The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Chapters 9-12
Chapter 9 adds an exciting element. Tom and Huckleberry head for the graveyard like they had planned, though it is late at night (Tom had to be woken up from a doze). They wait a while, and the graveyard is scary. Of course, the boys are freaked out.
Three beings come into sight. At first, the boys think that these beings are demons, but they all turn out to be humans. One is a Dr. Robinson, one is Injun Joe (who I'm guessing is half Indian), and the other is Muff Potter, who is drunk almost all the time. The later two dig up the recently-dead body that the boys were near, and then demand payment. And then, when Dr. Robinson doesn't agree, Injun Joe reminds the doctor of an old grievance and oath for vengeance. A fight soon ensues. Dr. Robinson manages to knock out Muff Potter, but he ends up losing the battle... forever. Injun Joe uses Muff Potter's dropped knife to kill the doctor. The boys flee at this, but somehow stay unseen by the murderer.
When Muff Potter awakes, Injun Joe has set it up so it looks like Muff Potter did it. He even lies and says that Muff Potter killed Dr. Robinson! Muff Potter believes it, and quickly begins to run.
Chapter 10 returns to the boys. They run into an old tannery. They are positive that if they tell, Injun Joe might get away from a hanging, and come to kill them. So they decide to be silent about all this. They make a blood oath. Tom writes the oath on a piece of wood, and then the boys use their blood, from a needle-prick in their thumbs, to sign their initials. They bury the oath, and do some ceremonies and incantations.
They are soon frightened by a stray dog. They think they're in big trouble, and are very frightened, for their lives and the afterlives. But, luckily, it wasn't barking at them. They soon discover a sleeping Muff Potter, and figure out that the dog is barking at him.
The boys part ways. Tom gets home, but doesn't notice that Sid's awake. He goes to sleep, and Sid goes to tattle. Tom wakes up late, and soon discovers that he has been ratted out.
But nothing happens until after breakfast. Aunt Polly takes him to the side, and says stuff that makes Tom feel very guilty. He begs for forgiveness, but doesn't leave with a light heart at all, though it felt like he had the victory. His guilt and heavy heart follow him all the way to school. Finding his special prize (the one he tried to give Becky) wrapped up at his desk only makes things worse.
In Chapter 11, the news of the murder gets out. Mark Twain notes that there were no telegraphs then, but the word still spreads quickly. It's well-known by noon. School takes the afternoon off.
Tom follows everyone to the graveyard to see the sight. Muff Potter returns there and is captured. He says he tried to run, but could only come here. He claims not to have done it (though he believed the lie Injun Joe had told him the night before). He looks to Injun Joe for help, but Injun Joe only lies.
Huckleberry is there as well, and both boys feel guilty. But they stay silent... part of it is that they feel like Injun Joe has sold his soul to Satan. And they both want lightning to come and strike Injun Joe, but no luck. They then feel fascinated, and even decide mentally to start watching him at night to see if they can see the devil himself!
Tom's mind and guilt starts to bug him constantly. Sid even starts hearing his brother talk in his sleep! Polly is the unexpected rescuer, saying that the murder has been giving everyone nightmares. But Tom begins to talk of a toothache so he can wear a bandage when he sleeps. Sid secretly takes off the bandage when his brother sleeps so he can hear the mutterings, but puts it back and doesn't say a word. And Tom eventually gets tired of it, and decides it doesn't matter if Sid hears it. He figures his brother won't be able to figure it out.
But Tom still feels guilty. He starts sneaking off to the jail every day or every other day. Once there, he slips in small stuff through to Muff Potter to help him. This helps to ease his conscience. Luckily, there's no guards to stop or see him do this.
The people want to dunk Injun Joe in tar and feathers, and then do something else, because of the grave-robbery. But Injun Joe has been careful in his statements. And he has such a formidable, no one wants to take charge of dealing with this case. The matter is put down. No one truly wants to deal with it in courts, or take it there yet.
Chapter 12 shows Tom in a sorrowful mood. He has new worries. Becky hasn't come to school in a long time, and it's upsetting Tom.
We learn something about Aunt Polly here. Aunt Polly is a nut about health-stuff and medicines. She has ton of medical periodicals (which I'm guessing are like magazines). She uses all sorts of cures and medicines... though never on herself, since she doesn't fall sick somehow. She doesn't even care if the periodicals contradict what the last issue states... she believes every word!
Then Tom starts acting weird because of his emotional issues, and he doesn't tell what's wrong. Aunt Polly then brings out the "weapons" of medicine. She uses a new water technique she's learned. And, when Tom doesn't get better, she brings out more and more stuff.
Then she learns of a new medicine. She stops all the other techniques, and starts using that. Tom starts perking up, though it's because he's decided to start doing so. But he needs a good ploy. So he bugs Aunt Polly for the medicine, saying he needs it. Aunt Polly eventually tells him to have as much as he wants, and watches the bottle. The medicine level decreases, but she doesn't know Tom is spilling it down a crack in the floor.
Then the cat, Peter, wants some of the medicine. After making sure it's what the cat wants and the cat is sure, Tom gives him some. The cat immediately goes hyper, and basically wrecks the house in a super-happy cat-fit.
Polly comes home, and demands to know what happened. Tom doesn't tell at first, but Aunt Polly soon sees the tattle-tell spoon. There's a bit of an interaction, which ends with Aunt Polly realizing that what may be cruel to a cat may also be cruel to a boy. She lets Tom go after this.
Home isn't the only place where Tom has been acting weird. He's been acting weird at school. He comes early instead of late. And instead of playing with his friends, he's hanging out at the gate and looking out for Becky. He checks every girl, and is mad when it isn't the right one.
Tom gets a delightful surprise at school. Becky finally comes back! He starts to show off and stuff to get her attention. But she ignores him for a good, long while. When Tom finally gets a response, it's a prideful and mean one. He's hurt, of course.
The boys did not make a good move! When they saw the murder, they should have told an adult! However, Mark Twain does a very good job at giving a reason for this wrong decision. The fact that they were afraid for their lives was a very believable reason for not telling anyone. Mark Twain did a very good job in that respect.
Mark Twain does a very good job at showing how gullible Aunt Polly is when it comes to the health stuff. He shows very clearly that she is a victim and heavily addicted to this stuff. And he even mentions that she's so into it, that she believes everything, even if the last issue of the "magazine" (which is the closest I think the modern world has to a periodical) contradicts what the current issue says!
Mark Twain also does a good job on Tom Sawyer. He shows Tom's guilt, and actions due to the guilt, very nicely. He also does a good job showing how Tom was distracted by the Becky problem. He also did a good job showing Tom's cleverness once again with the whole "need-medicine" plan.
Mark Twain did not do a good job on every character, though. I did not get the attitude change in Becky. She was not a prideful and mean girl during the rest of the book. And there was no explanation for the sudden change. However, it might have just been because the main character didn't know. But I still feel like we, the readers, should have been given a reason. Mark Twain has done this before, and it's annoying he decided not to now!
And that's not the only thing Mark Twain doesn't give a reason for the actions, for whatever unknown reason. For example, I didn't get the sudden change in attitude when Tom started perking up. Why did he decide to perk up? I feel like if the reason was given, it wasn't given clearly. But it was more like no reason was given. And, unlike the Becky scene, I don't feel like this was just because the main character didn't know, because it was about the main character! It was annoying, and it made things confusing and odd!
And that was not a good move for Mark Twain... while I get that making things confusing can be a ploy to get you to stick in the book, but it's a risky ploy. Plus, this was not a scene where a ploy like that should have been played. It should have been explained, and, if a reason was given, explained better. This helps not only for us to understand the character's reasoning, but it makes the book more enjoyable, because we understand. But when we don't understand, we don't enjoy it nearly as much as we could if we understood it.
And Mark Twain has a slight head-hopping problem. I've noticed this before, but Mark Twain manages to switch viewpoints, but with no visible signs, like paragraph spaces or a line of asterisks. He does mention which character we're looking through in the actual paragraph, however, but I sometimes have to check back to make sure that we're looking through this guy's eyes now. For example, in the murder aftermath scene, I had to check back to make sure the boys ran away, and we were now looking through Injun Joe's viewpoint. This is kind of annoying, though I know that this problem could have been ten times worse.
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