The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Character Guide

Spoiler-free — fuller detail (with spoilers, if you want them) lives in the reader's Guide tab.

Tom Sawyer

A mischievous, imaginative boy living with his Aunt Polly in the town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, forever scheming ways to avoid chores and school while chasing adventure and glory.

Aunt Polly

Tom's kind but exasperated guardian, who struggles to discipline him even as she dotes on him.

Sid

Tom's well-behaved half-brother, a model of quiet obedience who often gets Tom into trouble by tattling.

Mary

Tom's cousin, a sweet-tempered girl who helps look after him and encourages his better behavior.

Huckleberry Finn (Huck)

The town's outcast boy, son of the local drunkard, who lives freely outside respectable society and becomes Tom's closest partner in adventure.

Becky Thatcher

The new girl in town and Judge Thatcher's daughter, who quickly becomes the object of Tom's romantic attention.

Joe Harper

Tom's good friend and frequent partner in games of pirates and robbers.

Ben Rogers

Another local boy, first seen being talked into helping whitewash Aunt Polly's fence.

Muff Potter

A harmless, drunken town character who becomes entangled in a frightening late-night incident in the graveyard.

Injun Joe

A menacing, half-breed outlaw whom Tom and Huck witness committing a serious crime in the graveyard, and who becomes a source of ongoing dread for the boys.

Judge Thatcher

Becky's father, a respected local official.

Mr. Dobbins

The stern schoolmaster of the village school, feared and mocked in turn by his pupils.

Glossary

Whitewash

A cheap white paint/lime wash used to coat fences and walls, famously the chore Tom tricks other boys into doing for him.

Ha'nted

Dialect spelling of 'haunted,' used to describe supposedly ghost-ridden houses the boys fear and explore.

Hookey

Old slang for playing truant, i.e., skipping school without permission.

Lucifer matches

An old term for early friction matches used for lighting fires or candles.

Barlow knife

A simple, inexpensive folding pocketknife, a prized possession among boys of the era.

Pinchbug

A colloquial name for a pinching beetle (like a stag beetle), which Tom brings to church and causes chaos.

Sup'rintendent

Dialect pronunciation of 'superintendent,' referring to the head of the Sunday school.

Jew's-harp

A small, hand-held musical instrument played by plucking a metal tongue with the fingers while held to the mouth.

Hy'roglyphics

Huck and Tom's mispronunciation of 'hieroglyphics,' meaning mysterious symbols or writing, imagined as clues on treasure maps.

Countersign

A secret password used by the boys' imagined pirate or robber gangs to verify identity.

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