Waterland

Henry’s advice to Tom to accept people for who they are foreshadows the idea that certain characters are defective in some way, either physically, mentally, or morally. Which characters need Tom’s complete acceptance despite their defects? Discuss two examples of how Tom cares for these characters in his own way.

Tom refers to revolution throughout the novel, particularly the French Revolution. What are some parallels between that chapter in history and Tom’s current life? How is he like a rebel fighting for a cause?

Phlegm is a bodily humor “of which the Cricks have always had [a] good supply” (15) that holds contradictory properties that “may produce the following marks of temperament: patience; level-headedness” and “their counterparts: fatalism; indifference” (344). Choose two of the listed phlegmatic properties and discuss how each is exemplified by a character in the novel.