In Chapter 18 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the identity of the boy Tom licked in Chapter 1 is finally revealed. What is his identity and how...

In Chapter 18 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom has just returned to normal life in town after he and his friends made their grand reappearance at their own funeral.  He is the hero of all the children.  They are all insanely jealous of him and they all want his attention.  One person who wants his attention is Becky Thatcher.

If you remember, in Chapter 3, Tom met Becky, though he did not...

In Chapter 18 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom has just returned to normal life in town after he and his friends made their grand reappearance at their own funeral.  He is the hero of all the children.  They are all insanely jealous of him and they all want his attention.  One person who wants his attention is Becky Thatcher.

If you remember, in Chapter 3, Tom met Becky, though he did not know her name at that time.  He promptly “falls in love” with her.  Later, they become boyfriend and girlfriend and they agree that one day they will get married.  However, she ends the relationship after a few minutes when she finds out that he had previously been engaged to Amy Lawrence.  After Becky is ill for a while, Tom tries to make up with her but she is mean to him.  This is what causes Tom to run away to the island with Huck Finn and Joe Harper.

When Tom comes back, Becky wants him again, but he snubs her to punish her for doing the same to him earlier.  To retaliate against him, Becky starts paying attention to the boy that Tom licked in Chapter 1.  We learn that his name is Alfred Temple.  The two of them sit close together at lunch, looking at a picture book.  Alfred is in love, but Becky is just using him to hurt Tom.  When Alfred finds out what Becky is doing, he hates Tom even more.  He gets back at Tom by pouring ink all over a page of Tom’s spelling book, knowing that the teacher will beat Tom because he will believe Tom did it himself.

So, the boy’s name is Alfred Temple and he gets back at Tom by pouring ink all over Tom’s spelling book.  (You could say that he gets even with Tom by being with Becky, but the evidence in the book suggests that he actually likes Becky and is not doing that to get even with Tom.)