Chapter:
2 Teamwork Skills whitewashing the Fence
Teamwork
skills from the story
Mark
Twain tells the story of how Tom Sawyer manages to get out of doing a task set
by his Aunt Polly as a punishment for disobeying her the day before. Tom is a
bright and energetic young boy who has been condemned to whitewash a fence on a
lovely summer's day. He knows that all his friends will be playing and enjoying
themselves whereas he himself will have to work. But Tom's unhappiness does not
last, because he comes up with a wonderful idea to solve his problem. The rest
of the story is about how Tom Sawyer uses his intelligence to create a team of
willing painters to whitewash the fence for him. Thus Tom turns a dreary and
lonely task into an enjoyable one.
In
the end the work gets done and the fence ends ip with not one, but three coats
of paint! This was possible because Tom Sawyer unknowingly harnessed the
benefits of teamwork for his own ends.
In
this story, Tom is both funny and endearing. We cannot remain angry with him
for tricking his friends because he does it out of innocence rather than
meanness. In fact we laugh at his cleverness and enjoy the joke. But we would
not feel the same if an adult indulges in trickery.
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