ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Twain - Mark Twain Videos 5 videos
Should you ever find yourself on a raft, floating down the Mississippi River, you're going to want something to do. Reading Mark Twain's classic, T...
If you suddenly came into a bunch of money, you'd give it all away, right? Yeah, we figured.
Si alguna vez te encuentras en una balsa flotando en el río Mississippi, usted va a querer hacer algo. Lectura clásico de Mark Twain, Las aventur...
Tom Sawyer 13409 Views
Share It!
Description:
How much skill does it take for Tom to get someone to pay him so that they can do his chores? We know it sounds confusing, so just think about how the other kid felt when he realized that he just paid money to do someone else's chores. Is Tom Sawyer just a jerk, or is there a deeper side to him? Do his adventures confirm or change that?
Transcript
- 00:00
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: What is it about that fence?
- 00:05
Great art leaves lasting impressions and images that stay with us.
- 00:11
Here we have murder, intrigue, robbery and … other stuff.
- 00:15
And yet the first image that comes to mind is that fence. why?
- 00:19
Quick review. Aunt Polly punishes Tom for doing typical
Full Transcript
- 00:22
Tom-ish things like lying, cutting school, and basically disregarding her rules.
- 00:27
What could be better comeuppance for fun-loving Tom Sawyer than to make him whitewash a fence
- 00:31
on a sunny weekend afternoon? And yeah, it’s a big fence.
- 00:35
Tom tries to weasel his way out of the job by getting Jim to do it, even offering him
- 00:39
a whole marble. When that doesn’t work, Tom devises a devious
- 00:45
plan. He gives an Oscar-worthy performance as he
- 00:48
pretends to thoroughly enjoy whitewashing the fence.
- 00:51
Tom fakes a true love for whitewashing - so convincingly that others beg to join.
- 00:56
He not only gets them to do the job for him… they pay him for it. He collects some serious
- 01:01
booty. So, what is it about this part of the story
- 01:04
that grabs us? Maybe it’s because we just love that All American Bad Boy.
- 01:08
The rebel who just doesn’t care about your rules.
- 01:11
They simply cannot be controlled. And we love them for it.
- 01:15
Or maybe it’s because Norman Rockwell made the whitewashing image famous by serving it
- 01:18
up to Americans everywhere. Rockwell was a guy who definitely got a lot
- 01:22
of attention. And his images basically embody everything
- 01:26
about America we want to embrace. So it’s a definite possibility that the
- 01:30
fence has Norman and his handiwork to thank for its fame.
- 01:34
Or… the scene could be memorable because it does such a perfect job expressing who
- 01:38
Tom really is: That mischievous boy who is great at getting
- 01:41
out of doing work. He is the ultimate scammer – a real pro.
- 01:45
He weedles – but we still love and root for him… even admire him.
- 01:47
He has that unique biochemical processing prowess – what scientists in Sweden call…
- 01:52
cajones. Maybe it’s why Tom has outlived his author
- 01:56
in the hearts and minds of the hordes who read him annually.
- 01:59
A skill, perhaps, we all kinda wish we had. Or maybe it’s less devious. Maybe it’s
- 02:05
our mirror moment. It’s the most relatable moment in the book.
- 02:12
Surely all of us have finagled our way out of doing something we didn’t want to do.
- 02:16
Chores, work,
- 02:17
a visit to a boring relative’s house for bad food and horrible conversation.
- 02:21
Yeah, it’s probably more relatable than the whole witnessing a murder thing.
- 02:25
What do you think? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Related Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
