Whitewashing the Fence
(From Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, Chapter Two, 1876)
Saturday morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips. There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step. The locust-trees were in bloom and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.
Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged. Jim came skipping out at the gate with a tin pail, and singing Buffalo Gals. Bringing water from the town pump had always been hateful work in Tom’s eyes, before, but now it did not strike him so. He remembered that there was company at the pump. White, mulatto, and negro boys and girls were always there waiting their turns, resting, trading playthings, quarrelling, fighting, skylarking. And he remembered that although the pump was only a hundred and fifty yards off, Jim never got back with a bucket of water under an hour – and even then somebody generally had to go after him. Tom said:
“Say, Jim, I’ll fetch the water if you’ll whitewash some.”
Jim shook his head and said:
“Can’t, Mars Tom. Ole missis, she tole me I got to go an’ git dis water an’ not stop foolin’ roun’ wid anybody. She say she spec’ Mars Tom gwine to ax me to whitewash, an’ so she tole me go ‘long an’ ‘tend to my own business – she ‘lowed she’d ‘tend to de whitewashin’.”
“Oh, never you mind what she said, Jim. That’s the way she always talks. Gimme the bucket – I won’t be gone only a a minute. She won’t ever know.”
“Oh, I dasn’t, Mars Tom. Ole missis she’d take an’ tar de head off’n me. ‘Deed she would.”
“She! She never licks anybody – whacks ’em over the head with her thimble – and who cares for that, I’d like to know. She talks awful, but talk don’t hurt – anyways it don’t if she don’t cry. Jim, I’ll give you a marvel. I’ll give you a white alley!”
Jim began to waver.
“White alley, Jim! And it’s a bully taw.”
“My! Dat’s a mighty gay marvel, I tell you! But Mars Tom I’s powerful ‘fraid ole missis – ”
“And besides, if you will I’ll show you my sore toe.”
Jim was only human – this attraction was too much for him. He put down his pail, took the white alley, and bent over the toe with absorbing interest while the bandage was being unwound. In another moment he was flying down the street with his pail and a tingling rear, Tom was whitewashing with vigor, and Aunt Polly was retiring from the field with a slipper in her hand and triumph in her eye. But Tom’s energy did not last. He began to think of the fun he had planned for this day, and his sorrows multiplied. Soon the free boys would come tripping along on all sorts of delicious expeditions, and they would make a world of fun of him for having to work – the very thought of it burnt him like fire. He got out his worldly wealth and examined it – bits of toys, marbles, and trash; enough to buy an exchange of work, maybe, but not half enough to buy so much as half an hour of pure freedom. So he returned his straitened means to his pocket, and gave up the idea of trying to buy the boys. At this dark and hopeless moment an inspiration burst upon him! Nothing less than a great, magnificent inspiration.
Jim was only human – this attraction was too much for him.
He took up his brush and went tranquilly to work. Ben Rogers hove in sight presently – the very boy, of all boys, whose ridicule he had been dreading. Ben’s gait was the hop-skip-and-jump – proof enough that his heart was light and his anticipations high. He was eating an apple, and giving a long, melodious whoop, at intervals, followed by a deep-toned ding-dong-dong, ding-dong-dong, for he was personating a steamboat. As he drew near, he slackened speed, took the middle of the street, leaned far over to star-board and rounded to ponderously and with laborious pomp and circumstance – for he was personating the Big Missouri, and considered himself to be drawing nine feet of water. He was boat and captain and engine-bells combined, so he had to imagine himself standing on his own hurricane-deck giving the orders and executing them:
“Stop her, sir! Ting-a-ling-ling!” The headway ran almost out, and he drew up slowly toward the sidewalk.
“Ship up to back! Ting-a-ling-ling!” His arms straightened and stiffened down his sides.
“Set her back on the stabboard! Ting-a-ling-ling! Chow! ch-chow-wow! Chow!” His right hand, meantime, describing stately circles – for it was representing a forty-foot wheel.
“Let her go back on the labboard! Ting-a-ling-ling! Chow-ch-chow-chow!” The left hand began to describe circles.
“Stop the stabboard! Ting-a-ling-ling! Stop the labboard! Come ahead on the stabboard! Stop her! Let your outside turn over slow! Ting-a-ling-ling! Chow-ow-ow! Get out that head-line! Lively now! Come – out with your spring-line – what’re you about there! Take a turn round that stump with the bight of it! Stand by that stage, now – let her go! Done with the engines, sir! Ting-a-ling-ling! Sh’t! s’h’t! sh’t!” (trying the gauge-cocks).
Tom went on whitewashing – paid no attention to the steamboat. Ben stared a moment and then said: “Hi- yi ! You’re up a stump, ain’t you!”
No answer. Tom surveyed his last touch with the eye of an artist, then he gave his brush another gentle sweep and surveyed the result, as before. Ben ranged up alongside of him. Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he stuck to his work. Ben said:
“Hello, old chap, you got to work, hey?”
Tom wheeled suddenly and said:
“Why, it’s you, Ben! I warn’t noticing.”
“Say – I’m going in a-swimming, I am. Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d druther work – wouldn’t you? Course you would!”
Tom contemplated the boy a bit, and said:
“What do you call work?”
“Why, ain’t that work?”
Tom resumed his whitewashing, and answered carelessly:
“Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain’t. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer.”
“Oh come, now, you don’t mean to let on that you like it?”
The brush continued to move.
“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”
That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. Tom swept his brush daintily back and forth – stepped back to note the effect – added a touch here and there – criticised the effect again – Ben watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed. Presently he said:
“Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little.”
Tom considered, was about to consent; but he altered his mind:
“No – no – I reckon it wouldn’t hardly do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly’s awful particular about this fence – right here on the street, you know – but if it was the back fence I wouldn’t mind and she wouldn’t. Yes, she’s awful particular about this fence; it’s got to be done very careful; I reckon there ain’t one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it the way it’s got to be done.”
“No – is that so? Oh come, now – lemme, just try. Only just a little – I’d let you, if you was me, Tom.”
“Ben, I’d like to, honest injun; but Aunt Polly – well, Jim wanted to do it, but she wouldn’t let him; Sid wanted to do it, and she wouldn’t let Sid. Now don’t you see how I’m fixed? If you was to tackle this fence and anything was to happen to it – ”
“Oh, shucks, I’ll be just as careful. Now lemme try. Say – I’ll give you the core of my apple.”
“Well, here – No, Ben, now don’t. I’m afeard – ”
“I’ll give you all of it!”
Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all.
Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but alacrity in his heart. And while the late steamer Big Missouri worked and sweated in the sun, the retired artist sat on a barrel in the shade close by, dangled his legs, munched his apple, and planned the slaughter of more innocents. There was no lack of material; boys happened along every little while; they came to jeer, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was fagged out, Tom had traded the next chance to Billy Fisher for a kite, in good repair; and when he played out, Johnny Miller bought in for a dead rat and a string to swing it with – and so on, and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, from being a poor poverty-stricken boy in the morning, Tom was literally rolling in wealth. He had besides the things before mentioned, twelve marbles,part of a jews-harp, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a spool cannon, a key that wouldn’t unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper of a decanter, a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six fire-crackers, a kitten with only one eye, a brass door-knob, a dog-collar – but no dog – the handle of a knife, four pieces of orange-peel, and a dilapidated old window sash.
He had had a nice, good, idle time all the while – plenty of company – and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If he hadn’t run out of whitewash he would have bankrupted every boy in the village.
Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it – namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. And this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a tread-mill is work, while rolling ten-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement. There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign.
The boy mused awhile over the substantial change which had taken place in his worldly circumstances, and then wended toward headquarters to report.
Thinking about Soft Skills
1. What is team?
Ans: A team is a group of people who work together to achieve a common goal.
2. What are the skills required to work in a team?
Ans: To work in a team, we need to listen well, share ideas, respect others, help each other, and solve problems together.
3. How will you develop these skills in yourself?
Ans: I will listen to others, speak kindly, help my friends, and practice teamwork in group activities.
Soft Skills at the Workplace
1. If you want to carry out an operation against a competitor in business, how will you achieve unity and team spirit within your group and in your company?
Ans: We will talk openly with each other, plan together, and give respect to everyone’s ideas. We will set a clear goal and support each other to reach it.
2. How do individual habits help or hinder working in teams?
Ans: Good habits like being on time and speaking politely help the team. Bad habits like laziness or being rude can stop teamwork and create problems.
3. How will you handle a situation when a team member does not report for work?
Ans: First, I will find out the reason. If it’s a problem, I will try to help. If it happens often, I will talk to the leader or manager about it.
4. At higher levels of management, decision making is always a matter of life and death for a company. Discuss.
Ans: Big decisions affect the whole company. A wrong choice can cause loss. A good decision can bring success. So, managers must think carefully and take advice before deciding.
5. When a team is divided on certain issues, how will you bring about unity among the team members?
Ans: I will let everyone share their views. I will ask the team to find a middle way. I will remind them of the team’s goal and ask them to work together.
Case Study / Real Life Experience
(You may have watched games or been part of organising functions and special events held. Choose any one event and write about how teams, groups, and committees contribute to the success of the programme.)
“Real Life Experience – Teamwork in Organising an Event”:
Last year, our college organised the Annual Day function. I was part of the organising team. We had different groups and committees to manage the event. One group looked after decorations, another managed the stage and sound system, and one team handled invitations and guest seating. The cultural committee arranged dance and singing performances. Our teachers guided us, but we, the students, did most of the planning and work. We had regular meetings where we shared ideas and solved problems together. Sometimes there were disagreements, but we talked calmly and found the best solutions. Everyone worked hard and supported each other. Because of this team spirit, the event was a big success. The guests enjoyed the programme, and our principal praised the teamwork. This experience taught me how important groups, teams, and committees are. Without teamwork, such a big event would not have been possible.
✅ MCQs on Tom Sawyer – The Whitewashing Scene
-
What day is described at the beginning of the story?
A. Monday
B. Friday
C. Saturday
D. Sunday
-
What chore was Tom given by Aunt Polly?
A. Fetching water
B. Mowing the lawn
C. Whitewashing the fence
D. Cleaning the house
-
How long was the fence Tom had to paint?
A. 10 yards
B. 30 yards
C. 20 yards
D. 15 yards
-
What color was the paint Tom had to use?
A. Red
B. Blue
C. White
D. Yellow
-
How did Tom feel when he saw the fence?
A. Happy
B. Excited
C. Sad and discouraged
D. Proud
-
Who came out singing “Buffalo Gals”?
A. Ben
B. Jim
C. Sid
D. Billy
-
What did Tom try to do to avoid whitewashing?
A. Run away
B. Fall sick
C. Trade tasks with Jim
D. Call Aunt Polly
-
Why did Jim refuse to help Tom whitewash the fence?
A. He didn’t like painting
B. He was afraid of Aunt Polly
C. He had to go swimming
D. He was lazy
-
What did Tom offer Jim in exchange for fetching water?
A. A coin
B. A kite
C. A white alley (marble)
D. His apple
-
What finally attracted Jim to stay and listen?
A. Tom’s story
B. Tom’s sore toe
C. Tom’s new toy
D. Tom’s jokes
-
What happened when Aunt Polly found Jim with Tom?
A. She praised them
B. She scolded Tom
C. She gave them sweets
D. She punished Jim
-
What was Tom afraid of while whitewashing?
A. The sun
B. Running out of paint
C. Other boys making fun of him
D. The brush breaking
-
What did Tom check in his pocket?
A. Food
B. Money
C. Toys and marbles
D. A letter
-
Why couldn’t Tom buy a boy’s help?
A. He had no toys
B. He didn’t have enough things to trade
C. Nobody wanted to help
D. Aunt Polly stopped him
-
Who was the first boy to come along?
A. Jim
B. Ben Rogers
C. Billy
D. Johnny
-
What was Ben pretending to be?
A. A train
B. A horse
C. A king
D. A steamboat
-
What was the name of the steamboat Ben acted like?
A. Big Missouri
B. Queen River
C. River Belle
D. Mississippi Star
-
What did Tom do when Ben teased him?
A. Fought with him
B. Ignored him
C. Cried
D. Called Aunt Polly
-
What did Tom pretend about whitewashing?
A. That it was boring
B. That he didn’t care
C. That it was fun and special
D. That he was being punished
-
What made Ben interested in painting?
A. Tom’s apple
B. Tom’s serious attitude
C. Tom’s acting
D. Tom’s toys
-
What did Ben offer in exchange for painting?
A. A kite
B. A coin
C. His apple
D. A cat
-
How did Tom act when Ben asked to paint?
A. Eagerly gave the brush
B. Said yes immediately
C. Refused at first
D. Ran away
-
What reason did Tom give for not letting Ben paint at first?
A. He was tired
B. Aunt Polly was strict
C. The brush was broken
D. He had no time
-
How did Ben convince Tom to let him paint?
A. Begged
B. Gave him a toy
C. Offered the whole apple
D. Called Aunt Polly
-
What did Tom do while Ben painted?
A. Went home
B. Sat and relaxed
C. Played marbles
D. Ran off to the river
-
What did the other boys come to do?
A. Laugh at Tom
B. Help Ben
C. Watch the painting
D. Whitewash in exchange for toys
-
What did Billy Fisher give to paint?
A. A dead rat
B. A kite
C. A cat
D. A biscuit
-
What did Johnny Miller give?
A. A toy soldier
B. A glass bottle
C. A dead rat and a string
D. A marble
-
How many marbles did Tom collect?
A. 8
B. 10
C. 12
D. 14
-
What else did Tom get besides toys?
A. Money
B. Homework help
C. Food
D. Company and fun
-
How many coats of whitewash were on the fence by the end?
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4
-
What did Tom say about the world in the end?
A. It’s still boring
B. It’s full of work
C. It’s not a hollow world after all
D. It’s unfair
-
What great law did Tom discover?
A. That friends matter
B. That school is boring
C. That people want what is hard to get
D. That whitewashing is fun
-
What is considered ‘work’ in the story?
A. Anything fun
B. What we are forced to do
C. Playing with toys
D. Watching others
-
What is considered ‘play’?
A. Anything boring
B. What we do on Sundays
C. What we are not forced to do
D. Whitewashing fences
-
What would make rich Englishmen stop driving coaches?
A. If the roads were bad
B. If it was boring
C. If they were paid for it
D. If people laughed
-
What did Tom trade for a dog-collar?
A. A toy
B. A marble
C. A coin
D. Nothing – he got it from a boy
-
What did Tom get that had no use?
A. An old shoe
B. A key that wouldn’t unlock anything
C. A broken brush
D. A nail
-
What did Tom NOT receive?
A. A kitten
B. A mirror
C. A piece of chalk
D. A tin soldier
-
What was wrong with the kitten?
A. It was hungry
B. It had one eye
C. It was black
D. It was wild
-
What did Tom sit on while relaxing?
A. A chair
B. A bench
C. A barrel
D. A step
-
What made the other boys want to paint?
A. Tom’s stories
B. Tom’s acting skills
C. Tom’s clever trick
D. Aunt Polly’s orders
-
What does the word “covet” mean in the story?
A. To hate something
B. To desire or want something
C. To play with something
D. To clean something
-
Why did Tom’s trick work so well?
A. Because he lied
B. Because he acted well
C. Because people want things they can’t easily have
D. Because the fence was small
-
What helped Tom get out of work?
A. His sore toe
B. His clever thinking
C. Jim’s help
D. Aunt Polly’s kindness
-
What is the main theme of this story?
A. Obedience
B. Cleverness and human nature
C. Friendship
D. Sadness
-
What kind of story is this?
A. Horror
B. Tragedy
C. Humour
D. Mystery
-
Who is the author of the story?
A. Charles Dickens
B. Ruskin Bond
C. Mark Twain
D. William Blake
-
What lesson does the story teach?
A. Work is fun
B. Children are naughty
C. Clever thinking can turn work into play
D. Games are better than chores
-
What helped Tom turn the situation in his favour?
A. Magic
B. Lying
C. Trick and clever thinking
D. Bribing the boys
✅ Answer Key:
-
C – Saturday
-
C – Whitewashing the fence
-
B – 30 yards
-
C – White
-
C – Sad and discouraged
-
B – Jim
-
C – Trade tasks with Jim
-
B – He was afraid of Aunt Polly
-
C – A white alley (marble)
-
B – Tom’s sore toe
-
D – She punished Jim
-
C – Other boys making fun of him
-
C – Toys and marbles
-
B – He didn’t have enough things to trade
-
B – Ben Rogers
-
D – A steamboat
-
A – Big Missouri
-
B – Ignored him
-
C – That it was fun and special
-
B – Tom’s serious attitude
-
C – His apple
-
C – Refused at first
-
B – Aunt Polly was strict
-
C – Offered the whole apple
-
B – Sat and relaxed
-
D – Whitewash in exchange for toys
-
B – A kite
-
C – A dead rat and a string
-
C – 12
-
D – Company and fun
-
C – 3
-
C – It’s not a hollow world after all
-
C – That people want what is hard to get
-
B – What we are forced to do
-
C – What we are not forced to do
-
C – If they were paid for it
-
D – Nothing – he got it from a boy
-
B – A key that wouldn’t unlock anything
-
B – A mirror
-
B – It had one eye
-
C – A barrel
-
C – Tom’s clever trick
-
B – To desire or want something
-
C – Because people want things they can’t easily have
-
B – His clever thinking
-
B – Cleverness and human nature
-
C – Humour
-
C – Mark Twain
-
C – Clever thinking can turn work into play
-
C – Trick and clever thinking
