Cleverness with words 
The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend. - Abraham Lincoln

    Savvy and clever words often help to get out of tough situations.  In the book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, Tom gets out of trouble or work, for Tom is astute in these situations by using his cleverness with words. In chapters 1-10, Tom can get out of most situations. Tom may be young, but he has great deal of knowledge and is able to fool people no matter their age with his cleverness.

Thoughts and recurring themes

“The two most important days in your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out why” -Mark Twain

There are some important themes in the first ten chapters of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, most of which focus on the power of words and how Tom uses them to manipulate people.  One theme is that the boys in the town are always trying to impress each other and “one-up” each other and they often do this by lying or saying stupid things.  For example, when Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are talking about different ways to remove warts and many illogical remedies, they are trying to sound smart and look cool to each other.  Another theme throughout the opening chapters is that Tom is not the best at staying focused or working hard, but he does work hard at tricking people to do his hard work for him.  He works very hard at finding a way to get out doing things he doesn’t want to do.  For example, in the beginning of the book when he is told to whitewash a fence by his aunt, Tom persuades every boy that walked by to do his work for him in exchange for one of their small gifts.  Not only did Tom get out of his work, but he also gained much “wealth” from the boys who had to pay for the privilege of doing Tom’s work for him.  Another common theme is that Tom is very good at using his words to trick people and to get himself out of trouble in almost any situation.  For example, with his aunt, Tom was very close to getting away with skipping school and would have talked his way out of it until Sid ratted him out.  Tom’s nosy sibling, Sid, noticed the mis-colored thread on his button, which was the only reason Tom didn’t get away with playing hooky.  Tom had used his language effectively to get out of the situation but he was brought back in by Sid.  These themes of using language and words to show off, trick people into doing your hard work for you, and to get out of trouble are often seen in the opening chapters of the book and help to show the type of person Tom is.  

Emotional support from your loved ones

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” —Jane Howard

Often times family members are those who help you through struggles. I often lean on my family in times of need and when I am not getting as much support from others.       

The little rebel in us all

“Why are the people rebellious? Because the rulers interfere too much. Therefore they are rebellious.” - Laozi

I think we all have a little bit of Tom Sawyer in us. Whether it be we get into trouble often or we like talking smack to other people or even just as simple as we run our mouth sometimes, I still think everyone can be a Tom Sawyer sometimes.

A great summer spot

"A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking."Earl Wilson

Martha’s Vineyard is one of my favorite places on Earth. I have been going there since I was born and I can’t wait to go back every summer. The town I go to on Martha’s Vineyard is called Edgartown and in my completely unbiased opinion, it is the best town on the island. One of my favorite things about Martha’s Vineyard is its relatively small size, which means I can bike a lot of places like the gym or to a meal.

_{Low expectations proved wrong}

“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery. Air, mountains, tree, people. I thought: this is what it is to be happy.”-Anonymous

We all walked down the wet rocky path, tired from a long day of bus rides and games. The rain-soaked rocks hurt my toes as I walked down the path to the waterfront. As soon as we got to the lake and looked out over the glassy water, the sun peered out from the clouds and we were all happy. We ran to the dock and jumped in the water, and as soon as I got in, my entire body just felt the cold run up from my toes to the top of my head. Once we had grown accustomed to the cold, we all started wrestling on the water mat, throwing each other into the freezing water. As we all got tired out and went back onto shore and the warmth returned, we all knew this was going to be an amazing trip.

My favorite thing to do at Fenn.

"Losing doesn't make me want to quit, it makes me want to FIGHT that much HARDER"--Bear Bryant

One of my favorite things to do at Fenn is, you guessed it, pay football. People have been coming up to me this year and trying to tell me how bad the team is this year and how we won’t win any games. This is really maddening considering the work we’ve been putting in and how our team is actually quite good this hear so I can’t wait to prove all of them wrong.

The greatest game on earth

“Football is football and talent is talent but the mindset of your team makes all the difference”-Robert Griffin III, Baltimore Ravens

            Football is an absolutely different type of game. The whole way you go about playing is just a completely different mindset than which you would bring to anything else. I was taught to be nice and be gentle with people my whole life and then when I started playing football, you are pretty much trained to deliver as much pain and suffering to your opponent as possible. If you ever watch the NFL or mic’d up, you can find out that most of these football players are complete psychoes. But football is definitely not a game for everybody. Some people just can’t fathom wanting to hurt someone that much, yet football is my favorite thing in the entire world and there is no place I’d rather be on a Sunday afternoon in September than getting ready to go into battle with my brothers.