Becky Thatcher and Judge Thatcher

Becky Thatcher is the daughter of Judge Thatcher, the most august and respected figure in the village of St. Petersburg. The Judge is a prodigious personage, the county judge from Constantinople, twelve miles away, whose very presence at the Sunday-school causes awe among the children, who wonder what kind of material he is made of and half expect him to roar. He is brother to the local lawyer, and his arrival at the school with his wife and a small child—Becky—immediately captures Tom Sawyer's heart, displacing his previous infatuation with Amy Lawrence.

Family Life and Parental Care

Judge Thatcher's family returns to town after a visit to their Constantinople home during vacation, a fact that brings Tom great joy. The Judge's wife, Mrs. Thatcher, is deeply involved in Becky's daily life, arranging for her to stay with friends after the picnic and anxiously inquiring about her whereabouts. When Becky and Tom become lost in McDougal's Cave, the Judge's concern is profound: he sends messages of hope and encouragement from the cave, but these convey no real cheer. Mrs. Thatcher is almost crazed with worry, and the Judge himself leads a handful of searchers, tracking them through the cave by the twine clues they have strung behind them. The Judge's authority is such that he orders the cave's big door sheathed with boiler iron and triple-locked to prevent future tragedies, a decision that inadvertently traps Injun Joe inside.

The Judge's Esteem for Tom Sawyer

Judge Thatcher conceives a great opinion of Tom after the cave ordeal. He declares that no commonplace boy would ever have got his daughter out of the cave. When Becky confides in her father about how Tom took her whipping at school—confessing to tearing the master's anatomy book to save her from punishment—the Judge is visibly moved. When she pleads grace for the "mighty lie" Tom told to shift the whipping from her shoulders to his own, the Judge bursts out that it is a noble, a generous, a magnanimous lie, worthy to hold up its head and march down through history breast to breast with George Washington's lauded truth about the hatchet. Becky thinks her father has never looked so tall and superb as when he walks the floor and stamps his foot saying this. The Judge hopes to see Tom a great lawyer or a great soldier someday, and he means to ensure Tom is admitted to the National Military Academy and later trained in the best law school in the country.

Becky's Trust and the Judge's Role

Becky trusts her father implicitly, telling him in strict confidence about Tom's noble act at school. The Judge's approval of Tom is a significant turning point, elevating Tom's status in the community and in Becky's eyes. The Judge also manages Tom's newfound wealth, putting the money out at six percent interest at Aunt Polly's request, just as the Widow Douglas does for Huck Finn. This financial stewardship underscores the Judge's role as a responsible and benevolent figure in the lives of the children. The relationship between Becky and her father is one of genuine affection and mutual respect, with the Judge's pride in his daughter and his willingness to recognize true merit in others forming a key part of the novel's resolution.