^{The book starts in a small town in the town of St. Petersburg in Mississippi during the 1840’s and ends about a year later. The main character is Tom, a young, troublemaking boy, who lives with his grandmother, and brother, Sid. He goes to school and church, and plays with his friends, Joe Thatcher and Huckleberry Finn. Throughout the first half of the book, he plays, gets in trouble, and develops his character as someone who might make the wrong decisions sometimes, but generally stands up for what is right. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse about halfway through when he witnesses a murder. He goes to a graveyard with Huck to bury a cat, and sees a gang of grave robbers. They stay hidden and watch on as the grave robbers’ plan goes south. This is where the main theme of fear comes in. His anxiety only grows as an innocent man is convicted, and he has to face the decision of giving up his anonymity and his safety, or staying hidden, letting an innocent man die. In the end, he chooses to save the man. The real killer, Injun Joe, escapes and leads the town on a chase, giving Tom time to fear for his life again, until he is caught.}

       ^{Reading Tom Sawyer I felt surprised. Not knowing what was going to come next was a really great feeling for me. Going into the book, I thought it was going to be about a troublemaker and his adventures around town. When Tom witnessed the murder though, I saw the author take a step back, and flip my perception of what I knew of the book, and its plot. It really forced me to empathize with Tom, by placing this horrible event in front me. I felt Tom’s dilemma about revealing his identity. I felt his struggle in the caves, searching for a way out. But underneath the fear, I felt resilience, and courage come to the front, and help show the way for Tom.}

       ^{Throughout the book fear rules Tom. Although at times, it leaves him sick in bed, other times it drives him. It forces him to do what is right, because if he won’t, then his fear will live on in him. This book left me inspired, because although fear can be terrible, and unfortunately common, Tom showed me how to use it to drive me to work my hardest, and be my best self, but the question still remains, reader, will your fear drive you, or paralyze you.}