Curiosity of Tom Sawyer

劉月

【Abstract】The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is considered as one of the classics among childrens literature. His curiosity wins love， especially boys and girls for Tom Sawyer is the reflection of themselves.

【Key words】curiosity； Tom Sawyer

Sparkling with mischief， jumping with youthful adventure， Mark Twains The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is one of the most terrific recreations of the childhood in all of literary works. Tom Sawyer is the first of a long line of adolescent heroes in American fictions. Since Tom Sawyer is regarded as a masterpiece in the childrens literature， the key to its success must be sought in its popularity among young readers. The paper intends to explore in what way Tom Sawyer goes along with the childrens psychology and therefore wins the admiration of young readers.

Curiosity is generally considered that it is developed strictly out of the desire to make sense of unfamiliar aspects of ones environment through interaction of exploratory behaviors.Curiosity is a basic element in childrens psychology. A child with curiosity often has wider interests in all kinds of things around him and prefers to ask a variety of questions. He/she seems to have a feeling of being eager to have a try. But the “all kinds of things” must be novel things. Curiosity behavior is a kind of behavior characterized by explanatory or stimulus-seeking responses to either novel or complex stimuli. Novelty is identified in the concept. A stimulus is novel if it is new or different. Curiosity behavior is so common that there is a general hypothesis in psychology that such behavior has an in-born basis. Curiosity is classified as one of the general drives.

As one of the general drives， curiosity plays a very important role in childrens life. For children， the world is a mysterious， fascinating， rich and colorful world. They usually spare no efforts to try to understand everything or experience everything that they become interested in. When Mark Twain creates Tom Sawyer and other characters in the story， he gives prominence to childrens curiosity， attempting to capture the general feeling of young readers.

In the story， one of the typical examples of childrens curiosity can be found in the most famous episode in Tom Sawyer – Toms deceiving his friends into “enjoying” the privilege of whitewashing Aunt Pollys fence.

Tom is punished to whitewash Aunt Pollys fence on Saturday morning when every child can go out and play. Tom attempts to persuade Jim， a colored boy， to whitewash some instead of doing it himself. He promises to show Jim his sore toe. “Jim was only human – this attraction was too much for him.” Driven by curiosity， “he put down his pail， took the white alley， and bent over the toe with absorbing interest while the bandage was being unwounded.” Jim is sure to whitewash the fence if Aunt Polly does not return from the field. Tom fails. Yet at this moment， “a great， magnificent inspiration bursts upon him.” He manages to make his hard work very novel that may arouse the curiosity of the children who pass by the fence， he even exclaims， “Like it？ Well， I dont see why I oughtnt to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day？” （Mark Twain， P18） Besides， he pretends to refuse one of his friends requests of having a try. The hard work appears so fascinating that lures all the children in the village. All of them try to be the first to enjoy the privilege of whitewashing.

From the beginning to the end of the story， Tom can talk other children into doing anything because no one really shares the experience he has read about in books. He manages to persuade Huck and Joe to take adventure on Jacksons Island with him because it appears so novel that they cannot resist having a try.

In fact curiosity plays such a great role in childrens psychology that if not compelled by curiosity， the important part of motivation， Tom Sawyer and other characters in the story would not have episodes of childish imitation， the superstitious trip to the graveyard， the adventures on the isolated island and in the cave or the discovery of the hidden gold which comprise most part of the story to young readers delight.

During his/her reading， a young reader shares the experience of Tom Sawyer. He/she is pleasantly reminded of what he/she is himself， how he/she feels and thinks， and what queer enterprises he/she sometimes engages in， all of which cannot go beyond the limit of childish curiosity. Although Tom Sawyer is intended for the entertainment of boys and girls， Mark Twain hopes it will attract men and women and the book can remind adults of what they once were themselves and what they were doing when they were at Tom Sawyers age and what their curiosity led them to.

References：

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