n), who was escaping the most oppressive level of society. For a time, Huck and Jim lived a carefree life. This is the true realization of Twain's boyhood dream. Because Jim was a runaway slave, Huck himself actually considered turning Jim over to the authorities. However in a grand moment of crisis of conscience, Huck finally decides to do what is wrong and not turn Jim in. This is evidence of his practical mind leading to a heart-warming conclusion. But Tom is such a romantic that he instigates an elaborate plot to liberate Jim, even though he knows the truth that Miss Watson died and Jim was made free. This demonstrates Tom's lack of conscience over the conscience that is blatant in Huck. Twain wrote Huck's character to be the boy he should have been morally, and wrote Tom to be the boy he was. TAOTS lets the reader into the mind of Twain. When a boy witnesses evil and loses his innocence, he becomes an adult. Tom witnesses the murder in the graveyard and becomes very sad until he tells the truth. This period of melancholy is a transition for Tom. He can no longer see the world as his playground, he now has to see the shadows, the 'bad' people of society, along with what is good. He told the truth about the gold and the haunted house, even though he did not want to. Tom ran away to Jackson Island to escape society that was oppressing him by not letting him have fun. It was on the island that he learned independence was not all it was 'cracked up to be.' Twain had to act like an adult at that age, so here he was saying that boys have to behave like boys before they can become men. When Tom was lost in the cave in Chapter Thirty he was forced to become the adult because Becky was behaving like a child. He had already been exposed to reality so he was prepared to take the responsibility of comforting her and not letting her worry. In Chapter Sixteen Tom and Joe were not ready to smoke, but Huck was ready to experience ...
