Joe Harper

Origin
Tom’s “bosom friend” and frequent playmate. Joe is a typical best friend, a convention Twain parodies when he refers to Joe and Tom as “two souls with but a single thought.” Though Joe mostly mirrors Tom, he diverges from Tom’s example when he is the first of the boys to succumb to homesickness on Jackson’s Island. As time progresses, Huckleberry Finn begins to assume Joe’s place as Tom’s companion.

Public Domain Appearances
Book:
 * The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Film:
 * Tom Sawyer (1917)
 * Huck and Tom (1918)