SOURCE: "Myth and Reality in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," in Southern Review, Louisiana State University, Vol. IV, No. 1, Winter, 1968, pp. 530-41.

Tracy is an American educator, critic, and translator. In the following essay, he explores Twain's use of mythological imagery and universal archetypes in Tom Sawyer.

With prophetic malice, Mark Twain began Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by threatening any critic who should find motive, moral, or plot in his narrative. But he began The Adventures of Tom Sawyer rather more gently, with some helpful information about the characters and story, and with a statement wrung from him by Howells, that the book "is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls." The statement has frightened off critics far more effectively than the No Trespassing sign posted in front of Huckleberry Finn. Few critics have bothered to discuss Tom Sawyer other than as a prelude to Huckleberry...