Mark Twain’s enduringly popular tale of frontier life on the Mississippi,
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, was filled
with elements of the author’s own young life. It is popular with children but it offers the mature reader more than picaresque
sketches in its satire and literary innovation. By the time of its publication he was already a noted humorist with a number of books to his name including
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavera County and other Sketches (1867) and
The Innocents Abroad (1869). However, it was the tale of Tom Sawyerand his
adventures with his unruly companion Huckleberry Finn, published in 1876, that brought him long lasting fame. Tom is an energetic and audacious boy who lives with his Aunt Polly in the quiet environs of St Petersburg, Missouri. With Huck Finn, Tom finds himself a part in many escapades involving a murder, the framing of a drunken man called Muff Potter, the nefarious Injun Joe, and an unintentional three-day sojourn in a cave with his sweetheart Becky Thatcher. These exploits are continued in
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.