Tom Sawyer Chapter 1 Dialectical Journal

1) The first three chapters present this period in American history by showing us the life of a boy at the time, Tom Sawyer. From his adventures, Twain depicts that the education at the time was not as well enforced and as serious as it is today, which is shown by Tom not going to school, but instead, he went swimming. Furthermore, Twain depicts religion at the time to be a formal event, shown through the way Tom had to wash himself and dress for his Sunday school. In addition to this. Twain depicts that religious knowledge is something that the children should be rewarded for, to get the honor of a bible and a ceremony.
2) Some passages in where Mark Twain uses humor or sarcasm to critique the traditions of small-town life include the excerpt, “He had shoes on and it was only a Friday.” (Twain, 11) Here, Twain critiques that Sunday dress is very different from the clothes worn every other day. Along with this, the passage, “And while she closed with a happy Scriptural flourish, he ‘hooked’ a doughnut.” (Twain, 21), critiques just how troublemakers like Tom cause trouble, by showing how Tom went against the speech about a hard earned treat tastes better by stealing a doughnut. Even more, the excerpt, “His soul was at peace, now that he had settled with Sid for calling attention to his black thread and getting him into trouble.” (Twain, 21), critiques the fact that some people are vengeful. Furthermore, another excerpt where Twain critiques the
And as to the question about Twain’s use of humor, I do not think that it reflects skepticism and distrust towards the society portrayed in the story, because so far the bulk of the humor seems to be in good nature and not pointing fatal flaws in the way the society