I think it's a reasonable assumption, if not a given. I've talked about it
in one of my essays (I forget which one), pointing out that Tom, like a
sawyer, pops up unpredictably and causes trouble each time. More than a mere
annoyance, he represents a threat to Huck and Jim's navigation away from
conformity.
The earliest I can recall seeing the sawyer=Sawyer connection being made is
in William G. Barrett's `On the Naming of Tom Sawyer', Psychoanalytic
Quarterly 24:3 (1955), but Barrett simply notes it as a possible source and
then dives back into his absurd psycho-babble about how Tom got his name.
His essay is worth reading as an example of how far out on a limb
psychological theory can climb--I guess that's where the nuts are. But
Barrett's nonsense was so silly that I once wondered if his article was a
hoax intended to make fun of Freudian claptrap of the 1950s, when no cigar
was just a cigar. Barrett says Tom starts with T just like Twain, and Sawyer
starts with S just like Sam. Hence, Sam Twain. and therefore Tom Sawyer.
Voila! I'm not making this up, but Barrett uses jargon to explain it, so it
must be true.
And on the subject of Tom Sawyer's name, he was not named after a San
Francisco fireman. Pure bunk. Smoke without the mirrors, and no fire either.
However, my wonderful wonderful black cat, Felix, was indeed named after a
more famous cat of the same name, and I was named after one of my
grandfather's friends, Kevin Barry, who upset the English so much they
hanged him. I hope nobody is upset by my musings on the naming of Tom
Sawyer.
Kevin
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-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Holmes
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2017 1:44 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Just wondering about Sawyers
I've been working on my Roughing It videos and lessons and came across
discussions of sawyers as nuisances to navigation. Â In these instances
they referred to the Missouri rather than the Mississippi. Â I was just
thinking that the thought of them being nuisances might have inspired
Twain to name his most popular nuisance Sawyer, Tom Sawyer.
--
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of
in your philosophy.
http://bscottholmes.com
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