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Chapter 23
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Boyhood Rebellion and Growing Up
The Hypocrisy of Adult Society
Superstition, Fantasy, and Escape
Showing Off
Sentimentality and Realism
Summary
Analysis
Tom is celebrated by the town as a hero. Muff Potter is embraced for having been wrongly maligned.
Muff is still a criminal, a drunkard and grave robber, but the villagers now ignore that.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
During the nights after the trial, Tom is plagued by fear that Injun Joe, whose whereabouts are unknown, will come trying to kill him. Huck is also scared and depressed, because he doesn't know whether Injun Joe has figured out that he too was present in the graveyard that night.
Huck has not followed Tom in maturely fulfilling his moral responsibility to society (perhaps because society has not given Huck much reason to respect it), and Huck continues to prioritize his own interests.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
A detective is brought out to St. Petersburg all the way from St. Louis, but even he can't manage to find Injun Joe.
Tom must face the consequences of his serious actions, and can't escape as he might have in one of his imaginary heroic tales.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
