What I researched and why: I decided to snatch up this blog entry because I thought it would be relatively easy compared to my other blog on "A Dialogue Between Christ, Youth, and the Devil." As it turns out, it's often the stories you are familiar with that you end up learning the most about as you re-read and analyze what is behind the cover. This definitely ended up being the case as I looked into "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" several years after my first time reading it as a child. As I looked over the options of short stories, books, and articles from which we could choose to write a blog entry Tom Sawyer's name popped out along with some mental pictures that go hand-in-hand with what this story was and still is for me to this day. Having this in mind I thought it may be interesting to target the illustrations that have accompanied this tale from its beginning till now.

What I found: The first thing I stumbled upon was: http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/tomsawye/tomillhp.html
Here I was able to find various pictures from the very original copy of the book in which Mark Twain himself talks about his appreciation for the artists work. What is compelling to me is that M.T. seemed to have very little if any say in what the illustrations were going to look like, he is quoted saying, "Poor devil, what a genius he has & how he does murder it with rum. He takes a book of mine, & without suggestion from anybody builds no end of pictures just from his reading of it." This link led me to an website where a drawing of a house supposedly drawn by Tom Sawyer in the book, but probably drawn by Mark Twain himself is shown. This is the link with the picture and bit of information; http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/sc_as_mt/househp.html
I thought this was especially informative because according to the website this house represented something more than just a house. Go figure right? After taking this class I swear there is something behind everything! (: The house that is drawn is apparently a glimpse into the authors history and perhaps a psychological glimpse into what Mark Twain's thoughts about what a man's house represented. Check out the website to gain a little more information on the topic.


My Interpretation and how this relates to what we've discussed in class: There are two parts that I want to discuss included in my search for information on Tom Sawyer. First is the illustrations that went along with the book, these are obviously a very important part of the message that is being portrayed to readers. Through the artists drawings we see certain parts of the book that we may not without them. It's interesting how the characters clothes, tools, and even the landscape can say a lot about the time period which this book was published. Through this we are opened a door into the historical analysis of the book. I'm also curious about the connection between the circular hybrid factor that illustrations may be able to unveil for the reader. This being through clothes, housing, or the general culture, the pictures certainly give us a better perspective on the story as a whole, and therefor would help us to see the impact differing groups of people existing in this civilization had impacted each other.

The connections with the drawing of the house connects with the analysis of children's literature from a psychological stance because it is moving from the characters of the book to the authors perspective of his ideal living situation. As we've been talking about social class through the past few classes this really hit me as thought provoking. How did Mark Twain's social standing affect the book that he wrote?