A Classic

The challenge and reward of reading a classic

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin

As I slugged through the  waist deep muck that was the first nine chapters, I always wondered when the book would get better, and boy was I right! Few books have as many lessons and themes as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Before this I had no idea about how many of the book’s themes uphold their truth and importance today. Mark Twain knew about how to write an admittedly slow-moving, but good fiction novel, but I still doubt he knew of the success it would have. I feel like Mark Twain was attempting to recreate his childhood in a way since he did live in Missouri for a while, but he warped it enough to turn it into a fiction novel, with  adventures with undoubtedly higher stakes. He was also trying to appeal to adult men his age at the time, who would remember similar childhoods. But it wasn’t only for men his age, it’s obviously a children’s novel as well, allowing their creativity to be put into boyhood and it’s perks. Even I, a boy born 130 years after the book was released, enjoyed significant portions of the book, and could picture myself wanting to be a pirate or robber, and finding treasure.

The Worlds First conman 

“Ah, If only he could die temporarily.”

-Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer, we all of some “Tom Sawyer” inside of us. If you’ve ever done something mischievous, then that is the Tom Sawyer in you. I personally have less Tom Sawyer in me than most, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve not every stolen food from the kitchen, or stayed up until 4AM on a Friday night on YouTube. But I’ve already gone over these. Tom Sawyer is me multiplied by ten. He always finds a way to get into trouble, even if he’s deliberately trying to be good. WE all know that kid that Misbehaves a bunch in class. Tom is probably the biggest troublemaker for miles around, you see, Tom Sawyer is not only a troublemaker, but also a conman. He made every boy in town whitewash the fence, and he got so many doo-dads and junk. He was the “wealthiest” boy in town. He ended up trading all the stuff he got for tickets, which he exchanged for a bible, although he messed up on the one fairly simple question he was asked. (I don’t know the twelve disciples) He’s a smart troublemaker, and that ages him the worst kind of kid to deal with. Or rather child as they were called back then. He has frenemies, who he fights on the weekends and is best friends with the rest of the time (Huck Finn and Joe Harper)
He’s also a master seducer it seems, having Becky Thatcher say she loved him after knowing her for only three days. So, Tom is not only a rebellious, smart, conman, who’s an extrovert with friends. He’s also a characteristic, inside of every one of us, only venturing out every so often.

How family made me who I am today

“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.”

-George Shaw

If you were to think about those you love the most in life, one of the first thoughts that should pop into your head is family. I learned long ago when I moved away from my home in Minnesota that, without family, I couldn’t survive. At least until they had taught me the skills needed to be able to live in the modern world, something that I haven’t mastered to this day. I still hadn’t quite completely grasped this until we moved to Connecticut from Switzerland. During this time I felt that my heart and soul had been ripped out, it was the worst part of my life to date. But I was embraced and comforted by my family and managed to get through it. I had now tackled two great challenges in my life, and one more was coming. I learned after only two years in Connecticut, that I was going to end up in Massachusetts, but I knew that it would all come together and that although it would be hard, I could get through it. As the third move of my life came to me, I arrived at Fenn, a broken boy, who really couldn’t take anymore moves. But my mother sat down with a sobbing Seventh grader, and promised him that there would be no more moves, and that I would be able to graduate from Fenn. I hugged all of my family in my living room, I had came so far with them, and they were my strongest allies in the war of life. I loved them, and they loved me, and we knew each other more than anyone else. One of the most important things I could ever do in life, is to stay close to my family, because we only get one life, and we must live it to the fullest, loving others and being loved.

The Gap of Rohan

”Where now are the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the harp on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the deadwood burning,
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?”

-J.R.R Tolkien

    Edton had ridden for around three days since leaving the village, as he packed up all of his meager belongings, he trotted of on the dirt-packed road, the dusty hoof prints of of previous riders echoed from below.

Edton looked down at the dew-sprinkled grass that stretched as far as the eye could see, with the exception of on front of him. West, there was the gap of Rohan, his destination. 

As he pulled into the gate, the two guards looked over him without an ounce of recognition, this was a good thing, because Edton was still in the Helms deep region. This meant that this was Elfwine’s region. No HIS region, and he couldn’t forget that. Edton knew that these were his mean, and he would hate to have to kill them to get through. But luckily, his peasant clothing was enough. They only asked him the basic questions. 

“What is your buisiness heading West?” Edton thought a second before he replied, and this made the guard raise and eyebrow. “I’m heading West to see and old friend.” “Have you ever been past the Misty Mountains before?” The guard asked. “No sir, this is my first time.” “I thought so, you hesitated when I was asking you the questions, anyway, do you have any weapons?” The guard asked again, his eyes blank as he simply recited the words out of muscle memory. “Just my ole’ faithful dagger, you can never be too careful on these roads.” Edton said, although this was a lie, Edton had also brought his sword. “You never can, alright, safe travels to ya.” Edton trotted away, and held his breath until the green cloaks and shiny helmets had disappeared from view. 

Ahead was dunland, and he knew how much they hated the Rohirrm, the journey ad just begun, and Edton could tell that he would have to fight some of the hateful farmers. (Illustration above.) He could only hope that they didn’t have one of their patrols of hundreds on his route...

Elliot Johnson, Head scribe Of king Eodric Galaheim of Rohan, year 129, fifth age. 

We all have a small scrap of Tom Sawyer inside of us

“You’ll learn, as you get older, that rules are made to be broken. Be bold enough to live life on your terms, and never, ever apologize for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path. Laugh in the face of adversity, and leap before you look. Dance as though EVERYBODY is watching. March to the beat of your own drummer. And stubbornly refuse to fit in.”  

-Mandy Hale

Even the most angelic of us must have some Tom Sawyer in us, no matter how good of a human you are. I know that I for one, a “good boy” with only one recess recall to this day. (Thanks Fitz) Have been a Tom Sawyer on multiple occasions just this past month. In other words, we all have a dark side.

If someone told me that they had never been a doer of mischief, I would tell them that they had just been a doer by lying to me right then and there. Because, unless you were born Yesterday, than, you have done something bad in your life. I have done few things that were worse than bad, but never evil but I’d say that there are less than five of those in my life. I would also never mention them, but the most common thing I do is steal food from the kitchen, when I do this, I always seem to find a way to get caught red handed. Because try as I might, my parents always seem to have the eyes of a hawk when it comes to the chocolate chip levels, or the amount of toast we have left. I’m also pretty careless in the way I get rid of the evidence. They usually end up in the trash, and my parents end up finding them when they either empty my trash can, or empty the kitchen’s.

Another rebel thing I do probably weekly, and one that I hardly ever get caught on (My parents find out maybe one out of every 30 times.) is staying up till 1,2 or 3, and maybe even occasionally 4 AM on YouTube in my bedroom at night. (I’m serious, don’t tell my parents about this because I’m actually great at getting away with it.) I mostly do this on Friday nights, but sometimes I just can’t let the weekend leave me, and end up doing it on Sunday nights. I always regret it on Monday, and am not proud of it.

But the lesson of this “essay” Was to prove a point, everybody, no matter how good they are, has some Tom Sawyer in them. Because nobody is perfect, and nobody has never broken the rules in their life.

Elliot J

The Journey Begins

“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men, doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”

-J.R.R Tolkien 

Edton was the second Marshall of Rohan, The lord of Helms Deep, and at this point in time he had fallen from grace. After saving the realm from Mordor, after defeating the orcs of Moria and Goblins of goblin town. He was betrayed by his younger brother, stabbed with his own sword, and tossed off a cliff into the Anduin.