Tom's interaction with Aunt Polly

Properties

description

# Tom's interaction with Aunt Polly ## Overview This entity is a **scene** extracted from line 1913 to 1959 of the text file `tom_sawyer.txt`, corresponding to a passage in [CHAPTER VI](arke:01KG2TRB6MMRBVV8NEDEVFE9B1) of *The Adventures of Tom Sawyer*. It captures a pivotal moment of domestic humor and youthful deception, in which the protagonist Tom Sawyer feigns a serious illness to avoid school. The scene was programmatically identified and structured by an automated extraction process and is part of the [Test Collection](arke:01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H). ## Context The scene follows immediately after [Tom's interaction with Sid](arke:01KG2TRZWGXMN2SR5NYW67TGKQ), in which Tom dramatically pretends to be dying in order to trick his brother Sid into summoning Aunt Polly. This ruse succeeds, and the current scene depicts the emotional reaction of Aunt Polly—fear, relief, and exasperation—when she discovers Tom’s deception. It occurs early in the morning on a school day, as described in the broader context of [CHAPTER VI](arke:01KG2TRB6MMRBVV8NEDEVFE9B1), which explores Tom’s attempts to escape the routine of school through imaginative schemes. The scene is directly succeeded by [Tom's arrival at school](arke:01KG2TRZWYZQNZVH48CPB0KBXM), where the physical aftermath of the tooth-pulling becomes a source of social prestige. ## Contents The scene centers on a dialogue between Tom and Aunt Polly after she rushes to his bedside, believing him to be gravely ill. Tom claims his “sore toe’s mortified,” prompting Aunt Polly to laugh and cry in rapid succession upon realizing the ruse. She scolds him for giving her such a fright, only to discover he also has a loose tooth causing real pain. She proceeds to extract it using a silk thread tied to a bedpost and a chunk of fire to startle him into compliance. Tom pleads not to have the tooth pulled, fearing it will keep him home from school, revealing his true motive. Aunt Polly chides him for his “outrageousness,” expressing both frustration and affection. The scene blends humor, family dynamics, and the theme of childhood rebellion, culminating in a folk remedy dental procedure that underscores the novel’s 19th-century rural setting.

description_generated_at

2026-01-28T17:38:31.044Z

description_model

Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507

description_title

Tom's interaction with Aunt Polly

end_line

1959

extracted_at

2026-01-28T17:35:16.689Z

extracted_by

structure-extraction-lambda

source_file

01KG2T4RHC4E1XKJ12BJRXE8E8

start_line

1913

text

But she fled upstairs, nevertheless, with Sid and Mary at her heels. And her face grew white, too, and her lip trembled. When she reached the bedside she gasped out: “You, Tom! Tom, what’s the matter with you?” “Oh, auntie, I’m—” “What’s the matter with you—what is the matter with you, child?” “Oh, auntie, my sore toe’s mortified!” The old lady sank down into a chair and laughed a little, then cried a little, then did both together. This restored her and she said: “Tom, what a turn you did give me. Now you shut up that nonsense and climb out of this.” The groans ceased and the pain vanished from the toe. The boy felt a little foolish, and he said: “Aunt Polly, it _seemed_ mortified, and it hurt so I never minded my tooth at all.” “Your tooth, indeed! What’s the matter with your tooth?” “One of them’s loose, and it aches perfectly awful.” “There, there, now, don’t begin that groaning again. Open your mouth. Well—your tooth _is_ loose, but you’re not going to die about that. Mary, get me a silk thread, and a chunk of fire out of the kitchen.” Tom said: “Oh, please, auntie, don’t pull it out. It don’t hurt any more. I wish I may never stir if it does. Please don’t, auntie. I don’t want to stay home from school.” “Oh, you don’t, don’t you? So all this row was because you thought you’d get to stay home from school and go a-fishing? Tom, Tom, I love you so, and you seem to try every way you can to break my old heart with your outrageousness.” By this time the dental instruments were ready. The old lady made one end of the silk thread fast to Tom’s tooth with a loop and tied the other to the bedpost. Then she seized the chunk of fire and suddenly thrust it almost into the boy’s face. The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now.

title

Tom's interaction with Aunt Polly