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Chapter 10: The Case
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Good Night, Mr. Tom, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Biological Family vs. Chosen Family
Civilians in Wartime
Grief and Healing
Talent and Community
Religion
Summary
Analysis
Walking home with Sammy on Friday, Tom passes by Mrs. Fletcher weeding in her garden. When she comments that he’s headed home early, he says that Willie is having friends over, including her son George, and he wants to be there in case Willie needs something. She asks whether Tom has heard from Willie’s mother. Tom says he received one letter, the week before, which mostly described Willie as “bad” and told Tom to keep a close eye on him—though the real purpose of the letter was to tell Tom that she (Willie’s mother) wouldn’t visit for Christmas and couldn’t pay any contribution to Willie’s upkeep yet, though she would later.
Earlier, Willie speculated that Tom had skipped over parts of Willie’s mother’s letter while reading it aloud. When Tom tells Mrs. Fletcher that the letter described Willie as “bad,” it suggests to the reader that Tom skipped over the parts of the letter that criticized Willie. That Tom tried to hide from Willie his mother’s criticism of him shows Tom’s paternal affection for Willie in contrast to Willie’s mother’s cruelty.
Themes
When Mrs. Fletcher criticizes Willie’s mother’s behavior, Tom demurs, saying that Willie has changed since he came. (Mrs. Fletcher notes to herself that Tom has changed too.) Tom comments that Willie is frightened of his mother and that it’s good for him to be away from her. Willie even laughed the week before—the first time Tom heard him do so. Mrs. Fletcher, contemplating Tom, thinks that no one would have known Tom was kind beneath his curmudgeonly exterior if not for Willie. She gives him some woolen clothes she knitted for Willie, and he walks on.
Mrs. Fletcher criticizes Willie’s mother for not trying to communicate more with Willie—but Tom has guessed enough about Willie’s mother’s abusiveness to suspect that lack of communication from her is good for Willie. Meanwhile, Mrs. Fletcher notices how Willie has revealed Tom’s hidden nature: he’s actually a kind and loving person. This revelation suggests that artistic Willie, in reminding Tom both of his artistically inclined dead wife and of his dead infant son, has helped Tom confront and begin to overcome his paralyzing grief.
Themes
When Tom gets home, he finds that Willie has done his chores, fed Sammy, and is polishing his boots. Excitedly, Willie tells Tom that he’s finished his second-to-last book for reading and that Mrs. Black told him his writing was competent. Soon, he’ll be able to move up to Mrs. Hartridge’s class. Tom praises Willie’s hard work and intelligence.
Willie does his chores and expresses enthusiasm for his schoolwork—in short, he is a model child. Willie’s excellent behavior makes clear that Willie’s mother’s criticism of him is symptomatic of her own abusiveness, not of any “badness” on Willie’s part.
Themes
After Tom and Willie eat supper, Zach arrives, and Zach and Willie carry Sammy up the ladder. Zach looks around the bedroom, which now has Willie’s drawings pinned to one wall and shelves that Tom made for Willie’s things. When Carrie, Ginnie, and George arrive, the children admire Willie’s drawings. George asks about the words under the drawings, and Willie explains that it’s writing practice. George says he’s not sure why Willie is expending so much effort on that—you can fool around more in Willie’s current class, and if George could draw like Willie, he wouldn’t bother with school. Carrie calls George “pig ignorant,” and George retorts that pigs are “useful.”
Willie’s friends in Little Weirwold praise and encourage his art, in seeming contrast to his unsupportive community back in London. When Carrie and George bicker over George’s “pig” ignorance, meanwhile, it characterizes Carrie as intellectually interested in school and George as interested not in school but in farming.
Themes
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Zach cuts in, announcing that Miss Thorne plans to direct “a children’s Christmas show for the war effort.” When Ginnie expresses horror at acting onstage, Zach and George suggest that she work backstage, and she happily realizes that she could help sew costumes. Zach asks what George will do in the show. Though George initially resists, Zach and Carrie browbeat him into agreeing to volunteer. When Carrie asks Zach what he’ll do, Zach says he’ll “volunteer for one of the leads.” When Willie begins to share what his mother thinks of the theater, Zach and Carrie suggest he could help paint the scenery. Finally, Carrie says she’ll act so long as she doesn’t have to memorize too many lines.
Miss Thorne wants to perform a show “for the war effort,” which suggests that revenue from ticket sales will go toward supporting English soldiers somehow. This civilians support for soldiers shows one way that civilians can be materially involved in war even though they aren’t fighting. After Zach first proposes that he and his friends join the show, the friends all try to identify each other’s relevant talents: Ginnie, who is good at sewing, can make costumes, artistic Willie can paint sets, and so on. This conversation shows how the children support one another’s talents, even as showboating Zach humorously claims he’ll “volunteer” himself for a main role.
Themes
George says it’s his turn to make an announcement and tells the others that the choir needs more singers for the Christmas carol service. Carrie is about to volunteer when George tells her it’s a boys’ choir. Angrily, Carrie protests that girls don’t get to do anything: only boys are ever nominated to attend the high school in town. Carrie, who longs to attend, can’t go, while George, who doesn’t like school, could get in. Ginnie tries to comfort Carrie by suggesting that perhaps the war will change the school’s policy, but Carrie notes that life hasn’t changed much in Little Weirwold since the war started except for the increase in evening meetings.
Carrie is angry because the Little Weirwold community is not always supportive of girls’ developing their talents: for example, the village has never nominated a girl to attend the academic high school in the neighboring town. Carrie is clearly afraid that without community support, she will not be able to develop her academic talents fully. Meanwhile, the children haven’t noticed much change in their lives since the beginning of the war, which suggests that at this point (November 1939) they are still insulated from the violence.
Themes
Zach tells George he’d like to help with the choir, but it might be strange since he’s not a Christian. Willie, shocked, checks Zach’s hair for red horns—but there are none. Zach goes on to explain that he’s already been rejected from the Nativity play for being Jewish. Carrie says that’s how she feels about not being able to attend high school. George mocks her for whining. Abruptly, Willie volunteers for the choir. George responds happily that the rehearsals are on Thursdays.
Willie’s superstitious assumption that Zach will have horns because he isn’t a Christian shows how his mother’s bigoted religiosity has warped his understanding of the world. Meanwhile, Zach and Carrie are not able to use their talents in all spheres due to their religion and gender respectively, showing how prejudice and a lack of community support can close off opportunities for children.
Themes
George suggests they do something more exciting, such as look for badgers. The others agree, though the girls display some hesitation. Then Zach asks whether they could go investigate Spooky Cott as they discussed earlier. George and the twins go quiet for a moment, and then George says they haven’t gone near the place for two years. Carrie adds that when they visited last time, the place was extremely “eerie.” Zach suggests again that they go, cackles like a witch, and pretends to be a reanimated corpse. Ginnie, annoyed, tells him to cut it out.
Interestingly, the village children seem far more afraid of the “eerie” abandoned cottage than they are of the ongoing war—another detail illustrating that they are still sheltered from the war’s horrors.
Themes
Tom brings up cookies, chestnuts, and lemonade for the children and takes Sammy down with him. Zach says that Willie’s lucky to have Tom—Willie smiles, perfectly aware of this fact—and that he’s lucky to have Dr. Little and Nancy Little. Ginnie comments that the Kings, a pair of evacuee siblings living with a tenant farmer on Hillbrook Farm, are being forced to work hard on the farm. The children eat, and then Willie’s friends leave. Afterward, Tom comes up, puts some witch hazel on a sore on Willie’s arm, and tells him the wound will be gone soon. The next morning, Willie wakes up and realizes he didn’t wet the bed.
Willie feels lucky to have been placed with Tom, which indirectly indicates his growing quasi-familial affection for Tom. Notably, not all London evacuees have received affection and support from the Little Weirwold community: evidently the King siblings’ foster family is using them as free farm labor, which shows that adults’ exploitation of and cruelty toward children is not limited to urban areas. When Willie stops wetting the bed, it represents how Tom’s affection and his friends’ support are helping him heal from his mother’s abuse.
Themes
