Thing Theory in Tow Sawyer

            In the year 1876 Mark Twain published The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which is a story about a young boy’s life in a small town. The characters were based on Twain and his childhood friends and the small town serving as the setting for Tom’s adventures is based on Twain’s hometown of Hannibal. The novel does not have a traditional story structure but instead plays out in a series of episodes in Tom Sawyer’s life.

            One of the more famous episodes in Tom’s story appears early in the novel and involves Tom white washing a fence- and by that I mean Tom tricking the neighborhood children into thinking that white washing a fence is not only a fun pastime but a privilege that they should pay Tom to partake in (I know I’m not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, so I’m ending this one with parentheses).

            But what do these children, in a fictional impoverished village based on a real impoverished village in Missouri, have for Tom as payment. They have no money, so what do they have of value? Well, things of course.

            The children of the village gave Tom many objects of dubious value (to an adult) including-

“twelve marbles,

 part of a jew’s-harp,

a piece of blue bottle glass to look through,

a spool cannon,

a key that wouldn’t unlock anything,

a fragment of chalk,

a glass stopper of a decanter,

a tin soldier,

a couple of tadpoles,

six firecrackers,

a kitten with only one eye,

a brass doorknob,

a dog collar-but no dog-

the handle of a knife,

four pieces of orange peel,

and a dilapidated old window sash” (Twain 24).

            This is where thing theory comes into play. Thing theory is a school of thought in literary theory concerning the role of objects in literature and their significance to the characters. An assortment of objects possessed by a character can reveal a great deal of information about that character without making anything explicit. Using thing theory is a good method for writers to use because it allows them to describe characters or situations indirectly and show rather than tell. For instance: if a character is an Obsessive Compulsive, the writer can convey that information by describing the placement of objects in his/her house or workplace. What do the things that the children give to Tom as payment, for the privilege of applying white paint to a fence, say about them and Tom for receiving them as suitable tender?

This is a Tom Sawyer anime.
You heard me.

            The Adventures of Tom Sawyer speaks to the nature of what it is like to be a child. Some of the things in the above list, like the tin soldier and the marbles, sound like legitimate toys that Tom could play with and get enjoyment from. The kitten also would also have value as a pet. However, many of the items listed are the parts of a whole and many of the parts like the key that won’t unlock anything, the glass stopper for a decanter, and the brass doorknob are things that allow their whole to function and without the rest of the to which they belong they have no use and, as such, no value. But not to the children. Why is that?

            Perhaps one of the messages communicated by Twain’s novel is that children, at least these children, do not define these things by what they were formerly attached to. They see these objects just as they are and don’t demand anything else from them. The children see these things as objects of value, so when they offer them up to Tom, they’re not just giving Tom garbage but priceless artifacts representative of childlike imagination and wonder.

            Tom Sawyer speaks to the child in all of us and it’s through the things they carry (Ha! Lit. jokes!) that the novel is able to communicate directly to our inner child.