What would Tom Sawyer be like if he was growing up in the modern world, instead of a more innocent time?
Would he still be painting a picket fence and finding a way to sell it to other kids so they’d finish the chore for him? Or would he be the one to sell drugs to other students as a gateway to new adventure?
Would he sneak out Aunt Polly’s window or would he just walk in and out as he wished? Confident and cocky with no fear of her for he knows his rights as a minor.
And what of Huck Finn? Would he be one of the homeless kids living freely wherever he could? Perhaps rough on the street? Or would he live in a juvenile home?
Would either of these boys hang up at the local cemetery or would there be malls, stores and Other places to go? Would they “borrow” cars for an adventure?
How would justice treat these boys in modern times? And what of society? How would these boys fair in modern society? I’m pretty sure there’d be no adventures on the Mississippi, but they’d have adventures all the same.
And then there is Becky Thatcher to consider. Would she be the girl next door or would she be more hardened?
Granted times are different, and the world that Mark Twain created for Tom and Huck are a far cry for even the world of my childhood. The dangers are different, the adventures are different and the question is, would these boys have made it with the new challenges? Obviously they wouldn’t be as naive, very few kids are naive to what they are growing up in so he’d have to allow for that change within their character.
And that’s a bit of a shame because I like to think of Tom exactly as Mark created him, slightly mischievous, but harmless.
waltzingwithwhims 