Rediscovering Childhood With ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’

Writer Mark Twain was speaking to adults when he wrote about Tom Sawyer’s childhood adventures.

Tom Sawyer swims in a river, in this illustration by True Williams from an 1876 edition of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." Public Domain

During childhood, adulthood seems impossibly distant, an eternity away. But once people reach adulthood and look back, they realize how quickly childhood fades—swifter than the fading of grass and leaves in the autumn. The long, golden afternoons spent at play with few responsibilities and many opportunities, where the future is an unopened treasure box—all this glory of childhood disappears before they know it.

Yet in memory and in literature, youth is preserved and can be rediscovered. The rediscovery of childhood can offer adults something as refreshing as a cool drink on a sweaty summer day. It offers a reminder of a simpler way of living, a life full of vitality and hope, and a sense of adventure.