What would you do if you were faced with the terrifying question of disobeying your aunt or whitewashing the fence and having your aunt be pleased with you, but you would miss the opportunity to play with your friends. Tom Sawyer had to make that very decision for himself in this book.
One day, Tom Sawyer got in trouble with his aunt for skipping school and was told to whitewash her fence. While whitewashing, all the school kids were playing games. This made Tom Sawyer upset and irritated. The kids came by to see why Tom hadn’t joined the gang. Tom sat there disappointed. An idea came into his head. He started talking about how lucky and great he was. He spoke how kids weren’t cool enough to do what he could do. He was bragging and it made the kids mad. They wanted to whitewashing the fence.
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Some believe that he shouldn’t have taken the tickets, or let the other kids do his work. But others believe that he should have allowed them to do his work. Tom should not have traded his work for these three reasons, he would be lying, he wouldn’t be getting a fair punishment, and he would be taking the other kids treasures.
The first reason Tom should not have traded his work was because he was lying. In Exodus 20, God gives Moses Ten Commandments for the children of Israel to help them become more righteous. The 9th one being, “thou shall not lie.“ Lying is a sin and wrong to begin with. Didn’t it have ever entered Tom’s mind that what he was doing was wrong and breaking a commandment?
The second reason Tom should have not traded his work was because he wouldn’t be getting a fair punishment. Aunt Polly had intentionally established his punishment so he would realize that his actions had consequences. What lessons would he learn in having his friends take the punishment for him? How would he advance in his knowledge of the world if he couldn’t learn the simple actions that cause punishment are