Character guide for Goodnight Mister Tom.
One of children's literature's most sympathetically drawn victims of abuse. He is timid, self-deprecating and has been taught that he is worthless. His gradual flowering under Tom's care is the emotional heart of the novel.
A gruff, reserved, apparently unsociable man who has shut himself off from life since losing his family. Willie reaches him as surely as Tom reaches Willie — it is a story of mutual rescue and healing.
Willie's best friend in the village — a warm, energetic, exuberant boy who draws Willie out of his shell. His death in a wartime bombing is one of the most affecting moments in the novel.
A deeply mentally ill woman whose religious mania has led to the severe abuse of her son. Magorian presents her with complexity — she is not simply evil but genuinely unwell and overwhelmed.
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