Tom Brown’s School Days
HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.Thomas Hughes’ novel about the mischievous but kind-hearted schoolboy Tom Brown inspired other school novels, including Frank Richards’ Billy Bunter stories and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. The novel begins at Tom’s childhood home in the Vale of the White Horse, where he spends his days out in the fields with his pony. This early idyllic setting it set up as a contrast to the stresses that Tom undergoes later at Rugby boarding school when he encounters the bully Flashman. Tom is helped through his struggles by his friends Harry ‘Scud’ East and the frail but brilliant George Arthur, whom Tom protects, and who ultimately helps Tom develop into a young gentleman ready for Oxford university.
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TOM BROWNâS SCHOOL DAYS
Thomas Hughes
CONTENTS
Chapter 3: Sundry Wars and Alliances
Chapter 7: Settling to the Collar
Chapter 8: The War of Independence
Chapter 9: A Chapter of Accidents
Chapter 1: How the Tide Turned
Chapter 3: Arthur Makes a Friend
Chapter 6: Fever in the School
Chapter 7: Harry Eastâs Dilemmas and Deliverances
Chapter 8: Tom Brownâs Last Match
Classic Literature: Words and Phrases adapted from the Collins English Dictionary
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In essence, Tom Brownâs School Days is a classic tale of good triumphing over evil. This may explain its enduring appeal, as the same theme has been played out in a great many stories since its publication in 1857. That isnât to say that the author, Thomas Hughes, was the first to employ this allegory â writers have long been fascinated by the contrast between what makes people kind and unkind. Despite our efforts to attain high ethical and moral standards, we are still animals underneath, with the ability to be selfish and cruel. This realization leads us to question the extent to which nature and nurture play their respective parts in shaping our personality. On the face of it, it would seem that people are what they are, but psychology tells us there are many factors involved in determining the outcome. We are all, therefore, capable of a range of behaviours. The lynchpin is our relative ability to empathize and sympathize with others, as this is what determines our treatment of them.
Take away the allegory and Tom Brownâs School Days is a semi-autobiographical novel about life at Rugby school in the early Victorian period. Hughes was a Rugby âold boyâ and penned a lesser-known sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford (1861), which seems to imply that he was aiming for a certain readership. In fact, Hughes was not particularly elitist in his views and was an active social reformer and Christian socialist. These days he is labelled among the do-gooders of Victorian society, who saw it as their moral duty to right the wrongs that typified the hierarchical culture of Britain at that time. As well as standing for the rights of the common man, Hughes also felt very passionate about outlawing opium, which had become the drug of choice. Opium addiction was becoming a widespread problem in urban areas and was strongly associated with a general slide in moral virtues. Opium dens, public houses, and brothels went hand in hand with inner-city life and formed the complete antithesis of the values the Victorians championed.
