Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer Abroad Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) is Twain's take on the adventure story. It occurs very shortly after The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and, like all of the novels except The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, is narrated by Huckleberry Finn, in spite of the fact that he concluded TAOHF by telling us in no uncertain terms he'd never write a book again.¹ The boys and Jim have returned to Petersburg and are celebrated for a short time for their travels and hijinks, but Tom, who has a bullet in his leg and works up a limp to make sure no one forgets it, is celebrated most of all. Tom loves the attention and keenly feels the burn when his closest competition for Most Traveled and Celebrated Petersburgian, a post master who has traveled all the way to Washington DC to confess to the senate that he never delivered a properly addressed letter, announces a plan to go to St. Louis to see an airship that will be traveling over the globe. Tom implores Huck and Jim (who is free, remember) to accompany him to St. Louis; when they see the postmaster touring the small, hot air balloon-like ship, Tom urges them onto the ship itself and insists on being the last ones off, so as not to be outdone.