Summary
"Grieving"
The weeks after Zach’s death, Will feels “zombielike.” He participates in his usual activities, but feels numb and disconnected. Months go by and there are many more evacuees in Weirwold. Supplies are rationed. Carrie is very busy with high school and completes her first term. She misses Zach very much. Carrie is lonely at her new school, feeling like an outsider because she doesn’t come from a rich family like the other girls.
One day in January, Will visits Geoff at Spooky Cott for a drawing lesson. Geoff shows Will a photograph of two men for his drawing subject of the day. The photo is of Geoff and his best friend who died in the war. Will has a hard time concentrating while trying to draw. Seeing Geoff’s best friend disturbs him because he feels as if he is still alive. The task evokes memories of Zach. Geoff puts on a record—the same that they listened to the night Zach had been there. At first, Will wants Geoff to turn it off, but says nothing. Will feels as if Zach is right there besides him.
Overcome with emotion, Will leaves Geoff’s cottage suddenly. Geoff tells him that it is better to accept what happened than pretend Zach never existed. Will, in pain, stumbles to the river. He feels Zach’s presence but tries to shake it off, telling himself that he can “never be here.” He throws branches at a tree to express his pain. He tells God that he hates Him. He then falls asleep at the riverbank.
Will returns to Tom’s cottage, where Tom has been waiting for him. He apologizes to Tom, explaining that he needed to be alone and calling Tom “Dad.” Later, when Will is asleep, Tom is brought to tears at being addressed in this way.
Will finally goes to visit the Littles for the first time since Zach’s death. Mrs. Little is surprised and happy. Will asks if he can ride Zach’s bike, even though he does not know how to ride. Will fixes up the bike and then goes out to teach himself how to ride. It takes a lot of work, but he gets the hang of it, and feels exhilarated to ride. He feels Zach with him deeply. He says to himself that Zach is not truly dead, because the memories are always there.
He bikes to Mrs. Hartridge’s cottage. Mrs. Hartridge has just received the news that her husband is not dead but in a prisoner-of-war camp. Will tells her about learning to ride Zach’s bike, and Mrs. Hartridge observes that he seems to have taken on the extroverted quality of Zach.
In the following weeks, others notice the same about Will. Miss Thorne is organizing a new play, Peter Pan, and Will brazenly volunteers to play Captain Hook. Will practices his lines by asking Zach how he would say them. Will is a big success in the play. Tom is very proud of him. Finally, Will is happy again, realizing that even without Zach he can continue to live a happy life.
“Postscript”
Will is helping in the garden when Carrie comes by. Carrie has escaped her chores to go to the river with Will. Will gives Carrie books and some of Zach’s old clothes. She gets dressed in boy’s shorts so that she can ride on the bicycle with Will. They bike to the river and Will starts to sketch Carrie.
Carrie shares that she has come in fifth on her high school exams. Will notices that Carrie speaks differently now, comparing her to Zach, which makes Carrie happy. They sketch and read and it grows dark. They rush home and Carrie gets dressed. As the two friends part, Will questions if she thinks it’s possible to die of happiness.
Will returns home to the cottage, where Tom is smoking his pipe. He notices his hat peg seems lower now because he has grown taller. He also notices that Tom seems older. Although he perceives vulnerability in Tom, he realizes it is not the same thing as weakness. He calls Tom “Dad” and exclaims how he is growing.
Analysis
These final two chapters of Good Night, Mr. Tom bring to our attention some of the major themes of the book. The death of Zach weighs heavily on Will—more so than the death of his mother. Will loved Zach like his own brother, even if they only knew each other for about a year. Magorian, in this way, gets us to consider what love really means. Is love based on blood relation, or is it something more profound? Does love disappear when someone dies? These are some of the central themes of the story.
It takes Will several months to recover from the death of his friend. We see how that by suppressing his emotions, he is lead to suffer. Will does not want to even think about his friend because it brings him pain. But by not confronting this pain, Will is kept from fully healing the trauma of his heart. It is not until Geoff shows him the picture of his own best friend who also died that the memories of Zach begin to reawaken in Will. Geoff has been through something similar to Will, and can see that by resisting his emotions, it is like pretending his Zach never existed.
Although it is at first painful for him to remember Zach, it initiates his journey back to happiness. We are shown how Will needs to totally process all that he feels—even hatred of God—in order to come out on the other side, to a place of peace. In this sense, Zach becomes a source of strength and inspiration for Will. Will calls on his friend through his imagination to help him practice acting, and many people notice that Will has taken on many of his friend’s characteristics. Will realizes that Zach can never die completely, at least “not the inside” of Zach (305). Will receives the profound lesson of death, where there is separation, but at the same time a relationship that remains in essence.
In the last few chapters, the character of Tom takes more of a backseat role. This demonstrates how Will is becoming more and more independent, not needing the same level of care and attention that he once did. Yet, Tom’s presence serves as an anchor while Will goes through his time of grief. Though not explicitly stated, we know that Tom has been through a similar process in losing someone he loved dearly. The relationship between Tom and Will remains the most important element of the book, as it is this connection which allows Tom to finally come out of his own phase of mourning to engage with life again. Will receives a similar lesson in the loss of a loved one, but through the support of Tom, as well as the entire community, Will is able to recover fairly quickly.
In the final chapter, Will notes that Tom looks older, but not weak. Here, it is implied that Tom’s strength comes not from his physical agility but his ability to love. The power of love is an underlying theme throughout the book. It is finally having a loving home that lets Will regain his strength after years of abuse and neglect. Will feels strong enough that he is able to ride Zach’s bike at the end of the book, something that he never thought he could do.
Magorian finishes the book in a way that leaves a degree of ambiguity. We are shown a developing relationship between Will and Carrie. We are also shown that Tom is getting older. It is left up to us to imagine what will happen to the characters going forward. The last chapter ends with Will excitedly telling Tom that he has been growing. He is referring to his height, but we can infer a deeper meaning to the statement. Will is growing in many ways; he has become a courageous and strong boy, ready to take on the world.
