- description
- # CHAPTER XXI
## Overview
This entity is [CHAPTER XXI](arke:01KG16PT29Z758NWQGJW4QPAM1), a chapter in the novel [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete](arke:01KG16N2K9058F4BVCSK7DDWHH). It spans lines 5501 to 5729 of the source text file [tom_sawyer.txt](arke:01KG0K71QZ8KK7RGEGSNTB5534) and was extracted as part of a structured digitization process. The chapter is situated within the broader [More Classics](arke:01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS) collection and forms part of the sequential narrative following [CHAPTER XX](arke:01KG16PT6JDPDNZ42CRRWZJJ57) and preceding [CHAPTER XXII](arke:01KG16PT7G1JXDEYTH7P9HT7M1).
## Context
The chapter is part of Mark Twain’s classic 1876 novel, which chronicles the adventures of a young boy in a fictional Mississippi River town. This particular chapter was extracted from a plain text version of the novel and organized into discrete structural units—chapters and sub-chunks—for digital archival and analytical purposes. The processing was carried out by an automated system under the [Structure Extraction](arke:01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H) agent within the More Classics collection, which includes other canonical literary works.
## Contents
CHAPTER XXI centers on the school’s “Examination” day, a public event marking the end of the academic term. The strict schoolmaster, Mr. Dobbins, intensifies his discipline in preparation, provoking resentment among the students. In retaliation, the boys devise a prank involving the signpainter’s boy, who agrees to assist in humiliating the master. During the evening exercises, students recite poems and deliver original compositions—often melodramatic and moralizing in tone—while Tom Sawyer attempts a bold oration of Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech but succumbs to stage fright. The chapter culminates in the prank’s execution: a cat is lowered from the attic, snatching the teacher’s wig to reveal his comically gilded bald head, bringing the event to a chaotic and triumphant close for the boys. The chapter ends with the declaration: “Vacation had come.” A note clarifies that the satirical student compositions are authentic excerpts from a 19th-century volume by a “Western Lady,” underscoring Twain’s critique of sentimental educational conventions.
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- 2026-01-28T02:34:11.538Z
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- Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
- description_title
- CHAPTER XXI
- end_line
- 5729
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-28T02:25:19.202Z
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- structure-extraction-lambda
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- 5501
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- title
- CHAPTER XXI