Yep, I am back after a long hiatus and a lot has happened since then. I have read many, many books including Life of Pi, Cloud Atlas, a rereading of Les Miserables and A Passage to India. I will talk about those at a later date.
As I said, a lot has happened since that time. We have moved from one town to another and I am now a Functional Skills Tutor within a prison. Very hard, I hear you say. Yes it is, but it is also very rewarding at times. When I can I read avidly and that is how I read so many really good novels.
Just recently, I have read 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and I was so impressed with the way that Mark Twain writes. I remember an American TV adaptation of that and Huckleberry Finn both of which were aired when I was just a child. and just really sympathising with Tom, who is not a 'good' character as such. He is a naughty child with a heart of gold and always gets into trouble. The book puts him in a more sympathetic light, however, as he is always portrayed as someone who means to do well but just about doesn't manage to get it right....until the end that is. Huck is another interesting character that Twain develops further in the second book. He lives away from civilisation (unlike Tom) who is civilised and is content with his situation of living without constraints even when he and Tom come across the treasure that Injun Joe had buried. When offered the fruits of labour he simply refused it and went back to living like a hermit almost.....until Tom enticed him back.
Twain makes many great comments about childhood and civilisation in a novel that is full of contradiction. For instance, negroes are portrayed 'as they were' in Missouri in the mid-nineteenth century before Emancipation and Abraham Lincoln. For many of those studying and teaching Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn this has been problematic because even though Mark Twain was anti-slavery he did use the potentially offensive term within both books where they are portrayed as having no autonomy of their own.
There are many themes running through Tom Sawyer and they are well handled by an author at the height of his powers.
Well this is all I have time for now. Night night
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