Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Sublime Nature in Tom Sawyer

So far in the book, I think there is only one instance of Sublime Nature that occurred when Tom, Huck, and Joe, were trapped in the fearful storm on Jackson Island. Prior to this event, the boys were swimming in the water, making breakfast, relaxing, and smoking pipes. Suddenly, the sky turned dark and the air became chilly: a very cliché foreboding of some imminent "evil". You can tell when the scene switches from the pastoral "harmonious with nature" to the Sublime quite easily from the conspicuous changes in setting mood. At the peak of the storm, all the boys could do was run and hide from the wrath of Sublime Nature. In the end, all three boys survived the battle. Why did Sublime Nature capriciously appear at this specific time? There are two ways you can think about this: First, Nature was trying to force the boys back to their designated positions in civilized society by attempting to scare them off with the fearful storm. Second, Nature was putting the boys through a test to see if they were fit for becoming one with Nature.

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