In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Sid is depicted as “a quiet boy” (11), who “[has] no adventurous, troublesome ways” (11). Submitting himself to the oppressive measures imposed by the multiple authorities, Sid can be seen as a successful product of the control mechanisms. Unlike Tom, who is usually blamed for his poor personal hygiene, for example, Sid is always a neat and tidy boy, who has a good habit of keeping himself and the things around him clean. He is also a conscientious and hard-working boy, who is always
responsible for the tasks assigned by his aunt. Whenever Tom plays hooky and enjoys the chance to folic around the Mississippi River, Sid “[is] already through with his part of the work (picking up chips)” (Tom Sawyer 11). Moreover, compared with Tom, Sid is neither annoyed by the moral edification nor the religious ceremonies. Before Tom is girding up his loins for “the memorizing of five verses” (Tom Sawyer 31) of the Holy Bible on every Sunday morning, Sid has already “learned his lesson days before” (Tom Sawyer 31). Not only is Sid willing to devote his time and energy to the recitation of the Book but he is also fond of being confined to the church and the Sunday school, the two places which “Tom hate[s] with his whole heart” (Tom Sawyer 34). In short, Sid conforms to the normal pattern of behavior and thinking, which allows adults to completely dominate his body, mind, time, and activity.
The Causes and Consequences of Sid’s Obedience to the Multiple Authorities:
Although Sid shows enough respect and deference to the multiple authorities and lives up to the adults’ expectations, his full compliance is not ascribed to his inborn quality but to a system of rewards and punishments deriving from the control mechanisms. This system, Mark Twain suggests, has a dual function. On the one hand, its first function is to make children comply with those stringent regulations by dint of bribery. Through coaxing children into doing something they should do, most of the adults believe that their children will behave properly and responsibly. On the other, if the reward strategy cannot produce any effect on children who are not moved or tempted by the bribes, the second function of this system will come into effect. It will function as a cowhide to coerce children into succumbing to pressure from the multiple authorities. Despite the fact that this well-intentioned system is originally designed to encourage children’s morally and socially acceptable demeanor, its two side benefits, such as honor and privilege, ignite Sid’s foolish vanity and bring about his callous indifference to the plight of his peers. Hence, Mark Twain suggests that these
additional advantages coming from the reward system will not only distort a child’s moral character but also make this system go against its original intention.
Honor as the First Inducement that Causes Sid’s Obedience to the Multiple Authorities:
The first fringe benefit that causes Sid to obey the multiple authorities is the glory and adulation which come from the material rewards.7 Aside from inflicting severe punishment upon children, Mark Twain suggests that the multiple authorities may bestow honor upon children who can fulfill their requirements. This is clearly illustrated in the episode of the Sunday school where the superintendent rewards diligent children with three different kinds of tickets for their efforts. Provided they memorize two verses of the Holy Bible, they will be given a “blue ticket” (Tom Sawyer 35). Ten blue tickets can be traded for a red ticket; “ten red tickets equal a yellow one” (Tom Sawyer 35). Children, who get “ten yellow tickets” (Tom Sawyer 35), will be awarded “a very plainly bound Bible” (Tom Sawyer 35) for their
conspicuous achievement in the recitation. These hard-working children, moreover, will become “great and conspicuous” (Tom Sawyer 35) heroes in the Bible-awarding ceremony where they can enjoy “the glory and the éclat” (Tom Sawyer 35) that come with the prizes.
When watching those successful children basking in the adulation of so many people, the model children such as Sid, Mary, and “a boy of German parentage” (Tom Sawyer 35) will burn with “a fresh ambition” (Tom Sawyer 35) to get the better of those outstanding winners, for they also hunger for the superintendent’s approval and the full attention in the class. In order to achieve their goal of winning the admiration and honor, they will bend all their energies to the drudgery of recitation. For instance, Sid always diligently “learn[s] his lesson”
(Tom Sawyer 31) and memorizes the verses without any complaint while Mary spends two
7 Martha B. Bronson asserts that in terms of “the perspective of behavioral theory, the development of self-regulation requires children to learn to assess the relative value of a variety of rewards, to learn to choose appropriate goals, to give themselves effective instructions or follow instructions provided, to monitor their own activities, and to reward themselves for behaviors that will ultimately be rewarded in the environment (or will keep them from being punished)” (15).
years on this grueling task and finally “acquire[s] two Bibles” (Tom Sawyer 35). As for the boy of “German parentage” (Tom Sawyer 35), he has won more than four copies of the Bible, but this industrious boy, Mark Twain says, becomes “an idiot from that day” (Tom Sawyer 35) he “recite[s] three thousand verses without stopping” (Tom Sawyer 35). The misery of this German boy is seen as “a grievous misfortune for the school, for on great occasions, before company, the superintendent (as Tom expressed it) [has] always made this boy come out and
‘spread himself’” (Tom Sawyer 35). In other words, the superintendent enjoys showing how perfectly he manages the Sunday school by “[delivering] a Bible-prize and [exhibiting] a prodigy” (Tom Sawyer 38) in the presence of some “prodigious personage[s]” (Tom Sawyer 37) such as the judge and his lawyer brother, for he also desires to win accolades from other people. Being engulfed by his vanity, the complaisant superintendent has forgotten his original belief that the practice of recitation is used to edify those little children. Hence, through illustrating a striking similarity between the superintendent and Sid, Mark Twain implies that Sid is a clone of his religious teacher because both of them are eager to please their respective authorities in the hope of gaining much more attention and recognition. His ulterior motive for memorizing the verses, Mark Twain suggests, is not attributed to a strong desire for spiritual growth but to a wish to win personal honor. In order to earn this special bonus from the reward system, he chooses to give in to the constraints of the religious authority and studies hard to meet its heavy demand.
Privilege as the Second Inducement that Causes Sid’s Obedience to the Multiple Authorities:
In addition to honor, privilege is the second bonus that induces Sid to obey the multiple authorities. This special privilege, given as a reward for his unquestioning acceptance of adults’ manipulation, includes permission to do what he likes and immunity from adults’
persecution. This kind of preferential treatment is clearly illustrated in the episode where Aunt Polly shows favor to Sid over Tom. For example, Tom has ever “tried to steal sugar under his aunt’s very nose, and got his knuckles rapped for it” (Tom Sawyer 27). Slightly annoyed by his aunt’s disapproval, Tom grunts and says, “‘Aunt, you don’t whack Sid when he takes it’” (Tom Sawyer 27). Her aunt replies that “‘Well, Sid don’t torment a body the way you do. You’d be always into that sugar if I warn’t watching you’” (Tom Sawyer 27). Feeling smug about his special permission to take sugar, Sid “reach[es] for the sugar-bowl—a sort of glorying over Tom which [is] well-nigh unbearable” (Tom Sawyer 27). But he carelessly slips the sugar bowl onto the floor and breaks it into pieces. When Tom finds the model child
“[does] the mischief” (Tom Sawyer 27), he is brimming with exultation and expecting to “see the pet model” (Tom Sawyer 27) punished by his aunt. However, as Tom is still immersed in his own ecstasy, Aunt Polly has driven her “potent palm” (Tom Sawyer 27) into his back, sending him “sprawling on the floor” (Tom Sawyer 27). She would strike him hard across his face if Tom did not cry out and say “Hold on, now, what’er you belting me for?—Sid broke it” (Tom Sawyer 27)! Through illustrating Aunt Polly’s partiality for Sid, Mark Twain suggests that she is lax in disciplining children who are able to strictly conform to the moral standard of behavior. Since Sid lives up to her expectations, he is allowed to enjoy more freedom to do what he wants. For example, despite the fact that his aunt usually prohibits her two nephews from eating sweets because it is detrimental to their teeth, Sid is granted the privilege of taking candies just only because he fits the stereotype of a moral boy.
Furthermore, even if Sid himself causes the mischief, it is Tom that will get the blame and become the scapegoat for the fault. This unfair treatment is caused by Aunt Polly’s preconception about the two boys, a preconception which always makes her stereotype Sid as a boy with flawless character. Dwelling in an environment where a well-behaved boy will be given special privileges and treated as the most endearing child in his family, Sid knows
clearly the advantages of being a model child. In order to gain these benefits, Sid chooses to embrace the social values and moral principles held by the multiple authorities and do his utmost to cater to the adults’ requirements.
Lifting the Mask of the Model Child:
Being well aware of the added incentives and advantages that derive from the defect in the control mechanisms, Sid would meekly do the adults’ bidding and grasp any opportunity to endear him to his authorized superiors. He is always reminded that he can profit from being a model child. This kind of the constant reminder, for example, permeates every aspect of his daily life. While attending church on Sundays, Sid knows that if he emulates the success of “the Model Boy, Willie Mufferson” (Tom Sawyer 42), who always conforms to the expected modes of a well-behaved child, he can not only become another “pride of all the matrons” (Tom Sawyer 42) but also relish the leverage and the limelight in the church.
Moreover, like Willie Mufferson, who is always “‘thrown up to them [the matrons]’ so much”
(Tom Sawyer 42) in the church, he can also become a valuable treasure of his parents and teachers. In spite of the fact that these inducements successfully make Sid’s behavior fit into the expected patterns, Mark Twain suggests that these powerful stimuli, which are originally used to encourage children to work harder and behave well, would cause a negative effect on Sid and deprave him to the extent of becoming a merciless and insidious boy. In order to maintain his higher status among his peers and protect his special privileges, Mark Twain suggests Sid would unconsciously imitate the modes of behavior and thought of the adult world. Like the adults that are eager to eliminate the heterogeneous members from their living community, Sid is also anxious to ostracize those who are not categorized as model children through two cunning tactics. The first tactic he employs to differentiate himself from his peers is to spy on those who frequently cause trouble to their authorized superiors,
whereas the second tactic is to inform on those boys who have committed excesses. Through secretly collecting and shamelessly divulging the secrets of his peers, Sid is convinced that he can not only cause them to be suspected or proved guilty of violating the regulations but also assert his superiority over them.
Sid as a Cunning Spy:
As the episode of the brutal murder of Dr. Robinson illustrates, the adults in St.
Petersburg may keep close tabs on one another. For instance, when gathering at the murder scene in the graveyard, one of the belated citizens informs everyone that he has “come upon Potter washing himself in the ‘branch’ about one or two o’clock in the morning, and that Potter [has] at once sneaked off—suspicious circumstances, especially the washing which [is]
not a habit with Potter” (Tom Sawyer 88). Like the adults that may carefully watch and tell on other people, Sid always keeps those non-model children under his strict and secret surveillance. In order to expose the wild or immoral behavior of those non-model children, Sid would not only secretly collect information unfavorable to those he wants to exclude but also slyly find out what they have done and said by spying on them. For example, after Tom is wrongly accused of breaking the sugar bowl by his aunt at dinner, he wanders “far from the accustomed haunts of boys, and [seeks] desolate places” (Tom Sawyer 29) where he wallows in self-pity. Feeling insulted and unfairly treated by his aunt, Tom starts to imagine how sorry his aunt would be if he were dead.8 Then, he meanders along “the deserted street” (Tom Sawyer 29) and eventually stands beneath Becky’s window where he once again imagines he
“would die—out in the cold world, with no shelter over his homeless head, no friendly hand to wipe the death-damps from his brow, no loving face to bend pityingly over him when the great agony [comes]” (Tom Sawyer 29). However, Tom’s fertile imagination is interrupted by
8 In “Tom Sawyer’s Games of Death,” Harold Aspiz illustrates four different kinds of games of death and resurrection: (1) Tom’s obsession with death; (2) grave robbing and the murder; (3) the idyllic adventure of Tom, Huck, and Joe; (4) the cave adventure of Tom and Becky.
a maidservant who opens the window and dumps “a deluge of water” (Tom Sawyer 30) on his head. Getting terribly drenched, this “strangling hero [springs] up with a relieving snort”
(Tom Sawyer 30) and scurries home. When Tom, “all undressed for bed, [is] surveying his drenched garments by the light of a tallow dip, Sid [wakes] up” (Tom Sawyer 30) and discovers Tom’s soaking wet clothes. As Sid finds his half-brother spends a terrible and unlucky night, he neither apologizes to Tom for his fault for breaking the bowl nor sympathizes with Tom’s plight. Instead, were it not for the blazing fire in Tom’s eyes, Sid would poke fun at Tom’s misfortune and satirize Tom by “making any ‘references to allusions’” (Tom Sawyer 30). Though Sid fails to malign Tom with his innuendos, he surreptitiously makes “mental note of the omission” (Tom Sawyer 30) when he discovers Tom goes to bed without saying his prayers. Hence, Mark Twain suggests Sid is a cold-hearted, sly, and treacherous boy, who enjoys spying on his half-brother indefatigably.
The surveillance conducted by Sid is illustrated much more clearly in the episode of Tom’s nightmares in which Sid secretly watches Tom every night and looses his bondage to listen to what he mutters in his sleep. After the incident of Doctor Robinson’s murder, Sid starts to notice Tom’s unusual behavior at home and at school. For example, Sid discovers that Tom not only tosses and turns before falling into a fitful doze but also “talk[s] in [his]
sleep so much that [Tom] keep[s] [Sid] awake half the time” (Tom Sawyer 91). In order to trap Tom into disclosing his secret and see him admonished by Aunt Polly, Sid deliberately informs his aunt of Tom’s unusual behavior, pretending that he seems perturbed by Tom’s noise at night. Although Tom refuses to acknowledge that he talks in his sleep, Sid immediately says, “you [Tom] do talk such stuff” (Tom Sawyer 91) because “‘[l]ast night you said, ‘It’s blood, it’s blood, that’s what it is!’ You said that over and over. And you said,
‘Don’t torment me so—I’ll tell!’ Tell what? What is it you’ll tell” (Tom Sawyer 91)? Struck dumb by Sid’s sharp retort, Tom feels uneasy about his embarrassing situation until his aunt
helps him release the tension and says “‘Sho! It’s that dreadful murder. I dream about it most every night myself. Sometimes I dream it’s me that done it’” (Tom Sawyer 91). After Tom discovers Sid is secretly watching him and listening to what he mumbles at night, Tom pretends that he gets a toothache and needs to “tie up his jaws every night” (Tom Sawyer 91).
Nevertheless, Tom never knows that his obstinate brother, who is always sticking his nose into matters that are no concern of his, would never give up prying into his private affairs.
When Tom falls asleep, Sid “[lies] nightly watching [Tom], and frequently slip[s] the bandage free and then lean[s] on his elbow listening a good while at a time, and afterward slip[s] the bandage back to its place again” (Tom Sawyer 91). After hearing “Tom’s disjointed mutterings” (Tom Sawyer 91), Sid would “[keep] it to himself” (Tom Sawyer 91) until he grasps a good opportunity to divulge the details. Through accusing Sid of muckraking, Mark Twain implies that were Sid a perfectly-good child, he should show his genuine concern for Tom and try to help his brother through the difficult period. Nevertheless, instead of giving Tom any comfort or assistance, Sid hardens his heart against Tom and perverts his strength to find evidence against his brother, who suffers emotional turmoil at night.
In addition to noticing Tom’s unusual behavior at home, Sid also discovers that Tom unexpectedly loses interest in the schoolyard popular activity such as the “inquests on dead cats” (Tom Sawyer 92). Sid knows Tom used to “take the lead in all new enterprises” (Tom Sawyer 92), but now he notices that Tom neither acts as a coroner nor a witness “at one of
these inquiries” (Tom Sawyer 92). Furthermore, Sid never overlooks the fact that “Tom even show[s] a marked aversion to these inquests, and always avoid[s] them when he could” (Tom Sawyer 92). Although Sid may not always figure out what has happened to Tom, this taciturn
and treacherous boy never wavers in his determination to search out Tom’s secrets, keeping his naughty brother under his careful and close surveillance. In a sense, Sid is like a visible but unverifiable monitor because Tom can see this monitor in his daily life but he cannot
always know where and when he is being observed. Taking great delight in stealthily watching Tom and keeping Tom’s innermost secrets to himself, Sid is like a sinister figure lurking in the shadows. He always carries a lot of ammunition aimed at those he wants to attack. Hence, Mark Twain suggests that Sid is a well-behaved child whose heart is basically evil. Though this model child conforms to the orders and regulations of the multiple authorities, in fact he is not by nature a kindly and affectionate boy.
Sid as a Mean Informer:
The act of informing against runaway slaves, Mark Twain suggests, prevails in the world where the children live. In order to receive remuneration from slave-owners, most of the inhabitants whose hearts have been corrupted by avarice would tell off the runaway slaves.
Like these merciless adults, Sid would also betray his peers in order to mortify them and eventually exclude them from his realm of model children. After successfully gathering all unfavorable information about those ill-behaved children, Sid would have the effrontery to snitch on them. For instance, he leaks out the secret of Tom’s delinquency when Aunt Polly attempts to deceive Tom into admitting that he plays truant and goes swimming instead. She inquires whether he “want[s] to go in a-swimming” (Tom Sawyer 11) that afternoon and then
“reach[es] out her hand and [feels] Tom’s shirt” (Tom Sawyer 11). Since Tom is aware of the consequences of playing hooky, he has forestalled any possible trouble by first sewing his shirt collar back in place after swimming, which means he could not have taken off his shirt to swim. Then, he explains his wet hair by arguing that he pumps water on his head to make
“reach[es] out her hand and [feels] Tom’s shirt” (Tom Sawyer 11). Since Tom is aware of the consequences of playing hooky, he has forestalled any possible trouble by first sewing his shirt collar back in place after swimming, which means he could not have taken off his shirt to swim. Then, he explains his wet hair by arguing that he pumps water on his head to make