Tom is one of Farrington’s children, and he is portrayed as a scared and innocent young child. Joyce portrays him as an abandoned boy, with his mother away at church and his father out drinking. The savage treatment of the young and innocent Tom at the end of the story—when Farrington beats him for seemingly no reason—is essential to story’s sudden and awful shift in tone, and the darkening of the story’s portrayal of Farrington.
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Tom Character Timeline in Counterparts
The timeline below shows where the character Tom appears in Counterparts. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Counterparts
...up to his wife, but the only answer is the plaintive welcome of his son, Tom. Clearly afraid of his father, he explains that his mother, Farrington’s wife, is at church....
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