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Aspects of Evacuation in Michelle Magorian's Good Night, Mr. Tom

Dolmark, Elisabeth LU (2013) ENGK01 20131
English Studies
Abstract
Good Night, Mr. Tom (1981) by Michelle Magorian is a children’s book about a British boy called Will, who gets a better life when he is evacuated during World War II. He comes from a poor home where he has been severely abused by his mother. In contrast, he is healed and taken good care of in the countryside by the old recluse Tom who even risks his life for him. In books and articles describing the evacuation, the general picture is more negative and contains many reports of children who were abused and homesick. The aim of this essay is to see if the novel gives a romantic picture of the evacuation. Several episodes are compared with historical sources in aspects of family life, social issues, education and cultural clashes in the... (More)
Good Night, Mr. Tom (1981) by Michelle Magorian is a children’s book about a British boy called Will, who gets a better life when he is evacuated during World War II. He comes from a poor home where he has been severely abused by his mother. In contrast, he is healed and taken good care of in the countryside by the old recluse Tom who even risks his life for him. In books and articles describing the evacuation, the general picture is more negative and contains many reports of children who were abused and homesick. The aim of this essay is to see if the novel gives a romantic picture of the evacuation. Several episodes are compared with historical sources in aspects of family life, social issues, education and cultural clashes in the countryside. The conclusion is that Will’s emotional and physical improvement seems to present an unrealistic, almost unlikely, image of the evacuation. Since the novel is sometimes used for educational purposes, it needs to be emphasized that many evacuees had quite different experiences than those of Will. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Dolmark, Elisabeth LU
supervisor
organization
course
ENGK01 20131
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Evacuation Second World War World War II Abuse Children
language
English
id
3901114
date added to LUP
2013-08-05 09:33:28
date last changed
2013-08-05 09:33:28
@misc{3901114,
  abstract     = {{Good Night, Mr. Tom (1981) by Michelle Magorian is a children’s book about a British boy called Will, who gets a better life when he is evacuated during World War II. He comes from a poor home where he has been severely abused by his mother. In contrast, he is healed and taken good care of in the countryside by the old recluse Tom who even risks his life for him. In books and articles describing the evacuation, the general picture is more negative and contains many reports of children who were abused and homesick. The aim of this essay is to see if the novel gives a romantic picture of the evacuation. Several episodes are compared with historical sources in aspects of family life, social issues, education and cultural clashes in the countryside. The conclusion is that Will’s emotional and physical improvement seems to present an unrealistic, almost unlikely, image of the evacuation. Since the novel is sometimes used for educational purposes, it needs to be emphasized that many evacuees had quite different experiences than those of Will.}},
  author       = {{Dolmark, Elisabeth}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Aspects of Evacuation in Michelle Magorian's Good Night, Mr. Tom}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}