History Literature / TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer

There have been many adaptations of this novel over the years: Films for the big and small screens (in 1973 alone it yielded both a big-screen musical with Creator/JodieFoster as Becky Thatcher, and a MadeForTVMovie), a short-lived [[Theatre/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer Broadway musical in 2001]], a DirectToVideo [[WesternAnimation/TomSawyer2000 animated version]] with a FunnyAnimal cast, and an anime version for ''Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater''. Believe it or not, it's even been adapted into two games for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]]. One is a PlatformGame developed by SETA and the other is a RolePlayingGame by [[Creator/SquareEnix Square]] that wasn't exported beyond Japan.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Tom's younger half-brother Sid actively tries to get him in trouble. Tom is always looking for chances to even the score, such as by throwing dirt clods at him.

* DIYDentistry: When Aunt Polly discovers that Tom has a loose tooth, she has Tom's tooth tied to the bedpost with a silk string and uses a hot coal to scare him into jumping away, yanking the tooth out.

* TheToothHurts: Tom has a toothache and Aunt Polly decides the tooth has to come out. She ties one end of a string to the tooth and the other end to a bedpost, then frightens Tom with a hot coal. When Tom jerks away, the string yanks out the tooth.

* BoysLikeCreepyCritters: While Tom is in church he plays with a "pinchbug" ("large black beetle with formidable jaws") he had caught earlier. Later on he plays with it again at school, aided by his friend Joe Harper.

* BuriedAlive: Injun Joe dies a horrible death when the cave is sealed up to keep more children from getting lost in it. No one knows he's inside until it's too late.

* GoodBehaviorPoints: The Sunday school gives tickets to students for mesmerizing [[Literature/TheBible Bible]] verses. Two verses are worth a blue ticket, ten blue tickets are worth a red ticket, ten red are worth one yellow, and with ten yellow tickets, which amounted to 2000 verses, one Bible was offered to the pupil. Tom Sawyer manages to buy points from other pupils with items they gave him the day before to paint his wall, and thus was given a Bible. One German-born pupil managed to get 5 or 6 books this way.

* GuiltyUntilSomeoneElseIsGuilty: Muff Potter is accused of the murder of Dr. Robinson--an allegation he doesn't contest because he blacked out drunk at the crime scene and woke up with a knife in his hand. After his arrest, no one in town doubts that he did it. When he is about to be sentenced to death, [[spoiler:Tom Sawyer steps out at the trial because he and Huckleberry Finn witnessed Injun Joe commit the act and then frame Muff. Joe, who is present, flees from the courtroom]], leading to all charges against Muff be dropped.

* CatConcerto: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]; Huck complains about a time that he had to stand around [[NobodyHereButUsBirds meowing to signal Tom]] until a guy started throwing rocks at him through a window and exclaiming, "Dern that cat!"
* ChekhovsGun: Tom accumulates loot in the form of various odds and ends which the other kids offered him in exchange for whitewashing the fence. Later on, Tom trades pieces of his loot to the Sunday school children in exchange for raffle tickets which he redeems for a Bible.

* AttendingYourOwnFuneral: A strong contender for the TropeCodifier. After supposedly being killed, Tom and his two friends wander into their own funeral while a eulogy is being given for them.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Sid, who actively tries to get Tom in trouble. Tom eventually manages to get rid of him by [[FencePainting tricking Sid into doing Tom's chores for him]].

[[caption-width-right:299:[[Music/{{Rush}} His mind is not for rent to any god or government.]]]]

* AbusiveParents: Huck's dad.

* TheAlcoholic: Huck's dad, Muff Potter, and Injun Joe.

* [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Sister Instinct]]: Mary to Tom (especially) and Sid.

* FreudianTrio: Tom (ego), Huck (id), Becky (superego).

* OperationJealousy: Tom and Becky do this on each other.

* PuppyLove: Tom and Becky, of course.

* TheSavageIndian: Injun Joe

* {{Tsundere}}: Becky is a type A.

There have been many adaptations of this novel over the years: Films for the big and small screens (in 1973 alone it yielded both a big-screen musical and a MadeForTVMovie), a short-lived [[Theatre/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer Broadway musical in 2001]], a DirectToVideo [[WesternAnimation/TomSawyer2000 animated version]] with a FunnyAnimal cast, and an anime version for ''Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater''. Believe it or not, it's even been adapted into two games for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]]. One is a PlatformGame developed by SETA and the other is a RolePlayingGame by [[Creator/SquareEnix Square]] that wasn't exported beyond Japan.

* MixedAncestry: Injun Joe. He's even called "Half-Breed" several times.

* FreeRangeChildren: To the extent that parents only worry if their kids don't come home for two or three nights in a row. After a local girl's birthday party, one of the planned activities was letting the kids wander through a cave and its elaborate system of unexplored tunnels, a cave where more than a few people have gotten lost and died.

--> As Twain notes, "So they inwardly resolved that so long as they remained in the business, their piracies should not again be sullied with the crime of stealing."

* DisappearedDad: We are told Tom's mother has passed away, though not when or how. What happened to his father—and for that matter what happened to Sid and Mary's dad—is never explained, nor yet what became of Mary's father (she presumably being Aunt Polly's biological daughter).

* DisappearedDad: We are told Tom's mother has passed away, though not when or how. What happened to his father -- and for that matter what happened to Sid and Mary's dad -- is never explained.

* AgeAppropriateAngst: Tom's biggest concerns are having to do chores and getting in trouble with the adult authority figures in his life. It's {{Lampshaded}}. [[spoiler:And eventually subverted when he has to deal with ''very'' age-inappropriate angst, namely witnessing a murder and having to weigh the cost of testifying to absolve a man who was falsely accused, thereby incriminating the real murderer, a man who definitely WouldHurtAChild.]]

* AgeAppropriateAngst: Tom's biggest concerns are having to do chores and getting in trouble with the adult authority figures in his life.

* {{Delinquents}}: Huck is seen as this by the rest of the town; naturally, Tom and his friends idolize Huck.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Sid. Tom eventually manages to get rid of him by [[FencePainting tricking Sid into doing Tom's chores for him]].