episode-tomsgang

=Tom Sawyer's Gang=



Huck Finn comes from a life of abuse, a life without a mother or father, poverty and no restrictions. These are usually some of the most common factors that lead a young person into a gang. The media, in Huck's case books, portray gangs as a resource for protection, money and acceptance, which are things that Huck has had very little or no experience with but are things that everyone desires. Those books greatly influence the minds and lead people to later on live a life of violence and sometimes they end up worse than they were before.

In chapter 2 of //__The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,__// Mark Twain writes about how gangs and gang violence are becoming an increasing problem and also how children are easily influenced to create or take part in these gangs, " Now we will start this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer's Gang." (9). Like any other gang, Tom Sawyer's Gang also had an oath or rules to abide by " so Tom got out a sheet of paper...it swore every boy to stick to the band and never tell any of the secrets and if anybody that belonged to the band told any of the secrets, he must have his throat cut and then have his carcass burnt up and his ashes spread all around"(9).

When asked where that " real beautiful oath" came from, Tom answered that some came from his head but most of it came from "pirate-books, robber-books and every gang that was high-toned had it" (9). When other members tried to include a few ideas of their own, Tom rejected them by saying that that wasn't in the books and that they should only do what is in the books. Here Twain refers to how easily the minds of young children and teenagers are influenced. They read books about pirates and robbers or newspaper articles of crimes committed by local gangs and right away they try to do the same, " what is the line of business of this gang? Nothing, only robbery and murder" (10).

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