The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Summary | Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

The old woman is looking high and low and is calling out for the boy, Tom. Aunt Polly looks under the bed, in the garden, and finally in a closet from which he emerges and she is quick enough to grab him. By looking at his face, she can tell he has been in the jam and scolds him and just when she thinks she has him for good, he tells her to look behind her and when she does, he escapes. Tom's aunt knows full well that he will play hooky for the rest of the day but he is out of her grasp.

Polly scolds herself for not being wise to his tricks by now. Tom is her dead sister's son and she has taken him to raise and is trying to do good by him, but he is making it quite a challenge. However, Aunt Polly doesn't have the heart to spank him so the only punishment she can ever come up with is some work around the house because Tom hates that more than anything.

Tom did play hooky and got home in time to tell Jim, the colored boy who worked at the house. Tom's half brother Sid was not around for Tom to tell - besides he was a good boy not prone to adventures.

At suppertime, Aunt Polly tries to catch Tom up on his going swimming that afternoon instead of going to school, but he successfully evades her questioning and was now on to his next area of interest: whistling. Tom has just learned and wanted some time alone to perfect his art and that's what he was doing when he runs into a boy a little bit bigger than he. This boy is dressed up which is odd for a weekday. The boy has shoes on too and it was only Friday.

The two boys face off, trying to see who is the braver of the two and Tom emerges the victor and the boy goes off sobbing and threatening retribution. Tom only taunts him, follows him home, and makes threats until the boy's mother comes out and shoos him away. Upon seeing the condition of his clothes when he returns home, Aunt Polly pronounces that tomorrow will be spent in work.

When Saturday morning comes, Tom learns that his work sentence is to whitewash the front fence.... 30 yards long and nine feet high. Tom is in utter despair at the ruination of his day and he knows that the other boys will be along soon and will jab at him for his punishment. Then Tom is struck with an inspiration. Ben Rogers, who is approaching and impersonating the sounds of a steamboat, will be his first victim.

Tom positions the whitewashing job as one that doesn't come along just everyday and not just anyone is capable of doing it. It takes someone with considerable skill to accomplish such an important job. Taking the bait, Ben trades his apple for the paintbrush and works until the next victim comes along. All tolled, Tom makes quite a killing that afternoon in the form of tadpoles, firecrackers, kittens, and other treasures, and would have ended the day even wealthier if he hadn't run out of the precious whitewash.