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Chapter 4: Equipped
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
Tom wakes Willie up, in bed, to a beautiful morning. Though Willie is embarrassed that he’s wet the bed again, Tom tells him not to worry: he has already prepared hot water to wash the sheets. Looking out the window, Tom points out the little house where Willie’s teacher-to-be, Mrs. Hartridge, lives. Willie asks how many teachers there are, and Tom explains that there are two in the village for children up to age 14. After that, especially good students sometimes go on to a high school in town. Then he tells Willie they’re going to have a full day—they need to start digging their bomb shelter.
Tom’s kind and practical approach to Willie’s bed-wetting shows by contrast how cruel and unnecessary Mrs. Beech’s punishments of Willie have been. Meanwhile, Tom’s casual mention of digging a bomb shelter hints that he doesn’t believe that they’ll need to use it—while at the same time reminding readers that Nazi Germany did, in fact, bomb England extensively in 1940 and 1941 during World War II.
Themes
Downstairs, some hand-me-down clothes are waiting for Willie. Tom explains that Mrs. Fletcher brought them over the previous night. After Willie takes a bath, he puts on some of the clothes. He and Tom walk to the church, where the vicar, Mr. Peters, asks Willie to put out hymnals while Tom helps set up the wireless radio. Willie, seeing that the hymnals are red, feels confused: his mother told him that the color red was evil, but he doesn’t think distributing them can be a sin because the vicar asked him to. He looks at the stained-glass window, hears birds chirping, and wonders whether the church and heaven are similar.
A vicar is an Anglican parish priest. The vicar’s red hymnals make clear that Willie’s mother’s religious condemnation of the color red is an idiosyncratic fringe belief, not something the book believes is representative of English Christianity in the 1930s.
Themes
As people start entering the church, Willie—who dislikes crowds—gets nervous. Tom walks up, puts a hand on his shoulder, and leads him to a pew. Dr. Little and Nancy Little walk in. Willie, realizing Nancy is wearing trousers, expects Mr. Peters to glower at her, but Mr. Peters greets her with a smile. Miss Thorne the librarian comes in with a woman Tom explains is her sister, May. Mrs. Fletcher comes in too. When she tells Tom that she has started making a balaclava, Tom frowns at her: it’s supposed to be a surprise for Willie’s birthday.
Willie expects that Mr. Peters, an Anglican priest, will disapprove of a woman wearing trousers to church. In fact, Mr. Peters has no problem with a woman in trousers. Willie’s subverted expectations again imply that his mother does not practice mainstream Christianity—rather, she has been using a punitive, conservative interpretation of Christianity to terrorize her son.
Themes
Once the whole village has assembled, Mr. Peters the vicar says that he’s aware that “several denominations” have gathered. He asks anyone who needs help to reach out to him or his wife and tells the people which hymn to sing. After hymns, a New Testament reading, and some prayers, Mr. Peters turns on the wireless radio. Over the wireless, Prime Minister Chamberlain announces that as Germany has not removed its troops from Poland in accord with the British government’s ultimatum and that England is going to war with Germany. Some people give startled yells while others are dead silent. After the Prime Minister’s message ends, Mr. Peters leads the congregation in a prayer.
The word “denomination” can refer to a subgroup within a larger religious group. In the context of a rural village in 1930s England, Mr. Peters is likely referring to different denominations of Christianity. Though an Anglican priest, Mr. Peters offers his own and his wife’s help to people of all different denominations. This offer implicitly contrasts the tolerant Christianity of Mr. Peters with Willie’s mother’s violent, punishment-focused Christianity. On September 3, 1939, the UK’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940) gave a radio address to the nation announcing that the UK had declared war on Nazi Germany due to the Nazis’ refusal to withdraw from Poland.
Themes
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After the service, Lucy tugs on Willie’s sleeve and says hello. Awkward silence follows. Then Tom tells Willie to go home and make some tea while Tom talks to Mr. Peters. Back home, Willie can’t manage the kettle. Tom makes the tea after he returns, accompanied by Mr. Fletcher. Tom and Mr. Fletcher talk about digging trenches. When Tom asks Willie whether he minds getting dirty, Willie is confused: his mother told him that you should never work on the Sabbath, and she beat him if he got dirty. He asks Tom about getting his clothes dirty. Tom says Willie can take his shirt off. When Willie hesitates due to his bruises, Tom tells him he can also keep his jersey on.
Tom and Mr. Fletcher are presumably planning to dig trenches in order to place bomb shelters inside them, another detail emphasizing the danger that English civilians faced from Nazi German bombings during World War II. Once again, Willie’s memories of his mother’s extreme religious conservatism and punitive rules leave him baffled when faced with Tom’s religious liberalism, understanding, and tact.
Themes
Tom, Willie, Mr. Fletcher, and Mr. Fletcher’s two teenage sons begin digging a trench in Tom’s yard. One of Mr. Fletcher’s younger sons, George, comes by and asks for Tom’s worms. When Tom agrees, George starts pulling worms from the turned earth and dropping them in a tin. As Willie stares, George asks why Willie doesn’t take off his shirt. Tom interjects that Willie has a temperature he needs to sweat out. Once George has filled his tin with worms, he leaves. After the trench is finished, Tom, Mr. Fletcher, and Mr. Fletcher’s teenage sons build a steel shelter inside it. Then the Fletchers leave, and Tom and Willie cover the shelter with the turned earth. It is nearing dusk when, suddenly, Willie realizes that the curly-haired boy from the post office (Zach) has appeared.
When the Fletchers help Tom and Willie build their bomb shelter, it illustrates how English civilians banded together and did volunteer work to protect each other and to support the war effort during World War II. Tom tells a white lie about Willie having a fever to keep Willie from having to reveal the bruises he wants to hide. This white lie shows Tom’s tact and consideration of Willie’s feelings—another indication that Tom is stepping into a caring, even fatherly role with respect to Willie.
Themes
