Inside the story
Meet Tom Sawyer
Tom Sawyer is a mischievous, imaginative boy growing up in St. Petersburg, Missouri, where he is the ward of his Aunt Polly. At the story’s outset, he is more interested in adventure and glory than in chores, school, or church, and he is always devising schemes to avoid them.
On the page
A barefoot boy of about twelve with a sun-freckled, tanned face and tousled brown hair, bright restless eyes full of mischief, dressed in a patched homespun shirt and rolled-up suspendered trousers with a battered straw hat, typical of an 1840s Missouri river-town boy.
