Tom lives in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy.

He cleverly persuades his friends to trade him all of these treasures for the privilege of doing his work. He also comes away with twelve marbles, part of a jews-harp, a piece of blue bottle-glass, a spool cannon, a key that wouldn't unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper, a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six fire-crackers, a kitten with only one eye, a brass door-knob, a dog collar, the handle of a knife, four pieces of orange-peel, and a dilapidated old window-sash.

Joe is Tom's best friend, but his role diminishes as the novel goes on, and by the time Tom gets to treasure-hunting Joe has pretty much fallen off the radar.

Employing whacks on the head with her thimble, frequent scoldings, and the quoting of Scripture, Aunt Polly tries, unsuccessfully, to force Tom to abandon his high-spirited ways.

They witness a quarrel between three graverobbers which ends in the murder of Dr. Robinson.

His full pirate name is "Tom Sawyer, the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main," while Huck is "Huck the Red-Handed," and Joe is "Joe Harper, the Terror of the Seas."

Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town, and persuades her to get "engaged" by kissing him. But their romance collapses when she learns Tom has been "engaged" previously to Amy Lawrence.

On Jackson's Island, Huck teaches Tom and Joe how to smoke a pipe. They both brag about how easy it is until they start to feel sick and make excuses to go find Joe's knife which they suddenly realize is "lost".

Tom and Becky get separated from their classmates during a picnic and wander lost in the cave for several days before running out of food and candles.

Like Amy Lawrence, Alfred gets caught in the crossfire of Tom and Becky's love games, as Becky pretends to like him in order to make Tom jealous.