This article highlights the impact that southwestern humorist William Thompson had on Mark Twain’s composition of his masterpiece, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), and his 1894 book Tom Sawyer Abroad. In both novels, Huck refers to Tom Sawyer as “William Thompson” and “Bill Thompson.” This prompts a further investigation of Twain’s authorial intention. There are many textual elements in these two novels which suggest the possibility that Twain was conscious of Thompson and critical of his dubious literary and political involvement in promoting slavery and a secessionist agenda both before and after the Civil War. Consequently, Twain’s masterpiece can be read in quite an unprecedented way. It also becomes important that Tom is punished in both books for his mischievous and evil doings, which he deems “romantical” and “noble.” This ultimately demonstrates Twain’s mastery of southwestern humor and how he turns the tables on Thompson and other proslavery southwestern humorists and southern writers.
Tom Sawyer Said He Was “a Stranger from Hicksville, Ohio, and His Name Was William Thompson”
