- description
- # CHAPTER XX
## Overview
This entity is **CHAPTER XX** of the novel *The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete*, a structured textual unit extracted from the plain text file `tom_sawyer.txt`. It spans lines 5318 to 5500 of the source file and was processed on January 28, 2026, by an automated structure extraction system. The chapter is part of the serialized narrative of Mark Twain’s classic children’s novel and is situated between [CHAPTER XIX](arke:01KG176GYJHGYJQ321PBSSDYT3) and [CHAPTER XXI](arke:01KG176GWM9E7EZGGTBJW7ZNT5) within the novel’s sequence.
## Context
The chapter is embedded within [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete](arke:01KG17620ND2Q83R02B18E9MJZ), a full-text digital edition of Mark Twain’s 1876 novel, which itself is part of the [More Classics](arke:01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS) collection—a curated set of Western literary works. The source text, `tom_sawyer.txt`, was uploaded as a plain text file and processed to identify structural components such as chapters, which were then segmented into discrete entities for archival and analytical purposes. This chapter was manually reviewed and edited by a user associated with the structure extraction process.
## Contents
This chapter details a pivotal moment in Tom Sawyer’s moral and emotional development. After reconciling with Aunt Polly in the previous chapter, Tom attempts to make amends with Becky Thatcher, only to be rebuffed. The narrative centers on a schoolroom drama: Becky, curious about the master Mr. Dobbins’s locked anatomy book, briefly opens it and accidentally tears an illustrated page. Tom witnesses the incident, and Becky accuses him of intending to expose her. Later, when the class is questioned about the torn book, Tom sees Becky’s terror and, in a moment of selfless courage, falsely confesses to the act to protect her. He endures a severe flogging and is sentenced to stay after school, but finds emotional reward in Becky’s grateful admiration. The chapter closes with Tom resolving to seek revenge on Alfred Temple, the true culprit behind an earlier conflict, but ultimately reflecting on Becky’s heartfelt praise: “Tom, how _could_ you be so noble!” This moment marks a significant step in Tom’s transition from mischievous boyhood toward ethical maturity. The chapter is internally divided into three textual [chunks](arke:01KG17999X5J6G0S71JDV0GMWN) for granular access and processing.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-28T02:39:11.530Z
- description_model
- Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
- description_title
- CHAPTER XX
- end_line
- 5500
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-28T02:33:53.602Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 5318
- text
- null
- title
- CHAPTER XX