Zoe C.

5th Hour In the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the dynamic character Tom Sawyer changes throughout the story. At the beginning of the book, Tom is very selfish. He manipulates people to get what he wants. By the end of the book, Tom has gone through many changes, so he thinks of others before himself and becomes a more selfless human being. The first example of when Tom becomes selfless is when he takes the blame for what Becky did. When Mr. Dobbins went around the classroom asking who ripped a page in his anatomy book, he went up to Becky. She looked extremely frightened, so Tom spoke up and said that he ripped the page. He knew Mr. Dobbins was going to punish him very badly, but Tom was willing to do that for Becky. Inspired by the splendor of his own act, he took without an outcry the most merciless flaying that even Mr. Dobbins had ever administered (Twain, p. 150). Tom was willing to be punished to help Becky. The second example of Tom becoming selfless is when he, Huck, and Joe come down the aisle at their funeral. Everyone is giving Tom and Joe all of the love and attention. When Tom notices that no one is happy to see Huck, he makes sure someone gives him some attention. Aunt Polly, it aint fair. Somebodys got to be glad to see Huck. (Twain, p. 123). Tom could have not said anything and left Huck all alone, but he was thinking of his friend. He wanted to make sure Huck was loved just as much as he was. The third and last example of when Tom becomes selfless is when he talks about what happened in the graveyard in the court. Before, Tom wanted to keep quiet about what happened in the graveyard to keep himself safe from Injun Joe. When he was in the courtroom, he honestly described what happened to help Muff Potter. Tom was scared to speak at first, but everything was able to come out of him. Tom began hesitatingly at first, but as he warmed to his subject his words flowed more and more easily (Twain, p. 171). He decided to help a friend instead of thinking of himself. In conclusion, Tom develops into a more selfless person who makes sure that others are put before him. At the beginning of the story, he was someone who would only think of himself. By the end of the book, he made sure others were important too. His actions throughout the book show that his selfishness turned into selflessness.