Tom Sawyer and the Whitewashed Fence
Classical Stories · No. 89 — The chore he turned into a privilege other boys paid to do.
- Classical Stories
- 34 min
- Ages 15–99
- 6 chapters
About this audiobook
It is a glorious Saturday morning, and Tom Sawyer has been sentenced by his Aunt Polly to whitewash the enormous board fence in front of the house — thirty yards of it — while every other boy in town is free to play. Miserable at first, and mocked by a passing friend, Tom has an inspiration: instead of admitting it's a punishment, he acts as though whitewashing is a rare and delightful art, an honor not granted to just anyone. Fascinated, the other boys gather; soon they are pleading for a turn at the brush — and paying Tom in apples, marbles, and treasures for the privilege. By afternoon the fence has three coats of whitewash, Tom is rich in boyhood loot, and he has stumbled, without quite meaning to, onto a deep truth about human nature: to make people want something, only make it hard to get.
Why it's worth a listen
Punished with the dreary job of whitewashing a huge fence on a golden Saturday, the mischievous Tom Sawyer has a flash of genius: he pretends the chore is the most enviable privilege in town — and before long the other boys are begging to take a turn, paying him for the honor. One of the funniest, sharpest little scenes in American literature, and a perfect small lesson about how desire really works.
A question to keep
Why do we want the very things that are hard to get — and can wanting be invented?
Chapters
- The Summer Morning and the Great Board Wall
- The Weight of the Brush
- The Big Missouri Steamboat
- The Art of the Master
- The Wealth of St. Petersburg
- A Question to Keep