Maturity In Tom Sawyer

"Maturity is the ability to think, speak and act your feeling within the bounds of dignity." - Samuel Ullman. This is something that Tom Sawyer does not develop over the course of the novel. Tom Sawyer is a young boy in a small town that lives with his aunt. Tom is very rebellious and immature which are qualities that he maintains until the end. Tom goes on many adventures with his friends and frequently ends up in dangerous situations that fill his aunt and the rest of his town with anxiety. Tom does not mature over the course of the novel because his attitude, actions, and overall mindset stays the same even after his emotional experiences.

To begin, Tom 's attitude stays the same throughout the story. From the start he is portrayed as a

It would seem that Tom does mature because he begins to show appreciation towards his aunt near the end of the book. His actions and words show that he does love his aunt and respects her. This however does not mean that Tom has matured. He would be considered more mature if he stopped rebelling against his aunt, but this doesn 't happen. He may love and respect her, but he still pertains to his rash and rebellious nature which does not show any sign of maturity. Even if Tom has gained a broader understanding of the world around him and himself throughout his experiences, he hasn 't shown any sign of it. If he had matured over the course of the novel, he wouldn 't have created a gang as shown on page 209, "Just as dead earnest as I 'm a-sitting here. But, Huck, we can 't let you into the gang if you ain 't respectable, you know?" This quote shows that Tom might have actually become less mature of the course of the novel. You can 't deny that creating a gang is an action that is very look down upon. Even though Tom may seem as though he were just creating an imaginary gang, earlier in the novel Tom and Huck thought of creating a gang and actually stealing from