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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

by Mark Twain

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Student Question

Does Tom learn the art of negotiation through the whitewashing episode in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

Expert Answers

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The answer to the question of whether Tom Sawyer learned the art of negotiation from the whitewashing episode will depend on how literally you read Twain's narration.

The episode you are referring to can be found in chapter 2, where Tom Sawyer is instructed to whitewash a fence. Not wanting to work, Tom has his "great, magnificent inspiration" (as Twain writes), by which he manipulates the other boys into paying him for the opportunity to take his place.

If the text is to be taken literally, there is strong reason to assume that this episode is where Tom learns how to negotiate. First, there is the specific wording of the "great, magnificent inspiration," and then later, there is the narrative statement near the end of the chapter, beginning with the words: "He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it ..." The text itself, then, expresses this scene as a turning point in Tom's life, one by which Tom comes away with some newfound awareness that had not previously been present.

That being said, however, you might argue the opposite point as well. Ultimately, regardless of Tom's epiphany, the very adroitness of his manipulation, along with the success of his scheme, would suggest that he had already been a keen "negotiator" to begin with and is anything but a novice in this sense. From this perspective, you can claim that Tom does not actually learn anything new at all but is exploiting a skill he already possesses.

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