At the end of the novel, Tom asks Huck to shed his ways and become a member of society, that is to become respectable. Society is Tom's way of life, and he does not want to escape from it except in his childhood games of pretend. Huck, however, foreshadows the Huck of Huck Finn, a fourteen-year-old person who has tried society and has rejected it. (Interestingly, Twain ends Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in much the same way: There, again, Huck wants to escape from the confining rules and hypocrisy of society in favor of a life of adventure and freedom.)
Tom, in contrast, is preparing again for his make-believe world. In this make-believe world, Huck Finn cannot become a member of Tom's band of robbers unless in the real world he becomes respectable. The irony escapes Tom, but is apparent to the adult reader--a fact that again shows this novel's appeal to both children and adults, alike.
The ending of Tom Sawyer served Twain as a jumping off point for his next novel, which he would not complete for another eight years: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It is as though he had discovered his favorite character in Huck, a person who lived apart from normal society and who, from the perspective of an outsider, would be able to criticize it.
