2012-12-07
Explanation
This comic reimagines the famous fence-painting scene from Mark Twain'''s "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" with a much more cynical and manipulative Tom Sawyer figure (here called Bobby). In the original story, Tom tricks other boys into painting a fence for him by pretending the work is fun. In this version, a boy named Jonny approaches Bobby, who is painting a fence and claiming it is fun. Jonny sees through the ruse, saying he has read Tom Sawyer and that reverse psychology will not work on him.
Bobby then drops the pretense and presents Jonny with a cold, calculated game-theory analysis. He explains that Jonny has two choices: try to convince the other boys they have been duped (which will be difficult, require great effort, and result in social ostracism), or simply join them and enjoy higher social status. Bobby further intimidates Jonny with menacing rhetoric about being a fish in a lake, warning that his intelligence is useless against the social and economic system Bobby has constructed. The third option -- leaving the group entirely -- is framed as dangerous: "Try to go outside the water. See how well you breathe."
The punchline comes "several hours later" when the fence is done and the boys all agree it was a good time. One boy tentatively asks, "Wait... did anyone else get a speech about being a fish in a lake?" -- revealing that Bobby gave every single boy the same intimidating, personalized manipulation speech, making each one feel uniquely trapped. The votey shows Bobby in bed thinking, "Pawns. All of you," confirming his status as a gleeful sociopathic manipulator who has elevated Tom Sawyer'''s simple trick into a sophisticated system of psychological control.