January 2023
Intermediate to advanced
248 pages
3h 45m
English
One of the most famous scenes in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer occurs when Tom has to whitewash a fence as a punishment. His friend Ben Rogers comes along to ridicule him about having to work. Tom ignores him and concentrates on painting, so Ben eventually asks if he likes doing it. Tom replies, ‘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?’ When Ben asks if he could have a go, Tom reluctantly agrees and eventually he has a gang of boys pay him small amounts for the privilege of painting the fence. It is an example of lateral thinking in action. Tom turned the situation around by persuading Ben and the other boys to feel pleased to get ...
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