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Goodnight Mister Tom

 Goodnight Mister Tom
type
TVTItem
 Goodnight Mister Tom
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Goodnight Mister Tom
 Goodnight Mister Tom
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GoodnightMisterTom
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A book by Michelle Magorian, set in the village of Little Weirwold in Britain, during World War II.September 1939 saw over 1.5 million evacuees sent out of Britain's major cities, and into the countryside. Among them is William Beech, a shy and easily startled boy who ends up having to live with Mr Thomas Oakley, a sour and gruff man who has little time for anyone outside of his dog, Sammy.As the book progresses, the abused and perpetually terrified William grows into a confident and well-rounded young man, while "Mister Tom", as William calls him, also begins to open up again, and becomes an active part of the local community. William and Tom become extremely close, to the point where William sees the old man as the father figure he never had, and Tom grows to love the boy as his son.A film was made in 1998, starring the late John Thaw as Mr Tom.
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2023-08-14T21:13:57Z
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2023-08-14T21:13:57Z
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Dropped link to Foil: Not a Feature - IGNORE
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DBTropes
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_153299b4
type
Boisterous Bruiser
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_153299b4
comment
Boisterous Bruiser: George is the strongest of the Little Weirwold kids, and loud-mouthed, opinionated, generous, and fun to be around.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_18d15922
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Title Drop
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_18d15922
comment
Title Drop: Said by Willie on his first night with Tom, making the Promotion to Parent above more significant.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_309f770a
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Mistaken Age
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_309f770a
comment
Mistaken Age: Owing to his deprivation at the start of the story, William, who's nearly nine, resembles a five- or six-year-old to a doctor.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_3ad27180
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The Chain of Harm
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_3ad27180
comment
The Chain of Harm: A policeman blames Will's abuse at his mother's hands on her having been a victim of her late husband.
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Goodnight Mister Tom / int_3ad27180
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_3d2d0d5c
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Feeling Their Age
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_3d2d0d5c
comment
Feeling Their Age: Towards the end of the book, when William is entering puberty and Tom is settling into his old age, both Tom and William notice the change in their respective sizes and health; William is bursting with life and approaching Tom's height, and Tom's beginning to look old and feeble rather than the ancient, implacable giant William originally took him for.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_40f3b23a
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FilmOfTheBook
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_40f3b23a
comment
Film of the Book: A TV movie was made in 1998 and was fairly loyal to the book while missing out a lot of the emotion which made it great. Huge amounts were cut for time, as the exploratory, almost dreamlike pace of the book wouldn't translate well to film.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_4781adbb
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Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_4781adbb
comment
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tom, of course. Yes, he is grumpy, reclusive, and initially not too happy about taking in William. However, he quickly warms to the boy when he realises how badly William suffered at the hands of his mother. He also warms to other people in general.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_48cffdb7
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I Want My Mommy!
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_48cffdb7
comment
I Want My Mommy!: Inverted. When William's locked up in the coal cellar by his mother, he screams for Tom.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_524f397c
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Madden Into Misanthropy
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_524f397c
comment
Madden Into Misanthropy: Tom became misanthropic and reclusive as a result of losing his wife and baby son, 40 years before.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_55365db5
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City Mouse
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_55365db5
comment
City Mouse: William initially struggles to cope with moving from London to the countryside.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_56515a39
type
Artistic License – History
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_56515a39
comment
Artistic License – History: The Second World War seems to impact on peoples' lives only slightly in Little Weirwold. The farming community gets on with life as though their workload hadn't just tripled, and people regularly consume things such as bacon and eggs, fresh lemonade, butter, roast chicken, cocoa, chocolate and cake that would have been rare treats during rationing. However, somewhat justified especially in the beginning of the book before William went back to his mother, during the first 6 months of the war. Rationing was introduced in January 1940, 4 months after William arrived. His brithday party was only a week after war began, so it's affects on the avalibility of food would not have been felt yet. Little Weirwold is also rural, and therefore would have greater access to many rationed goods like butter, meat, and eggs. Heavily averted with Neville Chamberlain's announcement of the declaration of war, which is given in its entirety rather than just indicated.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_729c69f3
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Politically Incorrect Villain
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_729c69f3
comment
Politically Incorrect Villain: In addition to being The Fundamentalist, Will's mother is also an anti-Semite and flies into a rage when she finds out that her son is friends with a Jew.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_736d791f
type
Adaptational Badass
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_736d791f
comment
Adaptational Badass: In the Film of the Book, Tom directly confronts people who trouble him or William on a regular basis; the book's Tom is grumpy, but patient in getting his way.
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Goodnight Mister Tom / int_736d791f
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_7431b974
type
Vile Villain, Saccharine Show
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_7431b974
comment
Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The character of Will's mother feels as though she belongs in some form of dark tragedy/drama, rather than this mostly warm-hearted children's story. She's a deranged Christian fundamentalist who frequently beats and abuses Will to the point that he's barely functional and severely traumatised when Tom first meets him, then locks him in a cupboard with his infant sister to starve when he returns to London, killing herself not too long after that. Yeesh.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_7efe2c19
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Portmanteau
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_7efe2c19
comment
Zach's use of the words delumptious and scrumplicious, two portmanteaux (delicious & scrumptious) coined by Enid Blyton.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_8c678d33
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Death by Newbery Medal
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_8c678d33
comment
Death by Newbery Medal: Poor Zach, who died in a bombing. Not, as one might have thought, Sammy.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_8e20979
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Wham Episode
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_8e20979
comment
Wham Episode: (Or rather chapter). There are two. The first, where William returns to London to find his mother insane and is left to die with his newborn sister (who does) is more predictable than the second — after a series of "everything's all right again" chapters, Zach is suddenly called back to London and killed in an air raid.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_8ed5c6e4
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Asshole Victim
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_8ed5c6e4
comment
Asshole Victim: Even though it was suicide, none of us felt a need to shed a tear or pity Will's messed up excuse of a mother.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_9b1e50bd
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During the War
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_9b1e50bd
comment
During the War: Goodnight Mister Tom is set during World War II.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_9cfe57cf
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Idyllic English Village
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_9cfe57cf
comment
Idyllic English Village: The story largely takes place in the West Country village of Little Weirwold.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_9d12bbc1
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Foreshadowing
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_9d12bbc1
comment
Foreshadowing: When one of Mrs Beech's neighbours is asked where she went, the lady states she said she was "going to the coast." A few chapters later, it is revealed she committed suicide.
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Died in Your Arms Tonight
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_a6bd0685
comment
Died in Your Arms Tonight: Will is locked in the coalroom with his baby sister for at least a week with no food, and when he's found she's been dead in his arms for God knows how long.
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Abusive Parents
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_b11ac9f5
comment
Abusive Parents: Will's mother is mentally and physically abusive to him, to the extent where William is starved and beaten so badly he has welts, bruises and scars on his back. She ends up leaving William alone for days on end with his baby sister, who ends up dying from starvation in her big brother's arms despite his best efforts.
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Everyone Has Standards
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_b4a6ae4c
comment
Everyone Has Standards: Tom is so absolutely disgusted when he discovers the bruises and welts on William's back that he immediately throws the belt provided by William's mother in the garden.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_b53077b3
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Take That!
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_b53077b3
comment
Take That!: To BBC organist Sandy Macpherson (a real wartime performer):
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_b5b4b077
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The Ace
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_b5b4b077
comment
The Ace: When William gets an opportunity to reveal his talents, he turns out to be highly intelligent with an excellent memory, a magnificent artist, a good writer, a skilled method-actor, a connoisseur, a natural caregiver, physically strong and robust, and endowed with good social skills.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_b652fd1
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Blitz Evacuees
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_b652fd1
comment
Blitz Evacuees: The story starts with a group of evacuees being sent to Little Weirwold. William and Zach are two of the more notable ones.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_b82ca416
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Rage Against the Heavens
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_b82ca416
comment
Rage Against the Heavens: William's reaction when learning of the death of Zach.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_bc502e4b
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You Are What You Hate
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_bc502e4b
comment
You Are What You Hate: One possible interpretation of one of Will's mother's neighbours mentioning a lot of banging sounds at night as if the furniture were being moved around is that Will's mother is a prostitute. Her fanatic hatred of sex could be a result of this. Will's mother's neighbour also mentions that Mrs Beech takes in lodgers, who have her bedroom, and she sleeps downstairs - "or, that's what she says". It's also how she would have fallen pregnant with Trudy.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_c39846a3
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Pride
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_c39846a3
comment
Pride: Will's mother refuses the clothes and gifts he brings back from Little Weirwold, offended at the thought of taking "charity".
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_c4b0faae
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Can't Hold His Liquor
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_c4b0faae
comment
Can't Hold His Liquor: In the original novel, in Salmouth, Will, Tom and Zach consume a gallon of locally-brewed cider and, not realising quite how strong it is, end up sitting around for the rest of the evening drunkenly teasing each other. The page-long passage is frequently cut from juvenile editions. mainly because leaving it in would depict and otherwise glorify The drinking of alcohol while under age, which would totally send the wrong message.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_c75df49a
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Shout-Out
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: Zach's use of the words delumptious and scrumplicious, two portmanteaux (delicious & scrumptious) coined by Enid Blyton. He also uses nonsense phrases such as Calloo! callay!, coined by Lewis Carroll. Although it's more specifically called out (because Tom read the story to Willie) also Rudyard Kipling's language from the Just So Stories.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_c78c0896
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Big Friendly Dog
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_c78c0896
comment
Big Friendly Dog: Sammy. While William is scared of him at first, Sammy quickly becomes a loyal companion to him.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_f12d9d83
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Promotion to Parent
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_f12d9d83
comment
Promotion to Parent: Tom. "He called me Dad."
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_f76842b1
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The Fundamentalist
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_f76842b1
comment
The Fundamentalist: Will's mother threatens him with Hell read him the riot act for even the slightest perceived offence even when she’s in the wrong, and sees alcohol and sex as inherently sinful.
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 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_fa6bfde9
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Have a Gay Old Time
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_fa6bfde9
comment
Have a Gay Old Time: "Am I really queer?"
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Survivor Guilt
 Goodnight Mister Tom / int_feaf12e8
comment
Survivor Guilt: Will blames himself for his sister's death because he wasn't able to escape.
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Goodnight Mister Tom

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Goodnight Mister Tom
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Blitz Evacuees / int_2006e81a
 Goodnight Mister Tom
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Children's Literature / int_2006e81a
 Goodnight Mister Tom
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Death by Newbery Medal / int_2006e81a
 Goodnight Mister Tom
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Embarrassing Damp Sheets / int_2006e81a
 Goodnight Mister Tom
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Never Had a Birthday Party / int_2006e81a
 Goodnight Mister Tom
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The Hermit / int_2006e81a
 Goodnight Mister Tom
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Vile Villain, Saccharine Show / int_2006e81a
 Goodnight Mister Tom
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Young Adult Literature / int_2006e81a