© 1995 Perfection Learning CorporationLogan, IA 51546

All rights reserved.Printed in the U.S.A.

Table of Contents

Adaptation by Ray CarverBackground information

by Cynthia M. Martin

Mark Twain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Setting the Story in the Time Period . . . . . . . 7

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: TheWhitewashed Fence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Cast of Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

The Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

3

Mark Twain

Mark Twain and the United States wereyoung together. When Twain was born in

1835, America was a frontier country. Mostpeople lived on farms or in small villages. Therewere no electric lights or cars. People cookedmeals in fireplaces or on newly invented cast-iron stoves. Buffalo roamed the plains.

Twain’s real name was Samuel LanghorneClemens. He was born in Florida, Missouri.

Sam’s father was a lawyer, but he had troublefinding work. So in 1839 Sam and his familymoved to Hannibal, Missouri. It was a largertown, and Mr. Clemens hoped to do better.

Hannibal is located on the Mississippi River.Young Sam loved the river. He often skippedschool to play along the riverbank. Sam spenthis days fishing and talking to riverboat pilots.He dreamed of becoming a pilot himself one day.

When Sam was only 11 years old, his fatherdied. His family was very poor, and Sam had toquit school. He went to work for a printer. Samsoon learned how to run a printing press. He laterhelped his older brother publish a newspaper.

In 1857 Sam quit the printing business. Hewanted to travel and have adventures instead ofspending his life in an office. He decided to go toSouth America and explore the Amazon jungles.He became a passenger on a riverboat headingsouth. During the trip, Sam changed his mind.He would not become an explorer. He wouldbecome a riverboat pilot.

Sam became a “cub” pilot. That means hewas a student. An experienced pilot taught himhow to do his job. Sam learned about rivercurrents and landmarks. He learned to dock theboat. He learned how to store goods so theywouldn’t be damaged during a trip. In April1859 Sam received a license to pilot riverboatson the Mississippi River between St. Louis andNew Orleans.

4

Sam made many trips up and down theMississippi. He even ran races with other pilots.When the Civil War started in 1861, the riverwas closed to traffic. Sam lost his job.

Sam and his brother, Orion, decided to gofurther west to Nevada. They wanted to searchfor gold. Sam didn’t find gold, but he found anew job. He began to write short, humorousstories about himself and the places he hadbeen. When the stories were published in theVirginia City Territorial Enterprise, Sam used anew name. He called himself Mark Twain. Marktwain is a riverboat phrase. A mark is a knot ona leadrope. The marks are placed at one-fathom(six-foot) intervals. The rope is lowered intowater to measure the depth. Mark twain meanstwo marks, which is a depth of two fathoms ortwelve feet.

Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon in 1870,and they built a large house. It was designed tolook like a riverboat. Mark and Olivia had fourchildren. Mark Twain enjoyed being a father. Hetold wonderful stories and played games withhis children.

Mark Twain wrote many stories. His storieswere very popular, and soon people were askinghim to write books and give lectures. His firstbooks were not very successful. But then hewrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1876.Tom was a lot like young Sam Clemens. He livedin a small town by the river, he hated school,

5

and he spent his days playing and exploring. TheAdventures of Tom Sawyer reflect Twain’s earlylife as Sam Clemens. But through his writing,Twain was able to mix boyhood dreams ofadventure with his love of life on theMississippi.

Mark Twain’s life did not turn out so happy.As he grew older, he had many troubles. He lostmoney in bad business deals. His wife died andso did three of his four children. As he becameolder, Mark became very sad and lonely.

Mark Twain died in 1910. Today people allover the world read his books. They still enjoyTom’s adventures. Many people think of MarkTwain as America’s most famous author.

6

Setting the Story in theTime Pe r i o d

Tom Sawyer has been called The All-American Boy. It’s easy to see why. Tom has

the kind of adventures of which most kids,including Samuel Clemens, just dream.

Tom is an orphan. He lives with his AuntPolly, his brother Sid, and his cousin Mary. AuntPolly does her best, but her soft heart and pooreyesight are no match for Tom’s tricks. Everytime she tries to punish him, he manages towiggle out of it. Even when Aunt Polly comes upwith a way to punish Tom for playing hooky, heturns it to his own advantage. Instead ofspending the day whitewashing the fence, Tomconvinces his friends that whitewashing is greatfun. They even pay him to let them whitewashthe fence!

Tom hates school. Why go to school whenthere are fish to be caught and woods to explore?However, school becomes more bearable whenBecky Thatcher arrives in town. Tom isinstantly head-over-heels in love. He thinksBecky is the most wonderful girl he’s ever met.He persuades her to become engaged to himforever. Everything is wonderful, at least untilBecky finds out she’s not the first person towhom Tom’s been engaged. She breaks up withTom, and he is heartbroken. Life doesn’t seemworth living. Even stealing donuts from Aunt

7

8

Polly is no fun anymore.

Tom’s best friend is Huckleberry Finn, theworst boy in the village. Huck has an even betterlife than Tom, or at least Tom thinks so. Huckdresses in rags, never goes to school, and fishesall day. He can smoke, swear, and stay up late. Itseems to Tom that Huck has everything that isprecious in life. So naturally, Tom hangs aroundHuck every chance he gets.

Huck teaches Tom all the lessons he nevergets in school, like how to remove warts using adead cat. Unfortunately, this cure involvesmeeting at a graveyard at midnight. Anothertime they decide to become pirates and searchfor buried treasure. They sail away on a raft,camping out on Jackson’s Island. The boys havea great time until they get homesick. They alsodiscover that their families think they’vedrowned. They decide to go home, but Tomwants to do it in style. The runaway piratesattend their own “funeral” and make a grandentrance in the middle of the sermon.

Becky finally makes up with Tom, and theyattend the class picnic together. While exploringa cave that’s a local tourist attraction, they getlost. Tom is horrified to discover Injun Joe is alsohiding out in the cave. However, Tom keeps hishead and uses kite string to find his way out. Hebrings Becky to safety, but Joe is not so lucky.After more than two weeks, searchers discoverInjun Joe’s body. He has starved to death whiletrying to find a way out of the cave.

Huck finally reveals the location of thetreasure. The box contains more than $12,000 ingold. The two boys split the loot, and Becky’sfather, Judge Thatcher, invests it for them. Tomenjoys his fame, but Huck is miserable. Sincehe’s now a wealthy young man, a local widowhas adopted him. Huck can no longer do as hepleases. In his opinion, “being rich ain’t what it’scracked up to be.” He’s determined to run awayuntil Tom tells him about the creation of a newband of robbers with Tom as their chief.However, Huck can only belong to the band if heagrees to become respectable. After all, “a robberis more high-toned than what a pirate is.” Huckagrees to become a respectable robber. He’s surethe widow will be proud of him.

9

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:The Whitewashed Fence

Cast of Characters

AUNT POLLY

TOM SAWYER

SID

BEN

FRIEND ONE

FRIEND TWO

FRIEND THREE

FRIEND FOUR

FRIEND FIVE

FRIEND SIX

FRIEND SEVEN

FRIEND EIGHT

NARRATOR (speaks stage directions forunstaged readings)

S e t t i n g

It’s springtime during the 1840s in the smalltown of St. Petersburg, Missouri. The street

behind Tom Sawyer’s house. A tall, white-boardfence stretches all the way across the stage. Oneend of it, stage right, is taller than the other,

10

stage left, making the fence look like it goes onforever. The whitewash is faded and has chippedoff the fence in many places. This fence needs anew coat of whitewash very badly. Behind thefence stage right is a tall tree. The tree’s leafybranches hang over the fence. These brancheswill provide a nice cool spot to sit when thenoonday sun gets too hot. Behind the fence stageleft the roof of Tom Sawyer’s house can be seen.The roof is covered with wooden shingles, andright under the peak of the roof is a window.

The Play

(AT RISE: It is nighttime and through thewindow of TOM’s house a single light canbe seen burning. All the rest of the stagelights that are on for this part of the playare blue.)

(SOUND CUE: Crickets chirping in thenight.)

(A barefoot boy, TOM, wearing a tan shirtand brown pants walks happily throughthe audience toward the stage. He iswhistling. TOM looks like he’s had awonderful day doing all sorts of things. Ashe gets to the edge of the stage, he stopswhistling and looks all around to see if it’ssafe for him to sneak into the house. Helooks up at the window and standswatching it until the light goes out. Thenhe quickly jumps up on the stage and

11© 1995 Ray Carver