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Anna Howland
Alice and John’s second child and only son; Lydia and Anna’s brother. Tom is a third-year student at Harvard Medical School and is specifically studying cardiothoracic surgery. Tom and John are very close because both study biology and share a number of common interests. As Alice begins reevaluating her priorities and what she wants to do with the time she has left, she notes that she wants to see Tom—who dates and breaks up with a number of women, but has never had a long-term relationship—finally fall in love. Tom goes to Stephanie Aaron to get tested for the same gene mutation that caused Alice’s Alzheimer’s and finds out that he did not inherit the gene. In the early stages of Alice’s struggle with Alzheimer’s, Tom argues that they should be discouraging her from trying to remember unnecessary things (such as what time Lydia’s play is) so she can save her energy for remembering more meaningful things. When John is offered a job in New York City, Tom is against him taking Alice with him because it’s too far from everything that’s familiar to her.
Tom Howland Quotes in Still Alice
The Still Alice quotes below are all either spoken by Tom Howland or refer to Tom Howland. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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December 2004 Quotes
They talked about her as if she weren’t sitting in the wing chair, a few feet away. They talked about her, in front of her, as if she were deaf. They talked about her, in front of her, without including her, as if she had Alzheimer’s disease.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Tom Howland Character Timeline in Still Alice
The timeline below shows where the character Tom Howland appears in Still Alice. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
October 2003
Alice, John, Anna, and Charlie all exchange pleasantries while they wait for Tom, to arrive. Tom, Alice’s son, is in his third year of medical school at Harvard,...
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Tom asks John about a “tagging experiment” John is working on. John immediately dives into the...
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December 2003
Anna, Charlie, Tom, and John are in the living room and Lydia is talking to Alice about her...
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April 2004
When Alice tells Tom, Anna, and Lydia about her Alzheimer’s, and that she had been formally diagnosed several months...
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...Alice says that they can, but Anna is still worried about her baby inheriting it. Tom explains that there will “probably be a cure by the time any of our kids...
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...so Alice explains her new regimen and that it will only slow down its progress. Tom observes that she must have caught it early because he hadn’t noticed any changes in...
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Anna announces that she wants to get tested and Tom agrees that he wants to, as well. Lydia, however, stays quiet and seems to zone...
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...the genetic test she had done will also be negative. The day that Anna and Tom are supposed to get their results rolls around, and Alice becomes certain that one of...
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Although Tom tested negative, he looks “pale, shaken, fragile.” Anna’s news has dampened the relief he must...
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May 2004
...and realizes what she really wants is to hold Anna’s baby, see Lydia act, see Tom fall in love, and have another sabbatical with John. She is surprised by the fact...
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August 2004
Tom walks into the house and apologizes for being late. With everyone gathered around, Anna announces...
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Tom asks Alice how she’s feeling, stating that she seems “too quiet.” Lydia tells him it’s...
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October 2004
...lack of confidence in this knowledge.” On the other hand, when she looks over at Tom and Anna she can “automatically connect them” with her memories of them. She remembers Lydia’s...
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...they want to give her a birthday present: DVDs full of stories told by Anna, Tom, Lydia, and John about their memories of her and each other. There is even an...
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December 2004
...John also argues that Alice soon won’t be able to tell the difference, which upsets Tom. Both Anna and Tom argue that Alice will decline rapidly if taken away. Although Alice...
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March 2005
...to give her presentation, Alice looks out into the crowd and notices John, Anna, Charlie, Tom, Mary, Cathy, Dan Sullivan, and Dr. Sullivan. She touches her butterfly necklace and begins her...
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