Quana Alaimo                                                                                                                     Alaimo 1

Ms. Gibson

English 8

November 9, 2020

Childhood today VS. Childhood in 1850s

            Some people might think that children growing up in the 1850s were almost the same as children today. But in fact, the regular childhood that we all grew up knowing is nowhere close to how other children grew up back then. The novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain mentions the childhood ways in the 1850s, compared to how childhood is known today a lot of drastic changes has happened since the 1850s; for example, electronics, freedom, and school.

The main difference that separates childhood in the 1850s from childhood today is electronics. Kids today thrive on their tablets, phones, or laptops. But back in the 1850s these electronic devices weren’t even around for children to use. The lack of social exposure that kids today experience is mainly because if kids wanted to go talk to their friends they would have to go out to their house or meet up someplace, but now kids could just text or call. In the novel, Twain describes that kids were always outside experiencing real-life activities and not just video games. Twain writes, “Boys and girls were always waiting their turns, resting, trading playthings, quarreling, fighting, skylarking” (Twain 13). All the boys and girls that lived in Hannibal in the 1850s would always have some activity to occupy them during the days. Electronics are a part of children’s life today which is unlike how children in the 1850s grew up.

The danger that surrounds the world today limits the freedom that children in the 1850s had. All throughout the book, Mark Twain mentions that Tom and his friends would sneak out at night and run around the town, but today there are so many more precautions that children are told take. Children grow up having to learn about how to not get kidnapped and how to escape people that can come off as a threat to you. But children back then didn’t have as much of people that were dangerous to young kids. Kids today usually have to let their parents know where they are going, but children had more freedom in the 1850s because there wasn’t as high of a risk of something unfortunate happening to them. Mark Twain says, “A cry of ‘Scat! You devil’ and the crash of an empty bottle against the back of his aunts wood-shed brought him wide awake, and a single minute later he was dressed and out of the window and creeping along the roof on all fours” (Twain 87). Tom would sneak out all the time, and it was pretty normal for him to do since he was so used to it. The freedom that children were able to experience in the 1850s is nothing like today’s children’s behavior.

Most of the time children had the choice of whether they wanted to go to school or not, now school is required for all children. Sometimes children in the 1850s couldn’t go to school because they needed to do work to earn money for their families. Today no one can even get a job unless they are 16 or older. The only option children have today at school is if they want to be homeschooled or go to an actual school. Child labor was a big part of school not being a requirement, there were also not many teachers who were educated enough to teach their students. Twain mentions in the book how school isn’t really important to most children. Twain writes, “Tom did play hookey, and he a very good time. He got back home barely in season to help Jim” (Twain 3). Tom skips school a lot of the time and doesn’t get in trouble with his teachers, only Aunt Polly. Children used to be able to have the option on their education now it’s not a choice.

Childhood today has transformed into a totally different manner since childhood in the 1850s; for instance, electronics, freedom, and school, this is shown in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer written by Mark Twain. Children today have more advanced things than children did back then, so it’s no doubt that childhood would change so much since the 1850s. All throughout the book, Mark Twain talks about Tom’s day-to-day activities, which included many outdoor things, while children today are usually on some type of electronic. In conclusion, childhood has changed, but that is to be expected since so many other things have changed since the 1850s.

 

 

Works Cited

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Barnes and Noble Classics. New York: 2003.