Quiz: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Preface & Chapter I)

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Who is the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?
A) Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)
B) Charles Dickens
C) Robert Louis Stevenson
D) Mark Sawyer

2. According to the Preface, who is Huckleberry Finn based on?
A) A combination of three boys
B) A real person, drawn from life
C) The author himself
D) No one in particular

3. According to the Preface, Tom Sawyer is based on:
A) One specific boy the author knew well
B) A combination of characteristics from three boys
C) The author's own childhood self only
D) A boy named Sid

4. At the beginning of Chapter I, what is Aunt Polly looking for?
A) Her lost spectacles
B) The cat
C) Tom
D) A switch to punish Sid

5. What does Aunt Polly discover on Tom's hands and mouth?
A) Mud
B) Jam
C) Chocolate
D) Paint

6. How does Tom escape being switched by Aunt Polly?
A) He apologizes sincerely
B) He tricks her into looking behind her, then runs away
C) He cries until she gives up
D) Sid distracts her

7. Who is Jim in this chapter?
A) Tom's cousin
B) A small colored boy who does chores
C) Tom's father
D) Aunt Polly's husband

8. Why does Aunt Polly feel guilty about disciplining Tom?
A) She thinks he is too young to understand
B) He is her own dead sister's son, and she doesn't have the heart to lash him
C) Sid tells her not to punish him
D) The preacher told her not to

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Short-Answer Questions

9. Why does Aunt Polly decide to make Tom work on Saturday, even though it's normally a holiday for boys?

10. Describe how Aunt Polly tries to trick Tom into confessing that he went swimming, and how Tom outsmarts her.

11. Based on the Preface, what does Mark Twain say is one of his goals in writing this book for adult readers?

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Answer Key

1. A
2. B
3. B
4. C
5. B
6. B
7. B
8. B
9. To punish him for playing hookey (skipping school/work) that afternoon, since she feels she must do her duty by him.
10. Aunt Polly asks leading questions about the warm weather and feels his shirt to see if it's wet from swimming; when she finds it dry, she assumes he didn't swim. However, Tom claims some boys pumped water on their heads to explain the dampness. Aunt Polly then thinks to check if his sewed shirt collar was undone (which he would have needed to do to pump water on his head), but Tom had cleverly resewn it, so he passes her test.
11. He hopes the book will pleasantly remind adults of what they themselves were once like—how they felt, thought, talked, and the queer things they did as children.