ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Mark Twain's dealings with the forbidden theme of cadavers, which are more daring in Tom Sawyer than in Huckleberry Finn. Tom's adventures clearly conveys Twain's rather optimistic audacity about his ability to tackle the theme, as Tom eats the forbidden jam and apples unpunished, Injun Joe steals a cadaver, and Becky surreptitiously gains access to the anatomy book. Significantly enough, the novel begins by presenting Tom as the apple eater. As Stephen Railton points out, Tom is eating forbidden "jam" in the opening scene. Considering that Tom's conscience has started to trouble him immediately after he witnesses Injun Joe commit the grave-robbery, Tom seems to be paying the price for Joe's murder/corpse-stealing in his place, serving as his scapegoat. Tom plays the role of scapegoat for Joe; now that their relation is upturned, now that Tom takes on the role of the detective, it will be Joe's turn to be the scapegoat.
