MOTIF AND DYNAMIC CHARACTER

MOTIF DEFINITION

SUBJECT MATTERS THAT CONTINUE TO OCCUR IN AN ARTISTIC OR LITERARY COMPOSITION.

SYNONYMS FOR MOTIF ARE THEME, SUBJECT, TOPIC, ELEMENT.

MOTIFS IN THE NOVEL TOM SAWYER

MATURITY

TOM, LIKE ALL YOUNG BOYS, IS FULL OF FUN, ENEGERY AND EXCITEMENT. SOME OF THESE CHARACTER TRAITS GET TOM INTO TROUBLE.

• TOM PLAYING HOOKEY FROM SCHOOL

• TOM COLLECTING BIBLE TICKETS

• TOM GETTING “ENGAGED” TO YOUNG GIRLS

• TOM LOOKING UP TO THE OLDER AND “WISER” HUCK FINN

MOTIFS

FREEDOM

TOM LONGS FOR THE FREEDOM THAT HUCK FINN HAS EVEN THOUGH HE IS THE BLIGHT OF THE COMMUNITY. HUCK RECIEVES NO FORMAL EDUCATION, HAS NO PLACE TO EAT OR SLEEP, AND IS DISLIKED AMONG MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY.

MOTIFS

SUPERSTITION

THERE ARE MANY EXAMPLES THROUGHOUT THE NOVEL ABOUT WITCHCRAFT, SUPERSTIONS, AND RELIGION. MANY OF THESE EXAMPLES ARE USED FOR HUMOR THROUGHOUT THE NOVEL, TOM SAYWER.

* CURING WARTS

* SUNDAY SCHOOL AND CHURCH EVENTS

* GRAVEYARDS, BLACK CATS, MARBLES, WITCHES

DYNAMIC AND STATIC CHARACTERS

Characters experience varying amounts of change over the course of a story.

• Static characters that do not experience basic character changes during the course of the story.

• Dynamic characters that experience changes throughout the plot of a story.

DYNAMIC AND STATIC CHARACTERS

Although the change may be sudden, it is expected based on the story’s events.

A story’s characters fall within a range—from very static characters that experience no change to very dynamic characters that undergo one or more major changes.