Tom Sawyer Guided Questions with Answers

Tom Sawyer Guided Questions with answers

1) Explain why Tom is painting in a tranquil way.

(He wants to appear undisturbed and relaxed in order to give the impression that the work he is doing is enjoyable.)

2) Reread lines 15–17. What does Twain mean when he says Ben’s “heart was light and his anticipations high”?

(Possible answer: Ben is feeling happy and carefree.) What is the impact of the phrase on the tone or feeling of the text? (It creates some suspense about how Ben’s encounter with Tom will go because his good mood is in stark contrast to the way Tom is feeling.)

A third-person narrator can sometimes be omniscient, or all knowing. An omniscient narrator knows everything about the characters and the story events.

3) Reread lines 53–64. What are two things that the omniscient narrator knows and tells readers that Ben Rogers does not know?

(Tom actually does notice Ben’s presence even though he says he “warn’t noticing. ” Tom considers painting the fence work although he says otherwise and claims that it “suits” him.) What effect does the narrator’s point of view create? (Possible answer: The narrator is leading readers to suspect what Tom might do to avoid his work.)

Irony is a special kind of contrast in which reality is the opposite of what it seems. In one type of irony, dramatic irony, the reader knows something that a story character does not.

4) Reread lines 80–92. What do readers know that Ben does not?

(Ben doesn’t know that Tom really wants him to paint the fence and that the story Tom is telling is untrue.)

5) How does Twain create dramatic irony here?

(The true situation is revealed to readers by the omniscient narrator who tells the story from the third-person point of view.)

6) Why, according to Tom, Aunt Polly is particular about this fence. (It’s in the front of the house, right “on the street” where everyone will see it.) Which fence would she be less particular about? (the back fence)

7) Explain why Tom feels “alacrity in his heart” as Ben is about to begin working.

(Tom is cheerful and eager on the inside because he has gotten what he wants all along: Ben will do his work while he relaxes and enjoys eating the apple. However, Tom can’t allow his true feelings to show because then Ben might realize he has been tricked.)

The style of a literary work is the way in which it is written. Style refers to how something is said, not what is said. Explain that Twain’s tone, or attitude toward his subject, is part of

his writing style.

8) Reread lines 105–119 to identify parts of the text that contribute to Twain’s style. How do Twain’s word choices impact the tone?

(Possible answer: “from being a poor poverty-stricken boy in the morning, Tom was literally rolling in wealth”; “a key that wouldn’t unlock anything”; “a dog-collar—but no dog”; “If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, he would have bankrupted every boy in the village. ” Twain’s word choices create a humorous tone.)

The tone is a writer’s attitude toward his or her subject.

9) Reread the sentence in lines 124–127. What is the impact of this sentence on the tone of the text?

(The sentence creates a humorous tone.) Who is Twain making fun of? (himself: “a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book”)