Perhaps the best-loved nineteenth-century American novel, Mark Twain's tale of boyhood adventure overflows with comedy, warmth, and slapstick energy. It offers an array of irresistible characters- the awesomely self-confident Tom, his best buddy Huck Finn, indulgent Aunt Polly, and the lovely, beguiling Becky-and unforgettable inci- dents-whitewashing a fence, swearing an oath in blood, getting lost in a dark and labyrinthine cave. Below Tom Sawyer's sunny surface lurk hints of a darker reality, of youthful innocence and naïveté confronting the cruelty, hypoerisy, and foolishness of the adult world —a theme that would become more pronounced in Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Despite this, Tom Sawyer remains Twain's joyful ode to the endless possibilities of childhood.