- description
- # CHAPTER XXI
## Overview
This entity is **Chapter XXI** of the novel *The Adventures of Tom Sawyer* by Mark Twain. It exists as a structured digital chapter unit, extracted from the full text file `tom_sawyer.txt` and forming part of the larger novel. The chapter spans lines 5501 to 5729 in the source document and was processed on January 28, 2026, as part of a digital text segmentation workflow. It is organized into four sequential text chunks for computational handling and is situated between [CHAPTER XX](arke:01KG2TRBEAZQ94DC4CJFWQ9WH5) and [CHAPTER XXII](arke:01KG2TRBKXXD66BSKM6527N9RS) in the narrative sequence.
## Context
This chapter is part of [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer](arke:01KG2TP9MA26GMS73H3R2KPN3R), a classic American novel first published in 1876. The digital version was derived from the plain text file [tom_sawyer.txt](arke:01KG2T4RHC4E1XKJ12BJRXE8E8), which was uploaded to and processed within the [Test Collection](arke:01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H) system. The segmentation into chapters and chunks was performed automatically by a structure extraction service, with manual oversight by a system user. The chapter reflects a scene during the fictional town’s school examination day, a narrative device used by Twain to satirize 19th-century educational and social customs.
## Contents
The chapter depicts the buildup and execution of a prank by the schoolboys on their strict schoolmaster, Mr. Dobbins, during the annual school examination. As the event approaches, the master grows increasingly severe, provoking the students—especially the younger boys—to conspire against him. They recruit the signpainter’s boy, whose father hosts the master, to assist in their plan. On examination night, after the master drinks heavily, the boy helps conceal him while he naps, then awakens him at the last moment to rush to the event. The chapter details the formal proceedings: recitations by students, including Tom Sawyer’s failed attempt at Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech, and a series of overly sentimental original compositions and poetry by the young ladies, which Twain mocks for their artificial melancholy and moralizing tone. The climax occurs when a cat, lowered from the attic on a string, snatches the master’s wig—revealing his gilded bald head—and dissolves the event in laughter, marking the arrival of vacation. A footnote clarifies that the quoted compositions are authentic excerpts from a real 19th-century anthology, underscoring Twain’s satirical accuracy.
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- 2026-01-28T17:38:40.489Z
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- description_title
- CHAPTER XXI
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- 5729
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- 2026-01-28T17:34:54.503Z
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- title
- CHAPTER XXI