Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Samuel Clemens | Banned Book Project

Adventures of Tom Sawyer Synopsis

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an 1876 novel by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. The novel takes place in the 1840s in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, Clemens’s childhood home. In the story, Tom goes on several adventures with his friends, including Huck Finn, the main character of another of Clemens’s novels. The book was originally a commercial failure but, in retrospect, became the highest-selling of any of Clemens’s works during his lifetime.

Locations Challenged

• Brooklyn Public Library, New York, 1876 (removed from children’s section of the library)
• Denver Public Library, Colorado, 1876
• Concord, Massachusettes, 1885 (The library stated that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was “trash and suitable only for the slums.”
• Brooklyn, New York, 1905 (removed from children’s room of the Public Library as bad examples of ingenuous youth)
• New York City, New York, 1957 (dropped from approved reading lists for high school juniors and seniors)
• West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1994

Countries Banned

• USSR, 1930 (Books confiscated at the border but became a best-seller.)
• Brazil, 1937 (Pro-Communist and subversive.)

Reasons for Challenges/Bans

From the day it was published, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer came up against censorship. Librarians said they found Mr. Sawyer to be a “questionable” protagonist in terms of his moral character. Later on, Tom Sawyer would be considered Pro-Communist, subversive, and racist. In recent years, many have acknowledged the value of the text but have been soured by the book’s use of racial slurs. Many additions have been issued with these slurs removed. Many argue that the sanitizing of Clemens’ writing impedes his anti-racist and anti-slavery messages.

Sources

Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Gutenburg.org. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/74/74-h/74-h.htm

Driscol, Molly. 20 banned books that may surprise you. The Christian Science Monitor, September 28, 2011. Date accessed: April 10, 2018. https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2011/0928/20-banned-books-that-may-surprise-you/The-Adventures-of-Tom-Sawyer-by-Mark-Twain

Messent, Peter. Censoring Mark Twain’s ‘n-words’ is unacceptable. The Guardian, January 5, 2011. Accessed April 10, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/jan/05/censoring-mark-twain-n-word-unacceptable

Tom Sawyer Banned as Radical in Brazil; Mark Twain’s Book Ordered Removed from Library and School Shelves. New York Times, October 27, 1937. Accessed April 10, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/1937/10/27/archives/-tom-sawyer-banned-as-radical-in-brazil-mark-twains-book-ordered.html