Every page of this insightful journey that Dr. Shefali Tsabary ushers us into, demands deep reflection. Her words are likely to evoke the inevitable guilt pangs especially in those of us nurturing slightly older kids.
It busts the myth of parenting as an entitlement by virtue of biology; a proclamation which emerges from the fallacy of having the child being brought into this world from our blood and sweat alone, whereas the fact, only visible to the minds open to acceptance, remains that the children we claim ours, have emerged only ‘through’ us.
1. For the joy of experiencing Tom’s delightful adventures, the wild and vivid imagination of a teenage psychology and the deeply felt young emotions thus reproduced.
(The brutes – Tom, Huck and Joe – cook up a recipe to attend their own funeral sermon!)
‘The convulsion of delight that swept his system shook him to his foundations.’ (convulsion – uncontrollable fit)
2. To marvel at the youthful spirit and Tom’s authentic relationships with his Aunt Polly and Becky – his lady love.
The brute of a boy, the crazy adventurer but a world-class soul of a friend and a lover, Tom Sawyer is a timeless hero. With his signature masterstroke of liberating philosophies and satire, Mark Twain in his novel paints the world of Tom in delicious metaphors we can’t resist to savour.
