mississippi River, there lived a young boy by the name of Tom Sawyer, who lived with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother, Sid Sawyer. Once, Tom Sawyer was sneaking away some of Aunt Polly’s homemade jam and hid in the closet. Aunt Polly found him and also learned from Sid that Tom was skipping school and beating one of his neighbors up in a fight. As a punishment, Aunt Polly decided to make Tom Sawyer paint the fence on Saturday when all of the other kids would be playing at the lake. Tom Sawyer grunted at the hard work when he saw all the other kids coming down the lane. Tom Sawyer wore a big smile. The other kids thought that if Tom was smiling, he was having fun painting the fence. Tom offered to let them paint the fence in exchange for some toys. With that, Tom Sawyer got some free toys as well as got his fence painted quickly to later play with his friends.
Another time, Tom was sent to his room early because Aunt Polly thought he took the jam. It was actually Sid who took the jam, but since Tom Sawyer was usually seen as a troublemaker, he got the punishment. Tom Sawyer was so angry that he decided to run away from home. He met up with his friend, Huckleberry Finn, and made his way to a little island on the Mississippi River using a raft. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn played many games while living on the island and ate some sandwiches they packed in advance. However, Tom started to miss home, so he and Huck went back. However, they found everyone had set a funeral for them because they missed them so much. Tom and Huck surprised everyone at the funeral, which made everyone happy that the boys were safe.
Another time, Tom learned that a new girl named Becky Thatcher was going to the same school as he was. Tom was infatuated with Becky and decided to try to impress her. However, when Becky learned that Tom was seeing another girl named Amy, she didn’t want to talk to Tom anymore. However, Becky once accidentally spilled ink all over the teacher’s papers, so Tom decided to take the blame for Becky. Becky saw Tom as a good person.
Finally, Tom and Huck were exploring the graveyard, where they saw an old criminal named Evil-Eyed Joe robbing Dr. Robinson. However, Dr. Robinson couldn’t see very well, so he blamed another person named Muff Potter. Tom and Huck wanted to tell them what happened, but they were afraid that Evil-Eyed Joe would try to get them. At the trial, Tom finally decided to tell the truth and pointed to Evil-Eyed Joe as the culprit. This got Evil-Eyed Joe so angry that he chased Tom and Huck into a giant cave. However, using their smarts, Tom and Huck tied up Evil-Eyed Joe with some vines and saved the day. After all of his adventures, Tom learned about what it was like to grow up and take initiative, and to care about the others around you.
