Throughout the course of the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom grows up and matures significantly, showing character development and change. At the beginning of the novel, Tom is a reckless prankster who doesn’t care about anyone else, his education, or the future in any way. He mainly spends his days trying to get out of responsibility and avoid work, such as in the famous “whitewashed fence” scene in the book.
By the end of the story, however, his experiences have changed him for the better. He is much more responsible for one, caring about others around him. After his funeral, he sneaks back in and feels pity and sorrow when he sees his loved ones mourning him. This, along with his other experiences, changes him and makes him care more about himself and others.
In the beginning of the story, Tom Sawyer is a boy that is defined by his mischievousness and sense of adventure. While he is certainly far from malevolent, he does have a somewhat dubious sense of morality. He is not above using manipulative and underhanded tactics to get what he wants, and often tricks people just for the thrill of it rather than for the tangible reward.
In one of the most famous scenes in all of American literature, Tom utilizes reverse psychology to trick a number of neighborhood boys into not only doing his work that he had received as a punishment for him, but paying him with their treasured possessions for the "joy" of doing so. Tom seems to derive far less happiness from the prizes he receives or the relief from his work than he does from the satisfaction he receives from his successful deception. In this regard, it is perhaps lucky that Tom is confronted with such a stark display of mortality and the moral questions that accompany it. It forces him to mature quickly. He finds that he has not only a strong sympathy for the innocent, but a somewhat vindictive sense of justice for the wicked. It is Tom who, in the courtroom, breaks a blood oath that he no doubt considers childish compared to the situation at hand. It is perhaps because of his actions alone that Injun Joe is eventually brought to justice. While Tom does retain his sense of adventure and curiosity for the world, his adventures teach him that all actions have consequences, and he becomes far more mindful of the implications of his own.
At the beginning of the story, Tom Sawyer's a mischievous, fun-loving scamp who doesn't take life too seriously. For Tom, life is an adventure, something to be enjoyed to the full. Possessed with a seemingly boundless imagination, Tom delights in creating his own fantasy world, full of pirate ships, cutthroats, and buried treasure.
Tom's boyish taste for adventure often gets him into trouble, especially with Aunt Polly, but at the same time it also helps him to mature considerably throughout the book. For example, his belief in a bizarre superstition concerning the curative properties of dead cats leads him and Huck to the graveyard one night, where they witness Injun Joe murder Dr. Robinson. The incident is important as it forces Tom to grow up pretty quickly as, for the first time in his life, he has to deal with a serious moral quandary.
Much the same could be said for Tom's ingenious plan to rescue Jim. Again, Tom's showing his taste for adventure, but this time he's also showing how much he's matured over the course of the story, and how he understands the importance of doing the right thing. Tom now has a much greater comprehension of the adult world and how it works, and although he'll never lose his infectious sense of fun, he's ready to take his place in adult society, with all the rules and conventions that had previously been such a source of puzzlement and frustration.
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