Being the right guy
During the entire film the phrase “a right guy” is mentioned too many times that attracts attention of the audience. Mostly it is said concerning Tom that he is not a right guy, he is way too sensitive and in most cases behaves like a woman. And this theme of dividing what is women’s and what is men’s is essential in the film, manly and womanly things have frames and Tom’s attempt to get out of these frames made other boys call him “sister boy”. But after Tom’s friend and his roommate tells him that he has no experience with a woman it becomes obvious for the audience that all this talk about “being a right guy” is nothing but pompous lie.
Sympathy
Laura’s husband Bill tells her all the time that she cares for the boys too much, and the only things that she can offer them is a cup of tea and a little sympathy, here comes the title of the film. But Laura’s heart is too good to stay within these things, in Tom she sees more that just a boy, she sees that he is real, that he is not prejudiced and his opinion and view of the world is not preconceived. Also Tom reminds her her first husband she loved so much, but he died young at the war. In this way the theme of sympathy goes farther, it borders with love. She sympathizes him but only in one thing – that others think he is not a man, but Laura is the only one who understands that Tom is more manly than all the boys in the campus, because he does not lie, he is true to himself and true to his desires. She helps him to break his despair by becoming his first woman.
Dominance of men
The place of women in society in the 1950s in the United States was wider and more sufficient than in the first part of the century, but comparing with today the dominance of men is seen very vividly. The coach Bill Reynolds treats his wife with respect, he is not cruel to her, but at the same time he is not attentive to her. She does what he commands, she has to leave the room when he says her, she has to stop doing things that he does not like. He does not even think that Laura wants more attention, that she requires tender attitude and wants to be passionately loved.
