Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Teaser Tuesday 328: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Jenn of Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current book or recent read.
* Share a few "teaser" sentences from somewhere in the book.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!



In honor of Banned Books Month, I bring you a snippet from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. This book is frequently challenged because it is "racially insensitive," "oppressive," and "perpetuates racism." Parents also often object to the behavior of the children in the book. This scene places Tom and Huck in a graveyard at midnight.



The boys bent their heads together and scarcely breathed. A muffled sound of voices floated up from the far end of the graveyard.

Some vague figures approached through the gloom, swinging an old-fashioned tin lantern that freckled the ground with innumerable little spangles of light. Presently Huckleberry whispered with a shudder:

"It's the devils sure enough."

(Chapter 9)



ABOUT THE BOOK:
Originally published in 1876


The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the first of Mark Twain's novels to feature one of the best-loved characters in American fiction, with a critical introduction by John Seelye in Penguin Classics. From the famous episodes of the whitewashed fence and the ordeal in the cave to the trial of Injun Joe, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is redolent of life in the Mississippi River towns in which Twain spent his own youth. A sombre undercurrent flows through the high humour and unabashed nostalgia of the novel, however, for beneath the innocence of childhood lie the inequities of adult reality—base emotions and superstitions, murder and revenge, starvation and slavery. In his illuminating introduction, noted Twain scholar John Seelye considers Twain's impact on American letters and discusses the balance between humorous escapades and serious concern that is found in much of Twain's writing.




2 comments:

Alice Audrey said...

Seems like this reads moodier out of context than in. Great teaser.

Heather said...

I don't know...this is a pretty intense scene in the book.