Good Night, Mr. Tom Themes

Good Night, Mr. Tom sharply contrasts one’s biological family and one’s real family: whereas a child’s biological relatives may be abusive, their chosen family will love and value them. When the novel begins in 1939, after Hitler’s invasion of Poland, eight-year-old William Beech is evacuated alongside many other Londoners to the English countryside, as the English government anticipates German bombing of civilian targets in and around London during World War II. A government official boards…

Good Night, Mr. Tom reminds readers that while most people think of war as dangerous for soldiers, wars harm and kill civilians on a mass scale too. The novel begins as World War II is breaking out in 1939 with Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland. The novel’s protagonist, eight-year-old William Beech, is evacuated to the English countryside along with many other London children because the English government anticipates that Nazi Germany will bomb densely…

In Good Night, Mr. Tom, individual talent needs a supportive community to express itself. The novel’s protagonist, a school-aged child named William Beech, is an innately talented artist. Yet his abusive biological mother Mrs. Beech and his under-resourced school in London, full of discipline-focused teachers and bullies, prevent him from expressing that talent. William, along with many other children, is evacuated from London in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II because…

In Good Night, Mr. Tom, religion can be a force for bad or good depending on whether people practice it out of fear or love. Mrs. Beech, the abusive mother of the novel’s young protagonist William Beech, clearly practices a fear-based religion. Anxious, paranoid, and vindictive, Mrs. Beech is afraid of her son, believing that unless she constantly, violently disciplines him, he will rebel against her. Nominally a Christian, she uses religious…