The document provides background information on the setting and time period of the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. It describes how the story takes place along the Mississippi River in the late 1800s in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, which draws from the real town of Hannibal. Life in this era was still old-fashioned and impoverished in some ways, as slavery still existed. The document also provides details about the main character Tom Sawyer, describing him as a mischievous boy who enjoys adventures and tricks but dislikes schoolwork, and introduces other main characters like Huck Finn and Joe Harper.

1. The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain

2. Setting
The real town of
Hannibal and the
fictional town of St.
Petersburg are located
on the banks of the
Mississippi River.
Both are near islands
and caves, which
provide adventurous
children with lots of
places to play.

3. St. Petersburg, Missouri

4. Setting
The action in the book
takes place in the late
1800’s. In some ways
the United States was
growing and prospering
during this time, but in
other ways it was still
old-fashioned and
impoverished.
peddler

5. Background Knowledge
On top of that,
slavery still
existed in
America. In the
book Jim, who
occasionally
crosses paths
with Tom and his
friends, is a
slave.

6. Background Knowledge
In the 1840s, medicine was
primitive in comparison with
techniques used today.
Doctors and medical students
had a hard time learning
about human anatomy
because there were legal
restrictions on the use of
bodies to dissect for study.

7. Tom Sawyer
• Likes to have fun.
• Isn’t interested in anything
he’s supposed to do like
chores, school, or studying
the Bible.

8. Tom Sawyer
• He is interested in:
– Tricking his friends.
– Pretending to be a pirate.
– Sneaking into the graveyard at night.
– Exploring Caves

10. Tom is often joined on his adventures by
Huckleberry Finn, the son of the town’s
drunkard, and by Joe Harper, Tom’s best
friend.

11. Tom and his friends hold many beliefs
that seem superstitious to modern
readers. For example, Tom and Huck discuss the
best ways to cure warts—none of which involve
medicine or doctors!

12. Tom also spends a lot of time trying to
win the affections of Becky Thatcher, the
new girl in town. Sometimes he
accidentally involves her in his
adventures.

13. And sometimes Tom’s fun turns
dangerous.

14. Games from the late 1800s
• marbles
baseball
jacks
Snap the
whip

15. Marbles were made of…
• The earliest marbles were made of flint,
stone, and baked clay. For centuries
afterward, marbles were made of stone and
sometimes real marble. Glass marbles were
made in Venice, Italy, and later, around
1800, china and crockery marbles were
introduced. A glassblower invented a tool
called the "marble scissors" in 1846 that
allowed a larger production of glass
marbles. Clay marbles began being
produced in large quantities around 1870.
Children in colonial America played with
marbles made of clay which have been
uncovered at a wide variety of eighteenth
century sites.

16. Shooting Marbles
• To shoot a marble, point your hand
down and curl your fingers in your
palm. Tuck your thumb behind
your index finger. Place the
marble between your thumb and
finger and “knuckle down,” or rest
the knuckle in your index finger on
the ground. Flick out your thumb
to shoot the marble. Some games
require players to use a slightly
larger marble for shooting and
hitting an opponents marbles.

17. Ring Taw
• The most popular marble game in settler times. To
play draw a large ring on the ground. Draw a smaller
circle inside it and place several small marbles, called
nibs, in a circle. The players crouch outside the large
ring. From there each player takes a turn flicking a
large marble called a shooter, into the circle. The
goal is to knock all of the marbles out of the circle.
Each player keeps the marbles he or she knocks out.
The winner is the player with the most marbles.

18. More games from late 1800s
• Hoop and stick

19. 1850’s dress

20. Roundabout Jacket

22. Steamboat races