Goodnight Mister Tom

The belt, which Mrs. Beech includes in the paper sack of Will’s scant possessions, symbolizes her violent and cruel abuse of Will, conducted under the guise of disciplining him into good behavior: “I’ve put the belt in for when he’s bad” (30). Tom realizes that Will is not a misbehaving child; instead, he is submissive and terrified, as is illustrated when Will looks warily up at Tom as he handles the belt, assuming that Tom is planning on beating him: “Will stared uneasily up at him” (30).

The belt Is an instrument that Mrs. Beech uses to establish her dominance over Will and scare him into submission and fear. The tragic effectiveness of this strategy is illustrated in Will’s fearful demeanor; he assumes that Tom is above to beat him with the branch that he picks up in the graveyard: “Willie automatically flung his arm across his face and gave a cry, but the blow he was expecting never came” (17). Instead, Tom throws the branch for Sammy, illustrating his love and care for his dog. Tom must carefully and lovingly establish himself as a trustworthy figure; this is hard-fought through months of kind and patient treatment, as Will has previously only been exposed to an abusive caregiver and therefore assumes that this is the norm for all adult figures.