Review of Tom Sawyer

Written by Mark Twain in 1876 this classic book shows the development of an adolescent boy in Missisippi, America. Tom Sawyer is the quintessential 'bad boy with a heart of gold' and all the antics he gets upto are the focus of this book. He is perennially lazy, avoiding chores , school, homework and church recitals like the plague. His greatest enjoyments are fishing and swimming the day long. In other words he is like the majority of mankind the world over and this is what attracts us. His Aunt Polly is an original character - strict spinster aunt who imposes stricter discipline on him but still allows him to get away with a large chunk of his misdemeneours. In one classic scene Aunt Polly forces him to whitewash the long fence around their house. It is a Saturday and Tom knows that all his friends will be passing by the road soon going for their holiday enjoyments. He is ashamed that they will jeer and boo him when they see him working away- a thing he detests. So he comes up with a famous plan. He pretends to be engrossed in his work and does not reply at first to the first of his chums who happens to pass by. His friend first jeers at him for having to work on a holiday. On getting no proper response from the deeply absorbed Tom he has doubts. He then asks Tom to lend him the brush for painting for a while. Tom is internally jubilant but increases his friend's interest in fence painting by telling him that it is such an important task that his aunt would entrust it to noone but him and such sentiments in a similar vein. He gives his friend the brush only in exchange for the apple he possesses. Soon he manages to con his other friends in painting and trades a trunkfull of things in exchange for allowing them to paint his fence. When his Aunt Polly comes for an inspection she is astonished to find the job completed spectacularly! Tom Sawyer manages to kill many birds with one stone.
The philosophy of work and play is aptly stated in this book. Work is something which we are obliged to do whereas play is something which is something which we would naturally enjoy doing and are not in any way obliged to do.

Review of To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is an all time American classic Pulitzer prize winning book which is set in the Southern American town of Maycomb. It narrates the story as seen from the eyes of a nine year old girl in flashback. Scout and her elder brother Jem Finch live with their lawyer father Atticus Finch. Their mother had died a long time back. The story is narrated in a way which shows the psychological development of the children and how the events in their lives causes them to understand the complex nature and prejudices existing in the adult world. The book brings to our notice once more that the child's world is simple and uncomplicated. There is only right or wrong, good or evil, only two sides to a coin in their world. It does not have shades of grey which is all pervading in the adult world. Southern Society of the time is riddled with the ills of prejudice, racism, corruption and falsehood. Women are not allowed to sit on the jury. Black people do not have any rights and are looked down upon.
Atticus Finch the children's honest and upright father takes up a case where a black man, Tom Robinson, is accused of beating and raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. As the case proceeds it becomes apparent to Scout and Jem Finch that Tom could not have possibly raped Mayella as he has a crippled left hand. In spite of this Tom is pronounced guilty by the jury and sent to prison. This distresses the children very much who had been certain that he would be declared not guilty. Their father's taking up a case for a black man causes them to be looked at by hatred in their school and among their neighbours too. Tom is shot and killed while trying to escape from prison.
Bob Ewell, Mayella's father had threatened Atticus for defending Tom. One day he attacks Jem and Scout with a knife when they were coming back at night from a paegent. They are saved by their neighbour Boo Radley who is almost a ghost to everyone, having never come out of his house for the past score of years. In the process Bob Ewell is killed by his own knife and the children realize that it was in fact Boo Radley who had saved them by coming out of his house, a thing he had never done earlier, to help them. The sheriff Heck Tate, a sensible man convinces Atticus that Bob Ewell had in fact stumbled on a tree root and fell on his own knife, which was what killed him. Atticus had wanted to bring out the truth, as he did not want his son Jem to believe such falsehood, but is convinced otherwise by Heck Tate. He is convinced when he realizes that telling the truth would expose Boo Radley to be tried for murder and since Boo had previously been psychologically affected by being blamed for his parent's death by his neighbours, it would be like killing a mockingbird a humble and unassuming bird.
The story moves at a slow pace in the beginning. The daily activities of the children, their interaction with each other, their teachers and friends is vividly described. Their impressions about the adults their father, aunt and their cook Calpurnia and others enable us to picture them accurately. The courtroom scenes and dialogues are so authentic we can almost imagine ourselves in the place and hanging on to the judge's every word. Truly a fantastic read!