Question

In the following excerpt from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom’s Aunt Polly discusses her relationship with Tom. Which sentence reveals how Aunt Polly has decided to discipline Tom? "Hang the boy, can't I never learn anything? Ain't he played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time? But old fools is the biggest fools there is. Can't learn an old dog new tricks, as the saying is. But my goodness, he never plays them alike, two days, and how is a body to know what's coming? He 'pears to know just how long he can torment me before I get my dander up, and he knows if he can make out to put me off for a minute or make me laugh, it's all down again and I can't hit him a lick. I ain't doing my duty by that boy, and that's the Lord's truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile the child, as the Good Book says. I'm a laying up sin and suffering for us both, I know. He's full of the Old Scratch, but laws-a-me! he's my own dead sister's boy, poor thing, and I ain't got the heart to lash him, somehow. Every time I let him off, my conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks. Well-a-well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it's so. He'll play hookey this evening, and I'll just be obleeged to make him work, tomorrow, to punish him. It's mighty hard to make him work Saturdays, when all the boys is having holiday, but he hates work more than he hates anything else, and I've got to do some of my duty by him, or I'll be the ruination of the child."

Answer 1

Hi,

The sentence that best describes how Aunt Polly has decided to discipline Tom is "He'll play hookey this evening, and I'll just be obleeged to make him work, tomorrow, to punish him."

~Elisabeth

Answer 2

"He'll play hookey this evening, and I'll just be obleeged to make him work, tomorrow, to punish him."

Step-by-step explanation:

In these lines, we learn about the relationship between Aunt Polly and Tom Sawyer. Aunt Polly complains about Tom being a trickster, always getting in trouble and tormenting her. She worries because she finds the behaviour irresponsible and immature, but at the same time, does not know what to do about it. She feels guilty hitting him, but wants him to learn how to be disciplined. Therefore, his punishment is usually more work, as he seems to hate it.