Tom Sawyer, a mischievous young boy, lives in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri with his Aunt Polly and half-brother Sid. Together with his friend Huckleberry Finn, the son of a drunk, ruthless father, he accidentally witnesses a murder. What unfolds in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) is a series of exhilarating events: both friends identify Injun Joe, the real murderer, in court; testify to the innocence of the person wrongly accused and find buried treasure in a haunted house. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Huck escapes from the clutches of his father and encounters Jim, a runaway slave. They embark on an exciting journey along the Mississippi River, meeting different people and participating in their unusual lives. With time, Huck finds himself in a moral dilemma over societal values and his own friendship with Jim. With The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain presents a sharp social commentary on 19th-century American life through scathing satire, folksy humour, colloquial speech and coarse language.