In the novel Whale Talk, Taoism plays an integral part of the plot from the very beginning. The protagonist of the novel, The Tao Jones, is named by his biological mother after the Taoist book Tao Te Ching. When he enters school, he is often bullied because of his strange name. To avoid being bullied and embarrassed by his classmates, he begins calling himself T.J., his initials. It is very clear that his name is an indicator of what his personality is going to be. T.J.’s name foreshadows that he is going to be connected to Taoism in ways other than the obvious. The author of Whale Talk, Chris Crutcher, drew inspiration from many elements of Taoism to create T.J.’s personality. One essential element of Taoism is the balance between opposites.