# Muff Potter — The Adventures of Tom Sawyer character guide

> Muff Potter in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Potter, old Muff, poor Potter

**First appearance:** 0010-ix-tragedy-in-the-graveyard

## Snapshot

The town drunk, gentle and gullible, who wakes from a stupor to find himself accused of murder and has no memory with which to defend himself.

## Who they are

Muff Potter is the harmless, liquor-soaked fixture of St. Petersburg's jail and tavern, a man whose good nature and weakness make him an easy scapegoat. When he's charged with a crime he can't remember committing, the town's rush to judgment exposes its cruelty, and Tom and Huck's blood oath to stay silent becomes unbearable. His plight is the moral hinge of the early book: it forces Tom to choose between a promise and a man's life, and it shows what the town's 'respectable' order is willing to do to the powerless.

## Relationships

### [Tom Sawyer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/characters/tom_sawyer)

_friendship_

Muff Potter is a harmless drunk whom Tom befriends and later saves from execution by revealing Injun Joe's guilt.

### [Injun Joe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/characters/injun_joe)

_rivalry_

Injun Joe frames Muff Potter for a murder he himself committed, making Potter his victim and scapegoat.

### [Injun Joe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/characters/injun_joe)

_rivalry_

Injun Joe frames Muff Potter for a murder he himself committed, making Potter his victim and scapegoat.

### [Tom Sawyer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/characters/tom_sawyer)

_friendship_

Muff Potter is a harmless drunk whom Tom befriends and later saves from execution by revealing Injun Joe's guilt.

### [Injun Joe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/characters/injun_joe)

_rivalry_

Injun Joe frames Muff Potter for a murder he himself committed, making Potter his victim and scapegoat.

### [Tom Sawyer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/characters/tom_sawyer)

_friendship_

Muff Potter is a harmless drunk whom Tom befriends and later saves from execution by revealing Injun Joe's guilt.

## In the story

### [IX: Tragedy in the Graveyard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/chapters/ix-tragedy-in-the-graveyard)

Muff Potter is drunk, grapples with the doctor, is knocked out, and wakes to find himself holding the murder weapon, believing he may have killed Robinson.

### [Dire Prophecy of the Howling Dog](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/chapters/x-dire-prophecy-of-the-howling-dog)

Found asleep in the tannery, believed to be the target of the howling dog's omen.

### [Conscience Racks Tom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/chapters/xi-conscience-racks-tom)

Muff Potter is arrested and brought before the crowd, where he sobbingly protests his innocence. He is overwhelmed by fear and hopelessness, and later receives secret aid from Tom.

### [The Salvation of Muff Potter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/chapters/xxiii-the-salvation-of-muff-potter)

Potter is on trial for murder, grateful for the boys' friendship, and ultimately saved by Tom's testimony.

### [Splendid Days and Fearsome Nights](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/chapters/xxiv-splendid-days-and-fearsome-nights)

Muff Potter is now embraced by the community and grateful to Tom, contrasting with Tom's inner turmoil.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/characters/muff_potter
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tom_sawyer_se/characters