1086 Twain, Mark
communIty in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The community of St. Petersburg, Missouri, wit-
nesses several extraordinary moments one summer
in the 1840s due to a series of exciting events: mur-
der, children who seem to have returned from the
dead, failed attempts at murderous revenge, and a
successful treasure hunt.
The small town described by Mark Twain resem-
bles many American communities of his time. It has
its fixed social hierarchy, with the lawyer Thatcher
and his visiting brother, the great county judge
Thatcher, at one extreme; and Huckleberry Finn, the
pariah of the village, the son of a drunkard, dreaded
by mothers for the bad example he sets for their sons,
at the other. In between, there are people belonging
to all professions, such as Dr. Robinson; Schoolmas-
ter Dobbins; the Sunday School superintendent Mr.
Walters; Mr. Jones, the librarian; and women such
Mrs. Thatcher, the rich and generous Widow Doug-
las, Mrs. Harper, and Aunt Polly. Among the low-
ranked are Muff Potter, the harmless town drunk;
and Injun Joe, “the half-breed,” the quintessence
of evil in society. The community is a very coher-
ent structure, a mechanism with people occupying
specific places and performing specific tasks. That is
why it is inclined to be suspicious of outsiders, such
as Huck or Injun Joe, and tends to marginalize them.
Nevertheless, the community proves flexible enough
to accept and integrate “the good bad boy” (Huck)
and utterly exclude the villain (Injun Joe) by symbol-
ically triple-locking the door to the cave he hides in.
St. Petersburg acts like an organism bored with
its routine and alert to anything that brings color
to its life. It generally feeds on news, and anything
worth its attention spreads in five minutes. Gossip
is a major activity, and it generates admiration, envy,
and sympathy according to the circumstances. The
community behaves like a unitary body, and every
single member is a cell that the whole must pro-
tect, support, encourage, or boast about. Whenever
a tragic incident occurs—Dr. Robinson’s murder,
Huck and Tom’s supposed drowning, or Tom and
Becky’s disappearance—the whole congregation
assembles, and the bereaved families have their sym-
pathy. The same holds true for the happy moments
when the village rejoices over the rescued children
or the Widow Douglas throws a party to celebrate
the victory of good over evil and Huck is officially
accepted into their ranks.
Public opinion is important, and Tom seeks vis-
ibility all the time. He fights for a higher place in
the community’s esteem and is finally granted one
by his finding of the treasure. His biography will
appear in the local newspaper, and he will turn into
a local mentor. He will also embody the community
aspirations when Judge Thatcher envisages a great
career for him in law or in the army.
But this community also falls victim to its own
limitations. It is replete with superstitions; with
hasty judgments, as in the case of Muff Potter; and
with foolish pardoning, as in the case of Injun Joe. It
can be easily manipulated, as in the general ransack-
ing of all haunted houses for buried treasures.
The small community of St. Petersburg includes
the smaller community of children, which basically
mirrors the community of grown-ups. The same
hierarchy is maintained with one important differ-
ence. The children are still romantic, brave, inventive,
less self-centered as a group, cherishing freedom.
Tom tries to conform to the rules of his community,
but most of the time they come into contradiction
with his nature. But Tom will change. It finally
becomes obvious that he will embrace the principles
of the conventional community that made him their
hero, while Huck will resist “civilization” and make
the perfect outcast, the social misfit.
The ideal place of gathering for the community
of St. Petersburg is the church where social person-
alities share the same space with ordinary people.
The church functions, just like the school for chil-
dren, as a place of communication, of communion,
of maintaining social differences but at the same
time of leveling these very differences since people
are equally prone to happiness and misfortune. They
are all equal in front of God.
Though the book recounts the adventures of
Tom Sawyer, one can feel his adventures turn into
the adventures of his community. The community
acts as a guide to Tom’s journey into maturity: It is
his best friend and bitterest critic; what happens to
him happens to them. The book shows the power
of community, its solidarity and profound sense of
responsibility toward its members.
Aloisia Sorop