- description
- # Preface
## Overview
This entity is a preface to the novel [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete](arke:01KG17620ND2Q83R02B18E9MJZ), extracted from the text file [tom_sawyer.txt](arke:01KG0K71QZ8KK7RGEGSNTB5534). It appears in the sequence of front matter following the [Illustrations](arke:01KG176GCSTQFTDCGXJHKRQFRA) section and directly precedes [CHAPTER I](arke:01KG176GDRK7X8GGR8B2DX8VF3). The preface spans lines 461 to 486 of the source file and was processed as part of the [More Classics](arke:01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS) collection.
## Context
The preface was authored by Mark Twain and dated Hartford, 1876. It introduces the novel’s semi-autobiographical nature, clarifying that while some adventures are drawn from the author’s own childhood, others come from the experiences of his schoolmates. The characters of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are explicitly discussed—Huck as a real-life portrait, and Tom as a composite of three boys the author knew. The preface also acknowledges the prevalence of superstitions among children and enslaved people in the American West several decades prior to publication.
## Contents
The preface asserts that although the book is intended for children, it also aims to gently remind adult readers of their own youth—how they thought, spoke, and engaged in imaginative or mischievous endeavors. Twain expresses hope that the narrative will appeal across generations by capturing authentic childhood experiences. The text closes with the attribution “THE AUTHOR” and the place and year of composition: Hartford, 1876.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-28T02:39:06.313Z
- description_model
- Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
- description_title
- Preface
- end_line
- 486
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-28T02:33:53.581Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 461
- text
- PREFACE
Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two
were experiences of my own, the rest those of boys who were schoolmates
of mine. Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an
individual—he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom
I knew, and therefore belongs to the composite order of architecture.
The odd superstitions touched upon were all prevalent among children and
slaves in the West at the period of this story—that is to say, thirty or
forty years ago.
Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and
girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account,
for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what
they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked,
and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in.
THE AUTHOR.
HARTFORD, 1876.
- title
- Preface