Tom Sawyer As A Naughty Child: A Probe Into The Profile Of Tom Sawyer In The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is one of the Mark Twain’s magnum opuses, whowas an outstanding representative of critical realism literature in the late19th century inAmerica. From the perspective of a naughty child Tom Sawyer, he ruthlessly castigatedand ridiculed the boring life, the ridiculous hypocrisy and the backward and deformededucation system in the south area of America in the1850s and1860s. The rebelliousimage of Tom Sawyer achieved something in common with the critical tendency in thiswork. Tom Sawyer is a typical image of naughty children. His pursuit of and desire forthe vitality, his spirit to break away from various constraints and seek his own worldhave demonstrated his positive attitude towards life. Ever since the creation of thischaracter, such a classical image of a naughty child has been popular with children andadults all over the world. This paper firstly expounds the relationship between thechanges of the outlooks on children and the historical development of the image ofnaughty children from the angle of outlooks on children. The relationship between thisnovel and Mark Twain’s childhood life is explored at the same time. Then sometheoretical issues concerned with naughty children are discussed from the perspectiveof naughty children and playing spirit. And the aesthetic connotations of the characterTom Sawyer are analyzed from three aspects: carnival, power and humor. Finally, thesignificance of Tom Sawyer who was created as a naughty child is explored. Theinnovative significance of this study goes as follows: this study puts forward its ownviews on the image of naughty children, and conducts a systematic analysis on sometheoretical issues related with it. Besides, it also investigates the special aestheticconnotations reflected via the image of the naughty child, Tom Sawyer.